18 Facts About Wing Luke

Wing Chong Luke was a Chinese-American lawyer and politician from Seattle.

Wing Luke was later a member of the Seattle City Council for position 5 from 1962 until his death in 1965 in a plane crash.

The first Asian-American to hold elected office in the state, Wing Luke was cited as an inspiration by Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American governor of Washington.

Wing Luke was born on February 18,1925, in a small town near Canton.

Wing Luke's grandfather had run a laundry in Seattle, but exclusion laws forced Luke's father to return to China.

When Wing Luke was five, his family moved to the United States, but he did not settle in Seattle until 1931, at the age of six.

Only halfway through his senior year of high school, Wing Luke was inducted into the US Army.

Wing Luke served in Guam, Korea, New Guinea, New Britain and the Philippines, where he received the Bronze Star Medal and six combat stars.

Wing Luke did graduate work in the same fields at the American University in Washington, DC Wing Luke then attended the UW School of Law to earn an LL.

Wing Luke was appointed Assistant Attorney General of the State of Washington, in the Civil Rights Division and served in that capacity from 1957 to 1962.

In 1962, Wing Luke decided to run for an open seat on the Seattle City Council.

Wing Luke became the first Asian American to hold elected office in the Pacific Northwest as well as the first person of color to hold a Seattle City Council seat.

For support in his community renewal efforts, Wing Luke turned to a variety of local organizations he was active in, such as the Urban League, the Chinese Community Service Organization, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the Jackson Street Community Council.

On May 16,1965, Wing Luke was killed in a plane crash with two others on Merchant Peak in Snohomish County, while returning from a fishing trip in Okanogan County.

Wing Luke had reportedly mused about founding such a museum after observing how Chinese American culture in Seattle was so often swept under the rug.

Wing Luke saw many of his contemporaries forced to live in racialized pockets of Seattle like Beacon Hill and the Central District, and felt strongly that the ability to decide where one lived should be a basic right of all citizens.

Wing Luke fought for civil rights, Indian fishing rights, urban renewal and historic preservation.

Wing Luke was particularly concerned with the preservation of Seattle's Central Waterfront, Pioneer Square, and Pike Place Market.