No city is an island. The major historical events of 20th-century America all had their influences on Spokane.

The exhibits in this tour were created by the students in Dr. Larry Cebula's class, Introduction to Public History, taught at Eastern Washington University in 2019. With the guidance of Anna Harbine, the Johnston-Fix Curator of Archives and Special Collections at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, they explored the museum archives for untold stories. Working as a team, they developed the interpretive theme--Spokane Reacts--researched the stories, chose the images, and wrote the interpretive text. The exhibit is on display in the Joel Ferris Research Room at the museum through 2019.

This tour on Spokane Historical expands some of the stories on those 100-word exhibit panels and tells additional tales that could not fit within the exhibit. Here you will find Spokane reacting to such national events as the Great Depression, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the Civil Rights era. In each case, the story in Spokane is not quite the same as what you read in American history textbooks. Our unique local history and culture have shaped the ways that Spokane reacts.