---
title: "Washington State Law Against Discrimination 1949"
description: "Washington State Law Against Discrimination 1949 banned discrimination in jobs and public accommodations and became a foundation for Washington civil rights law."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/hs-washington-state-history/key-terms/washington-state-law-against-discrimination-1949"
type: "key-term"
subject: "Washington State History"
unit: "Unit 8"
---

# Washington State Law Against Discrimination 1949

## Definition

The Washington State Law Against Discrimination of 1949 was a state civil rights law that banned discrimination in jobs and public places based on race, color, religion, national origin, or ancestry. In Washington State History, it marks an early push toward legal equality.

## What It Is

The Washington State Law Against Discrimination, passed in 1949, was Washington’s early statewide effort to make discrimination illegal in everyday public life. It targeted race, color, religion, national origin, and ancestry, especially in employment and public accommodations like restaurants, hotels, and other businesses open to the public.

In Washington State History, this law matters because it shows that civil rights change was not only happening in federal courtrooms or in Southern states. Washington lawmakers were responding to postwar racial tension and to pressure from people who wanted the state to protect equal treatment more directly. That makes the law part of the broader civil rights shift that grew stronger after World War II.

The law also created a system for enforcement, including the Washington State Human Rights Commission to hear complaints and investigate discrimination. That matters because a law on paper does not automatically change behavior. A complaint process gave people a place to report unfair treatment instead of relying only on private pressure or informal local politics.

One way to think about this law is that it turned a moral demand into a legal standard. If an employer refused to hire someone because of race or ancestry, the law gave the victim a path to challenge that discrimination. If a business excluded people from service because of protected identity, the state could treat that as a civil rights issue, not just a personal grievance.

Over time, the law was expanded to cover more groups, including sex, sexual orientation, disability, and age. That shows how civil rights law in Washington kept growing as different communities pushed for broader protection. So when you see this term in class, think of it as an early milestone in the state’s move from segregation and exclusion toward enforceable equal rights.

## Why It Matters

This law is a shortcut into the larger civil rights story in Washington State because it connects discrimination, government action, and social change. It helps explain how reform can happen through state legislation, not just protests or court rulings.

The term also gives you a concrete example of how civil rights issues showed up in ordinary life. Washington history is not only about speeches and marches. It is also about who could get hired, who could be served, and who had access to public spaces without being turned away.

It connects closely to the idea of desegregation, even though Washington’s patterns of discrimination were not identical to the South. The law shows that segregation and exclusion could exist in housing, jobs, and public accommodations in the Northwest too, and that activists had to challenge those systems locally.

This term also helps you read later civil rights events more clearly. Once the state had a legal framework for complaints, other fights over equal treatment, like school access, employment fairness, and broader anti-discrimination protections, had a stronger foundation to build on.

## Connections

### Civil Rights Movement

The 1949 law fits into the larger Civil Rights Movement because it shows how Washington responded to discrimination during the same era that activists across the country were pushing for equal treatment. In state history, this helps you see that civil rights was not one single event. It was a series of local, state, and national changes that built on each other.

### Desegregation

Desegregation is the broader process of ending separation by race in public life, schools, and services. The Washington law did not solve every segregation problem, but it was part of the legal pressure that made exclusion harder to defend. It also shows that desegregation could involve more than schools, including hiring and public accommodations.

### Equal Employment Opportunity

This law is closely tied to equal employment opportunity because one of its biggest effects was limiting discriminatory hiring. If you are analyzing labor history in Washington, this term helps explain the shift from employers making race-based decisions to a legal expectation of fair access. It also previews later debates about workplace equality.

### [Davis v. City of Tacoma](/hs-washington-state-history/key-terms/davis-v-city-of-tacoma)

Davis v. City of Tacoma connects to the same civil rights climate, but through a court case instead of a statute. Looking at both together helps you compare legal strategies. One uses legislation to ban discrimination, while the other shows how people challenged unequal treatment through the courts when public systems still excluded them.

## On the AP Exam

A quiz question might ask you to identify what the 1949 law did, or to explain why it mattered in the postwar civil rights era. In a short answer or essay, you could use it as evidence that Washington State was changing before the modern federal civil rights era fully unfolded. If you are given a scenario about a person denied a job or service because of race or ancestry, this is the law you would connect to that discrimination.

For timeline questions, place it after World War II and before later expansions of anti-discrimination protections. For document or source analysis, look for language about fair hiring, public access, or a state complaint process. The best move is to connect the law to a bigger pattern: Washington shifting from tolerated exclusion toward legal enforcement of civil rights.

## Key Takeaways

- The Washington State Law Against Discrimination of 1949 made it illegal to discriminate in certain public and work settings based on race, color, religion, national origin, or ancestry.
- It was one of the early statewide anti-discrimination laws in the United States, so it matters as a local civil rights milestone, not just a legal detail.
- The law created a complaint and enforcement process through the Washington State Human Rights Commission, which gave people a formal way to challenge discrimination.
- It fits into the post-World War II civil rights shift in Washington, when activists and lawmakers were pushing back against exclusion in daily life.
- Later amendments expanded the law’s protections, showing how civil rights law in Washington kept growing over time.

## FAQs

### What is Washington State Law Against Discrimination 1949 in Washington State History?

It is a 1949 Washington law that banned discrimination in certain areas, especially employment and public accommodations. In Washington State History, it marks an early state-level civil rights effort to protect people from unfair treatment based on race, color, religion, national origin, or ancestry.

### How was the Washington State Law Against Discrimination different from desegregation?

Desegregation is the broader process of ending separation by race, especially in schools and public life. This law was narrower and more legal in focus, targeting discrimination in hiring and public access. It fits into desegregation history, but it is not the same thing as a school integration order.

### Why does the law matter for civil rights in Washington?

It shows that civil rights change happened at the state level as well as nationally. The law gave people a legal way to challenge discrimination and helped set the stage for later protections for more groups. That makes it a good example of how reform became enforceable, not just idealistic.

### What kinds of discrimination did the 1949 law cover?

The original law focused on race, color, religion, national origin, and ancestry. It mainly applied to employment and public accommodations, so it affected where people could work and how they could be treated in public-facing businesses. Later amendments expanded the list of protected categories.

## Related Study Guides

- [8.3 Civil rights and desegregation](/hs-washington-state-history/unit-8/civil-rights-desegregation/study-guide/gi34GR3fvJddVhu7)

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