We know a few things about the woman known as Lou Graham, for sure: 

She was a brothel madam in Seattle at the turn of the century. And she’s immortalized in one of the city’s popular ghost tours. 

Maybe you’ve even felt her spiritual presence while passing through tunnels underneath Pioneer Square.

Beyond that, facts are sparse. But plenty of legends about Graham’s life and impact on Seattle are served up to tourists and YouTube viewers who care to search her name.  

From Geographics: “Technically sex work was illegal, so Graham made sure to have the ladies registered as “seamstresses” on the books.

From Women Being Podcast: “Graham was an advocate for women’s rights and social justice, and supported the women’s rights movement, including the Seattle chapter of the NAACP. She died in 1903 a feminist icon.”

It turns out, most of that is TOTAL BUNK.But the truth behind those fables – and a journalist’s search to find it – may be even more illuminating.  

GUEST: Hanna Brooks Olson, author of “Notoriously Bad Character: The True Story of Lou Graham and the Immigrants and Sex Workers Who Built Seattle”

RELATED LINKS:

• https://hannabrooksolsen.com/ 
• The Many False Histories of Lou Graham | Medium

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