Crosscut Videos

King County Metro operator Clay McClure is one of the many essential workers who help transport Seattle's residents to and from destinations during the coronavirus pandemic, risking his own health and safety to help others. While McClure worries about himself and his loved ones, he is also concerned about Metro's ridership as the pandemic continues to affect our communities. We followed McClure on one day of his life, as he navigated being a resident of Seattle and a bus driver operating a line that often carries some of the city's most at-risk population.

Farhiya Mohamed usually spends Ramadan at her sister’s house. When the sun sets, rice dishes and dates cover the table and upwards of 50 guests crowd together. But this year is different, COVID-19 has placed limits on gatherings for the Seattle-area Muslim community and the pandemic keeps family and friends apart. Mohamed and other families are struggling to stay connected while they must stay apart. As the executive director of the Somali Family Safety Task Force, Mohamed and her organization are finding ways to spread joy and help others celebrate during their time of need in the holiest month by bringing meals, supplies and joy to people’s homes.

Bustling Seattle was building one freeway after another in the 1960s and 70s. One was going to slice right through the Washington Park Arboretum, until citizen activists stopped it in its tracks.

A racist Oregon Territory law drove George Bush, a free Black man, across the Columbia River to settle near what is now Olympia. Bush was Puget Sound's first settler and paved the way for what would become Washington state. Artifacts uncovered in Bush Prairie, George Bush's 1845 homestead, give clues about the family life of Puget Sound's first settler.

The UW "Boys in the Boat' crew is famous for beating the Nazis in the 1936 Olympics, but there was another race that pitted the vaunted Husky team against Native Swinomish paddlers. This is the story of how a race between rival crews brought Native and UW paddlers closer to the sport — and each other.

A rare photograph shows President Kennedy's 1961 detour under an unfinished Space Needle. The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, also called the Century 21 Exposition, was about the future, but it was rooted in the politics of the present. Organizers wanted nothing more than a visit by President John F. Kennedy. It didn’t happen. Or did it?