The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle's Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Emil and Kathleen Sick Book Series in Western History and Biography)

377 Pages·1994·31.811 MB·English

by  Quintard Taylor

The EmilandKathleen Sick
Lecture-BookSeries
in Western HistoryandBiography
The Emil and Kathleen Sick
Lecture-Book Series
in Western History and Biography
Under the provisions of a Fund established by the children of Mr.
andMrs. EmilSick,whosedeepinterestinthehistoryandcultureof
the American West was inspired by their own experience in the re
gion, distinguished scholars arebrought to the University ofWash
ington to deliver public lectures based on original research in the
fields ofWestern history and biography. The terms of the gift also
prOVideforthepublicationbytheUniversityofWashingtonPressof
the books resulting from the research upon which the lectures are
based.Thisbookis the fifth volumein the series.
The GreatColumbiaPlain:A Historical Geography, 1805-1910,
byDonaldW. Meinig
Mills andMarkets:A HistoryofthePacificCoastLumberIndustry
to 1900, byThomas R. Cox
RadicalHeritage:Labor, Socialism, andReform in Washington
andBritish Columbia, 1885-1917, byCarlos A. Schwantes
TheBattle forButte:MiningandPolitics on theNorthern Frontier,
1864-1906, byMichael P. Malone
TheForgingofaBlackCommunity: Seattle's CentralDistrict,
from 1870through theCivilRightsEra, byQuintardTaylor
Warren G. Magnuson andtheShapingofTwentieth-Century
America, byShelbyScates
TheAtomicWest, editedby Bruce HevlyandJohn M. Findlay
PowerandPlace in theNorth American West, editedby
RichardWhite andJohnM. Findlay
The
Forging
ofa
Black Community
Seattle's Central District
from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era
QUINTARD TAYLOR
ForewordbyNorm Rice
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS
Seattle and London
Copyright© 1994bytheUniversityofWashingtonPress
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
14131211100908 87654
All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced or transmitted
inanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopy, record
ing, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
fromthepublisher.
UniversityofWashingtonPress
POBox50096
Seattle,WA98145-5096,USA
www.washington.edu/uwpress
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Taylor,Quintard.
Theforgingofablackcommunity:Seattle'sCentralDistrict
from 1870throughtheCivilRightsEraI QuintardTaylor;forewordbyNorm
Rice.
p.em.- (TheEmilandKathleenSicklecture-bookseriesin
Westernhistoryandbiography)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-295-97345-6 (alk. paper: pbk.)
1. CentralDistrict(Seattle,Wash)-Racerelations. 2. Afro-Americans
Washington-Seattle-History. 3.Seattle(Wash.)-Racerelations. I. Title.
II. Series.
F899.S49N475 1994 93-49522
979.7'77200496073-dc20 CIP
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and recycled from 10 percent post
consumerandatleast50percentpre-consumerwaste.Itmeetstheminimumrequire
mentsofAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences-PermanenceofPaper
forPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1984. §~)
Contents
Forewordby Norm Rice ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Seattle: The Urban Frontier 3
Part One. African Americans in a Frontier City, 1860-1899
1. Origins and Foundations, 1860-1899 13
PartTwo. The Black Community Emerges, 1900-1940
2. Employmentand Economics, 1900-1940 49
3. Housing, Civil Rights, and Politics, 1900-1940 79
4. Blacks and Asians in a White City, 1870-1942 106
5. The Forging ofa Black Community Ethos, 1900-1940 135
PartThree. Black Seattle in the Modern Era, 1941-1970
6. TheTransformation ofthe Central District, 1941-1960 159
7. From"Freedom Now" to "Black Power," 1961-1970 185
Conclusion: Black Seattle, Past, Present, and Future 234
Appendixes
1. FoundingMembers ofthe Seattle NAACP 241
2. Black Seattle: The Social Nexus 242
3. Growth ofSeattle's Black Population, 1860-1990 244
4. Seattle'sMinorityPopulation, 1900-1990 245
Notes 246
Bibliography 298
Index 316
v
