Africatown Seattle tours spotlights people, places and events that have helped shape the African American community and broader Seattle community.
The Central Area or Central District has been the center of African American life in Seattle since 1890 when William Grose built his a home on 12 acres of land he he purchased from Henry Yesler in 1890. . Housing covenants forced blacks to buy and live in the Central District. They built a community alongside Italian, Jewish, Japanese and Filipino communities contributing much to the cultural and social development of Seattle.
It would later become home to the Jackson Street Jazz Legacy giving birth to Quincy Jones, Ray Charles Jimi Hendrix, the civil rights movement in Seattle and hip-hop. The 1980’s and 90's saw a large migrations. East Africans from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia began to migrate and made the cd home and new layers of flavor and cultural richness.
The community is now home to businesses and startups of African diaspora including, southern soul cuisine, Carribean, Chad, Ethiopia, Morrocan, Mali and more. This combined with rich history of African American life including jazz, civil rights and hip-hop has helped make the Africatown-Central District a unique destination of many stories.
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