By Candice Richardson, The Seattle Medium
Claude Harris never wanted to be a fire fighter. The dynamic trailblazer — who would become Seattle’s first Black firefighter and then battle his way to becoming the first Black chief of the fire department — had broken his arm falling off a ladder at the age of 16 and didn’t like heights. But his search for quality work in the late 1950’s launched him on a journey that would forever impact Seattle’s Fire Department and make Harris a pioneer in Affirmative Action.
“I almost quit 25 times. Five of those times I was really serious,” said Harris who matter-of-factly gives credit to God as the reason for his nearly 40 years in the fire department.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Harris said he had experienced racism his entire life. His search for work brought him to Seattle, where his wife’s parents resided and ultimately landed him a job at Boeing before being drafted into the Army.
While stationed in Europe, Harris underwent a transformation that would subsequently alter his view of others and how he would interact with them.
“The average GI would get drunk and run up a bill to the ale house. But I would travel,” said Harris who visited Sweden, Norway, Germany and Paris four times before being discharged. His travels introduced him to Swedish, Norwegian, and German men who’d invite him into their homes for dinner and brunch, take him skiing, and engage in honest and respectful discussions about the state of race in America.
“People were just nice,” said Harris. “I kind of shed the racism I had experienced in the United States. My inferiority complex went out the window.”
When Harris returned to his job as a rivet bucker (bracing airplane parts for a riveter) at Boeing he renewed his search for work that was satisfactory. His current role was a menial task that Harris said felt like sweeping streets. It wasn’t long before he asked to be transferred to electronics. He went to school for electrical engineering and learned electronic equipment assembly. One day while at work one of his White colleagues asked him if he would be willing to discuss the recent murder of Emmett Till. It would be one of the first of many instances where Harris would end up acting as “spokesman” of sorts for the African American race in a predominately White environment.
“They got angry because of my candid delivery,” stated Harris. “I was a very confident individual. I had a Muhammad Ali attitude but I didn’t flaunt it. If Muhammad Ali didn’t have confidence in himself he would’ve been down on his butt a bunch of times. Same with me, if I didn’t have confidence I wouldn’t have been able to do the job.”
The “job” ultimately was to be a firefighter. A friend of Harris’ told him there was a sign up advertising that the city had started accepting applications for the police and fire departments. As Boeing started a slow down in projects, a few guys had already joined the Seattle Police Department and Harris ended up walking into to apply on the very last day to submit applications. His choice between becoming a firefighter and a policeman were ultimately split 50/50. Harris had two dollars on him and the application fee was one dollar. He needed the other dollar to get back home. After recalling how he’d flinched during marksmanship classes in the army, he decided to apply for the fire department.
After passing his exams and becoming the first Black firefighter in the State of Washington, Harris discovered the key to succeeding in the fire department: don’t quit.
“They hired 53 people and that first day of work [Seattle received] two to three feet of snow. Three to four guys dropped out after spending the day shoveling snow and then another two to
three dropped out from having to work in frigid conditions,” said Harris who, despite his fear of heights, decided to stay after overcoming a 120 foot ladder exercise and running into burning buildings in drill school.
Not only was Harris unwilling to give his naysayers who said Blacks didn’t have the mental capacity to do the work the satisfaction of him quitting, Harris reveled in the confidence he gained and the team-work he experienced as a firefighter. An added bonus was the job security. In his first two years on the job, he had already begun to surpass what he had been making at Boeing.
His first post was a detail station, which meant he was “detailed out” to other stations when needed. Throughout the city, “everyone wanted to engage me about civil rights issues,” said Harris who unsurprisingly became a lightening rod for the fire department and often had to quickly distinguish where he could fit in and whom he could trust.
“Going into fire department I would trust a southern White man quicker than I would another White man in Seattle,” Harris added. “In the South racism was very overt. Up here it’s very subtle. It’s a mind trip. You had to keep your guard up all the time.”
