For decades Rita Zawaideh has been an advocate and change-maker on behalf of Middle Eastern and North African communities in the United States and around the world. She is a “one-person community information center for the Arab community,” according to the thousands who have benefited from her activism and philanthropy. “The door to Rita’s Fremont office is always open,” says Huda Giddens of Seattle’s Palestinian community, adding that Rita’s strength is her ability to see a need and answer it. “She doesn’t leave a stone unturned in search of a solution,” says Giddens.
Rita was born in Jordan and grew up in Seattle. Through the years she has maintained close ties to the Arab world, as well as to the Arab-American communities throughout the U.S.
She founded the Salaam Cultural Museum (SCM) to raise awareness of Arab American cultures and provide support to refugees and immigrants both locally and internationally. Rita is owner and founder of Caravan-Serai Tours, a Seattle travel agency specializing in the Middle East and North Africa. Through her travel agency network she has organized volunteer trips and donation drives for refugees in the Middle East and North Africa since the 1980s. She often labors into the wee hours of the night to solve a person’s problem, putting that person in touch with a lawyer, a city council member, a school principal, a church contact, perhaps even someone who lives on the other side of the country. No one is turned away.
The Spirit of Liberty Award is given to a naturalized citizen who has made a significant contribution to his or her ethnic community and ethnic heritage, as well as to the community at large. It was first presented in 1986 to a Greek American elder, Effie Wells, by renowned actress Carol Channing, who was performing in Seattle at the time.
| 2020 | Rita Ziwaideh | Arab American |
| 2019 | Ana Mari Cauce, PhD | Cuban American |
| 2015 | Ali Ghambari | Iranian American |
| 2014 | Jens Lund | Danish American |
| 2013 | Jagdish Sharma | Indian American |
| 2012 | Simon Khin | Burmese American |
| 2011 | Helen M. Szablya | Hungarian American |
| 2010 | John F. Keane | Irish American |
| 2009 | Eduardo Mendonca | Brazilian American |
| 2008 | Ezra Teshome | African American |
| 2007 | Ramesh Gangolli | Indian American |
| 2006 | Alma Franulovich Plancich | Croatian American |
| 2005 | Assunta Ng | Chinese American |
| 2004 | Paull H. Shin | Korean American |
| 2003 | Olaf Johannesen Kvamme | Norwegian American |
| 2002 | Raja H. Atallah | Arab American |
| 2001 | Lucy Fueresz | Hungarian American |
| 2000 | Theodore Kaltsounis | Greek American |
| 1999 | Natacha Sesko | Chinese American |
| 1998 | Mary Shriane | Irish American |
| 1997 | Farhat J. Ziadeh | Palestinian American |
| 1996 | Tsering Chamatsang Yuthok | Tibetan American |
| 1995 | Bronka Kohn Serebrin | Polish American |
| 1994 | Helen Mirchuk | Ukranian American |
| 1993 | Henry Friedman | Polish American |
| 1992 | Carin Jacroux | German American |
| 1991 | Encarnacion F. Tajon | Filipino American |
| 1990 | Kalle Keranen | Finnish American |
| 1989 | Henning Boe | Norwegian American |
| 1988 | Alexander Shaw | Chinese American |
| 1987 | Ina Bray | Lithuanian American |
| 1986 | Effie Wells | Greek American |