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Illustrations
Maps
1. Puget Sound region, 1890 page 18
2. Seattlein 1894 page33
3. SpatialconcentrationofSeattle'sblackpopulation, 1920 page83
4. Comparative Japanese and black population in Seattle, 1940
page 129
s. World WarIIemploymentcenters page 162
6. SpatialconcentrationofSeattle'sblackpopulation, 1960 page195
7. Seattle's Central District, 1970 page232
Photographs
following page50
Blackchauffeurdriving Caroline McGilvra Burke
Crew ofshipwithblacksailors, 1900
Twoblack womenona Seattlepierfor a Sundaystroll
AME churchconference, ca. 1900
Horace Cayton
Integratedfemale shipyardcrew
Blackrailroad porters
Charterofthe Colored Democratic Club
WPAdemonstration indowntown Seattle
YeslerTerrace, 1941
CentralDistricttrackand softball teams
Flyer for Federal Theater Project/Negro Repertory Theater play,
Stevedore
Scenefrom play, In Abraham'sBosom
Unidentified player, Ubangi Blackhawks
Fans atUbangigame
AlbertJ. Smithand Lester Catlettonshore leave inTokyo
following page 178
BlackWorld WarII soldiers in Seattle shovelingsnow
Boeingbomber no. 5,000 rolling offthe assemblyline
vii
Fourworkers on a Boeingconstructioncrew
Cartoonfrom the Northwest Enterprise, 1944
Aerial viewofCentral District, 1946
Multiracialofficers ofthe Bailey-GatzertPTA
CrowningofMissInternational Center
Blackteacherwithintegrated class, ca. 1950
Dilapidatedhousing, Seattle, ca. 1951
Firstsit-in, Seattle City Hall, 1963
Rev. John H. Adams and Rev. Mineo I(atagiri at the opening of a
tenants' rights campaign, 1967
Seattlefreedom marchers, June 1963
Ten thousand people march to Seattle Center in a memorial for Dr.
MartinLutherI(ing, Jr.
StokelyCarmichael atGarfield High School, 1967
WomanoftheBlackPantherPartyaddressingadowntownrally, 1969
Black StudentUnion sit-in, University ofWashington, 1968
viii Illustrations
Foreword
TheForgingofaBlackCommunitybyQuintardTaylorisapowerful
chronicle ofthe African American presence in Seattle over the last
century. The result of years of painstaking research and dozens
of interviews, it is a fascinating account of the social, political,
and economic transformation of black Seattle through the city's
formative frontier years, through two global wars and more limited
military engagements, and through numerous cycles ofdepression
and prosperity.
ProfessorTaylor's rich tapestry ofthe African American past in
Seattlehascapturedthebeauty, hope, aspirations, disappointments,
and ongoing challenges of African Americans and other people of
color in this diverse city. Furthermore, The Forging ofa Black Com
munity details the spirit and conviction of a people determined to
defeat the legacy ofracism, ethnocentrism, and discrimination that
is, unfortunately, so much a part of our past as a nation. Taylor
reminds us that African Americans who first came to Seattle in the
nineteenth century found themselves in "a city deeply ambivalent
about its commitment to racial equality." Drawing inspiration from
theirheritage, theirfaith, and theirfamilies, theyfashioned a strong
senseofidentity thatallowed these intelligent, gifted, hard-working
newcomerstomastertheadversitytheyfaced. Fromthearrivalofthe
Massachusetts sailor, Manuel Lopes, in 1858,justsixyears after the
founding ofSeattle,totheAfricanAmericannewcomersjoiningour
citytoday, AfricanAmericanscontinuetobringwiththemavariety
ofexperiences. Yet those ofus who, like myself, arrived from other
cities and states, as well as those born here, continue to adhere to
a common goal. We seek the freedom and opportunity that were,
and remain, the promise of Seattle, that inspired prior generations
ofblack newcomers to cross a continent orsail oceans to reach this
smallnarrowisthmusofverdantlandbetweenPugetSoundandLake
Washington. Likethem, weremaincommittedtojoinforces withall
ofthe city's diverse peoples to ensurethatfreedom and opportunity
willbe availablefor all residents ofourcity.
As the first African American mayor of Seattle, I am proud to
have a place in Professor Taylor's book. My 1989 election, as he
notes, coincided with a number of other significant milestones in
ix