Besides experiencing “overly stringent” officers overlooking his work, Harris recounted how he would often find out incidences that had happened after-the-fact such as firefighters coming in for late shifts who often took over bunks from other men after they were warned about which bunk was Harris’ and how they shouldn’t sleep there, or the breaking of coffee mugs and cups after he drank out of them.
Former Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean, who replaced Harris after his retirement and was the second African American to hold the position, also recalls that particular era of “subtle racism” in the Seattle Fire Department.
“At that time, they weren’t ready,” Dean said. “When you’re in the middle of it you may not recognize [discrimination].”
“There were things happening that I could sense but couldn’t put my finger on,” said Harris who soon began to realize that even after his “probationary period” he was still getting the “dirty” jobs of a rookie and began to actively pursue promotions.
Every five years or so, Harris moved up in the ranks, first to lieutenant and then to captain. But it was his promotion to Battalion Chief that would send waves throughout the city and result in a lawsuit.
Never before had a captain gone for a chief role. The exams to move up to Battalion Chief were 50 percent written and 50 percent oral. Harris passed the exam and was ranked number five out of everyone who did. Then the exam rules were changed. Now the exams were broken up to 50 percent written, 35 percent oral, and 15 percent based on reviews or evaluations. Fifty-one people passed the exam, Harris was number 22. Two years later, when it came time for Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman to appoint new Battalion Chiefs, the first two men he chose to fill the position had the top two scores on the exams. Then, utilizing the city’s Affirmative Action policy, Uhlman appointed Harris as the third Battalion Chief.
The Seattle Firefighters Union sued the city on behalf of the White firefighters they saw as being passed over. The case went to the superior court, appellate court, the state supreme court and then the U.S. Federal Supreme Court which ultimately decided to uphold the city’s Affirmative Action Law. While it was a victory for diversity in Seattle’s government workforce, the decision would ultimately be a moot point for Harris, who had already been promoted to Deputy Chief while the case was still being decided.
“It was difficult but I guess I was a person who was meant to be there at that time,” said Harris. “It was never my intention to be a firefighter or Fire Chief. But once I got in and looked around, I realized I could do the next job up.”
Before he was ever promoted Harris was active in recruiting other African Americans to join him in the fire department. During his 37-year career, he also created the Seattle Black Firefighters Association as a network of support and encouragement for the next generations of Black firefighters coming into the department.
“I’m most proud of the other Black firemen I was able to recruit, counsel, mentor, and the ones I was able to motivate to take the exams,” said Harris. “I would insist all my battalion chiefs try acting driving jobs, acting battalion jobs, so they could see that they could do the job.”
Those efforts by Harris resulted in the first Black paramedics, drivers and inspectors in the Seattle Fire Department.
Roberto Jourdan, the current President of the Seattle Black Firefighters Association, says Harris’ “stick-to-it-ness” is the reason and motivation there has been the growth of not just African Americans, but women and other minorities in the Seattle Fire Department.
“To us we look at Claude as being our genesis,” said Jourdan. “Not only his being brave, his strength, his intelligence and his athleticism in getting there, but then his fortitude in staying there.”
“We just thank him for all that he took and put up with,” Jourdan continues. “He didn’t quit, he hung in there for us. He may not have known it at the time, but that’s what it was. Even today it’s really important to him that people, women, and minorities are being included into fire service. It’s just as important to him now as it was then.”
While Harris has been keeping busy helping to care for and teach his seven grandchildren skiing, swimming, and the importance of an education, he doesn’t consider himself truly retired.
“I’m still recruiting,” he said. “You start realizing you don’t do all these things by yourself. You have help. I started the Black Firefighters Association with other Black firefighters because guys would have problems and I would give them instructions on how to both raise the ladder and how to pick their battles. You can’t tackle every instance of racism.”
Harris’ influence and legacy continues to live on through those that he worked with, mentored and counseled. And he readily makes himself available to them when needed.
“Even today he’s someone we can go to for advice,” said Jourdan. “We’re all standing on his shoulders.”
