Hazel Wolf (March 10, 1898 – January 19, 2000) was an

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

who lived in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

area for most of her life. Born in 1898 to an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

mother and a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

father, she lived to see three centuries before her death at 101 years of age on January 19, 2000. A member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, she was active in immigration issues and was at one point nearly deported herself, though she was later granted citizenship. During the later years of her life, she became known as an environmental activist and coalition builder across boundaries of race, gender, and class. Wolf also served as secretary for the

Seattle Audubon Society Seattle Audubon Society, since renamed Birds Connect Seattle, is a nonprofit environmental organization that advocates and organizes for cities where people and birds thrive. It is a chapter organization of the National Audubon Society, and is o ...

for 35 years.

Biography

Hazel Wolf was born in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. She grew up poor and her early years were largely dominated by class and poverty issues. Her father was a sergeant in the Canadian merchant marines and her mother was a native of Indiana. In 1901, her brother, named after her father but generally referred to as "Sonny," was born. In 1903, her sister Dorothy was born. Her father died in 1908. Hazel was formally trained as a social worker, but felt most at home among her people. This led to her involvement in the Communist party, where she felt she was doing 'real' social work. By the time of

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

, Wolf was being targeted by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service as a subversive foreign national. Her deportation cases lasted from 1949-63. She later became a United States citizen, but made no apologies for having been a member of the

. Her later years were largely dominated by her environmental activism, which led her to Washington D.C. to lobby congress on issues that were important to her. She became nationally recognized and was awarded the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

's Medal of Excellence. On June 12, 1999, she was the guest speaker at the AILA Annual Conference.

Death

Hazel Wolf died on January 19, 2000 at 101 years of age. She commented in Studs Terkel's "Coming of Age", "I'm going to live till the year 2000, so I can have been in three centuries. Then I'm going."

Honors

* Founded in 1998, the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival ran for 10 years in Seattle, operated by the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Network. * In 1998,

King County, Washington King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

renamed Eastside's Saddle Swamp the Hazel Wolf Wetland Preserve. * Hazel Wolf High School was a Waldorf school that opened in 1999, and merged with Seattle Waldorf School in 2007. * Originally the Seattle Public Schools

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

K-8, a new building was built and the school renamed the Hazel Wolf K-8 E-STEM School.

References

1898 births 2000 deaths American centenarians American communists American environmentalists American women environmentalists Women centenarians {{Environmentalist-stub