Shoreline student to be honored during Edmonds MLK tribute Jan. 21

Sarah Haycox with the Pratt memorial In May 2018.

An 11-year-old girl from Shoreline who pushed for recognition of slain local civil rights leader Edwin T. Pratt will be honored during the Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Jan. 21 at Edmonds Center for the Arts.

Sarah Haycox will be the first recipient of the Edmonds-based Lift Every Voice Legacy’s Beloved Community Award for her efforts to champion the work and life of Pratt, who was fatally shot when he answered the door at his Shoreline home on Jan. 26, 1969.

The award during the Jan. 21 evening program will be co-presented by Pratt’s daughter, Miriam Pratt Glover, who was inside the Shoreline home when her father was shot 50 years ago.

At the time of his death, the 38-year-old Pratt was serving as executive director of the Seattle Urban League, working to end housing discrimination in Seattle area and to
desegregate Seattle schools. When he moved to Shoreline in 1959, his was the first black family to live in the all-white suburb.

Pratt was fatally shot by two men who fled the scene in a car. The murder was never solved.

When Sarah Haycox was walking by an athletic field near her Shoreline school, she noticed a small memorial with the name Edwin Pratt on it. Curious about who he was and why there was a plaque for him, she began researching Pratt and determined he deserved broader recognition for his work.

Sarah conducted petition drives and attended school board meetings, and as a result of her efforts the Shoreline School District Board voted to name its new early childhood center after Pratt. The Edwin Pratt Early Learning Center opened its doors for the first time on Jan. 7.

“Sarah is the perfect model of inspiring a Beloved Community,” said Donnie Griffin, the Lift Every Voice Legacy’s founding principal and an Edmonds resident. “By lifting the legacy of an impactful community leader who sacrificed his life for justice and equity for all of us, we learn adult-like lessons from an 11-year-old on values of building a caring community that doesn’t succumb to hateful behavior and social and cultural isolation. We are all in it together.”

The Lift Every Voice Legacy is presenting both a morning and evening program Monday, Jan. 21 to honor the works of Dr. King’s vision of a Beloved Community. In this first-ever event in Edmonds, the program will seek to encourage, inspire and engage its audience through avenues of song, spoken word and dance.

A Beloved Community – Morning Program for children, youth and families will run from 10 a.m. to noon at the Edmonds Center for the Arts. Admission to the morning program is free and will feature Kaleidoscope Dance Company and Northside STEP.

General admission tickets for the evening program are $10; $5 for students; and $12 day of the event. For tickets and information, contact the ECA Box Office at 425-275-9595 or online at ec4arts.org.

You can learn about the event in our earlier story.

  1. I can see I’m going to have to bring a box of kleenex to Monday’s Tribute. Thank you, Donnie for bringing this to Edmonds.

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