About Seeking Freedom in the Pacific Northwest: The Early History of Blacks in Seattle and King County
Presented by Professor Quintard Taylor, Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History at the
University of Washington
The early narrative of black Seattle and King County differs from
so many histories of African Americans in the East and the South. Blacks
here were not herded into slums or ghettos. They lived throughout Seattle
and King County. Black-owned businesses had a customer base that include
all residents, not just other African Americans and in fact there were more
black-owned businesses in proportion to the African American population than
there are today. Both blacks in Seattle and prominent black visitors to
the city felt it offered more opportunities for racial equality and economic
progress than almost any other in the nation. My talk will explain how
that situation arose at the beginning of the history of Seattle and King
County. It will also explore how and why those conditions went away in the
early part of the 20th century and the consequences of that change on today’s
community
About the Speaker:
Dr. Taylor is a renowned scholar of African American history,
African American history in the West and global African history. He has more
than four decades of research and teaching experience in this field at a number
of institutions of higher education including currently the University of
Washington, Seattle. His interest continues to be driven by the desire to
understand African American communities in a region that historically has not
been identified with black history and culture. Understanding that history
allows challenges to long held paradigms about both the history of the west as
a region and the history of African America. In recent years he has taught
courses at both the graduate level on African American urban history and
African American urban history in the West. He has also taught the department’s
graduate seminar in African American history.
Widely published and a frequent visiting lecturer domestically and
internationally, one of Dr. Taylor’s most-lasting contributions is the creation
of BlackPast.org, a nonprofit organization and 13,000-page website that brings
together impressive volumes of African American history. As the site says, “Featuring
nine bibliographies of over 5,000 books and distinct sections to aid classroom
teaching and learning, this tool is an invaluable resource to K-12 educators,
scholars and the general public.”
