Marjorie Sotero photograph collection

Biographical Note

Marjorie Evelyn Polk Sotero was born in Anaconda, Montana in 1915 to Claude H. Polk and Sophie Bridgewater. Her father was a miner in the Anaconda Copper Mines and later worked for the railroad. His work with the railroad led the family to Tacoma when Sotero was a child. She graduated from Tacoma’s Lincoln High School in 1936 and moved to Seattle where she lived with her aunt and uncle. Sotero attended the University of Washington briefly with the goal of becoming a social worker but left shortly after starting because of the difficulty of balancing her job and schoolwork.

To support the war effort, Sotero began working at the United States Army at the Army Finance Office at 3rd Ave. and Union St. in downtown Seattle. She also volunteered with the Red Cross, going after work to serve coffee to soldiers about to ship overseas. She was recruited to become the director of the Army Service Club at Camp Jordan in 1944. Her sister, Kathryn Polk Lazard, joined her to become co-director. The two women were so successful at organizing entertainment at Camp Jordan that they were asked to extend their work to Fort Lewis and Fort Lawton as well. Sotero was active in helping to integrate many of the segregated social activities, throwing Fort Lawton’s first integrated dance as well as other events attended by Black and white soldiers.

In a 1985 oral history with the Museum of History and Industry, Sotero described the service clubs as soldiers’ “home away from home, and this was like their living room where they could come after their day’s work was done and sit down and do the things a man liked to do, sit and smoke, write letters, and listen to music. And maybe in the evening there would be some kind of entertainment that the directors of the club would plan. And that was our job.” They showed movies, had performances by servicemen with a variety of talents and hosted visiting entertainers. They also helped with smaller day to day tasks, sewing insignias on uniforms and in some cases teaching soldiers with little education how to write their names. Sotero also volunteered as a junior hostess at the local USO to dance with and entertain servicemen.

She married Alfonzo C. Sotero on November 10, 1950 at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Seattle. Alfonzo was a seaman with the U.S. Navy. The couple had one son Alfonzo C. Sotero, Jr. and lived in Seattle’s Central District. Alfonzo died in 1986 and Marjorie passed away in 2005 at the age of 90.

Historical Note

The U.S. Army’s Port of Embarkation Administration established Camp George Jordan in July 1942 at a time when the armed forces were still heavily segregated. The camp, intended for Black soldiers, was located on the south side of Spokane St. between 1st Ave. S. and 2nd Ave. S. It was initially known as the First Avenue Camp but the name was changed to Camp Jordan in November 1943 after Sergeant George Jordan (1847-1904) of the 9th United States Calvary. Jordan was a Black soldier who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery during the 1880 Battle of Tularosa in New Mexico.

Camp Jordan consisted of over 100 temporary tar paper structures. During the winter, the camp buildings were poorly heated and the grounds quickly turned to mud. During the summer, the buildings were too hot and the grounds full of dust. In addition to these factors, the area was subjected to constant soot and noise from passing trains. The camp was segregated with roughly 2,000 Black troops on one side of the street and white personnel and officers on the other side.

Soldiers at the camp helped with transportation logistics, driving troops from Fort Lewis and Fort Lawton to and from points of embarkation for overseas service. They also aided in the loading and unloading of cargo between ships, trains and warehouses, taking on difficult and physical work with little recognition or glory. One of the soldiers who passed through the camp, Sam Smith, went on to serve in the Washington State House of Representatives and become a Seattle City Councilmember. Camp Jordan remained active until March 1947.