Caption on image: Dr. Sydney Strong & Anna Louise Strong with friends at place frequented by family on Whidbey Island.

Anna Louise Strong remains one of the notable radicals in the history of the United States. Born in Friend, Nebraska, she was the daughter of middle-class liberals who were active in missionary work and the Congregational Church. An unusually gifted child, she raced through grammar and high school, then studied languages in Europe. She graduated from Bryn Mawr, did graduate work at Oberlin, and at age 23 earned her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. During her Seattle years (1910-1921), she won her election as the lone woman on the School Board, only to be recalled because of her overt sympathies with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies") and because of her pacifist stance during World War I. A journalist, she supported the working class in the Seattle General Strike (1919) and promoted the new Soviet government. Disillusioned with the erosion of the labor movement, Strong had nothing to keep her in Seattle. The next year when Lincoln Steffens lectured in Seattle about his trip to Russia, Strong accepted his advice and went to Moscow. For several years, she supported herself as a foreign correspondent for radical American newspapers. In 1958, at age 72, she moved to China, where she was one of few Westerners to gain the admiration of Mao Tse-tung. She remained there until her death in 1970.

• Subjects (LCSH): Strong, Anna Louise, 1885-1970; Strong, Sydney, 1860-1938; Women--Washington (State)--Whidbey Island; Men--Washington (State)--Whidbey Island