Edwin T. Pratt (1930-1969) came to Seattle in 1956 with his wife Bettye Jean Williams to work as the Community Relations Secretary for the Seattle Urban League. He became its Executive Director in 1960 and led civil rights campaigns against housing discrimination, school segregation, employment bias, and police brutality. He was assassinated at the front door of his home in Shoreline on January 26, 1969. In 1966, the land was developed as a park and low-income housing and named in his honor in 1976.