Community Leaders Seek Black Cultural Corridor to Sustain Yesler Way Legacy

East Yesler Way, which runs through Seattle's historically Black neighborhood, is filled with numerous landmarks. Now community members want to designate the roadway as a Black cultural corridor, as a way to preserve and continue building the legacy of the Central District.

"It's not that we're necessarily creating all of these things; many of them are already here," said K. Wyking Garrett, president of the Africatown Community Land Trust (ACLT). "It's really about unboxing it, reframing it, and seeing what can be added to it to enhance it again."

The City of Seattle currently has no formal process to designate a street a cultural corridor. A cultural corridor on Yesler could likely be the first in the city.

Along with a cultural corridor on Yesler, community members want to add a festival street, which would be a space that community organizations, businesses, and residents can close for gatherings and events. A festival street must receive approval from the Seattle Department of Transportation.

The corridor on Yesler would span the entire length and would start near the waterfront, close to the new Seattle Black Panther Party Interpretive Center at 423 2nd Ave. Ext. S., and would end by Leschi Elementary School at 135 32nd Ave. So far, 30 landmarks have been identified, and there are plans to incorporate both short-term and long-term projects.

The ACLT is planning to renovate the Benu Community Home at 16th Avenue South and East Yeslery Way, which is currently a shelter for adult men, into affordable housing. The Yesler Black cultural corridor is a way to bring together the existing elements and enhance the neighborhood.

"It gives us a map," said Ebony Arunga, executive director of LANGSTON, who is leading the effort to create a festival street in the Central District.

"We have big streets in the Central District: Union is a big one; Jackson is a big one; Yesler deserves its time to shine," Arunga added. "It's time for us to look at the Black history of Yesler and put it at the forefront and make sure that it's not forgotten, and that it continues to be honored."

Walking Along Yesler

On a walk through the neighborhood, Garrett pointed out several landmarks on 14th Avenue South and East Yesler Way, beginning with the red, green, and black stripes that adorn the crosswalk and welcome people into the Central District.

The Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, which is the longest-standing Black-led nonprofit organization in Seattle, also sits at the intersection. Nearby, there's Washington Hall, where Black political leaders like Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois have spoken and artists like Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, and Billie Holiday have performed.

On 15th Avenue South sits Goodwill Baptist Church, a historic Black church. In the past decade, many Black-owned churches have been sold, moved, or closed entirely. Farther up on 17th Avenue South is the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, originally a Jewish synagogue, which later became a hub for Black arts and culture.

Between 18th and 20th avenues sit Bryant Manor Apartments and Ashe Preparatory Early Learning, an affordable housing complex and preschool. ​​Not far away used to be R&L Home of Good Bar-B-Que, a famous Black-owned restaurant that hosted people like Martin Luther King Jr. The restaurant closed in 2018 after 66 years of business.

A couple of blocks away on East Spruce Street is the original Odessa Brown building, which still has the letters of her name engraved on it; it is now First Place Preschool. The People's Wall, a mural and the only visible reminder of the Black Panther Party's headquarters from the 1960s, is across the street. The mural was approved as an official Seattle city landmark this year.

On 20th Avenue South, both Pratt Park and Pratt Fine Arts Center are named after Edwin Pratt, a Seattle civil rights leader. At the park, some of the city's first Juneteenth celebrations were held and led by DeCharlene Williams, who also founded the Central Area Chamber of Commerce and owned a beauty salon.

The Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center and former Odessa Brown Children's Clinic are tucked in between 21st and 22nd avenues. Carolyn Downs was founded by the Seattle Black Panther Party Chapter. These clinics have provided free and affordable healthcare for low-income Black and brown residents.

One of the largest collections of African American literature and history on the West Coast is held at the Douglass-Truth library branch at 23rd Avenue and East Yesler Way. The library was originally named after Henry Yesler, one of Seattle's founders, but was later renamed in 1975 to better reflect the community.

Activating the Neighborhood

Efforts like creating a festival street are short-term activities that can be achieved within a year to add to the corridor. Other ideas include adding artwork and murals in the community. Then, there are more ambitious projects like building affordable housing, preserving small businesses, and having more childcare centers.

Currently, plans for a festival street are centered on 17th Avenue South between East Yesler Way and South Main Street, right next to the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, and would allow community members to easily close down the street for frequent public events or block parties. Other festival streets in Seattle include Canton Alley in the Chinatown-International District and South Roberto Maestas Festival Street on Beacon Hill.

"​​Whenever anyone wants to close down a street, they have to go through a lot of processes with the city and permits," Arunga said. "But when a festival street is created, that process becomes a lot easier. It's not just for LANGSTON to be able to host festivals; it's for anybody to be able to host festivals on that street."

The proposal would have to receive support from the community before the Seattle Department of Transportation approves it. Residents who live nearby will be informed, since it could affect parking and noise ordinances. Arunga said the goal is to finalize the festival street by the end of next year.

She also hopes the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute and the festival street can become the center of the corridor and have community members see these landmarks as places to find community events and shows.

Investing in the Central District

More than 150 years ago when Seattle was founded, Henry Yesler was known as one of the early founders of the city. William Grose is said to be the city's second Black resident and was one of its wealthiest. In 1882, Grose also helped establish the Central District when he bought 12 acres from Henry Yesler for $1,000 in gold.

"Ever since Seattle was a city, there's been a Black presence in this neighborhood," Garrett said.

Since then, the Central District has become a focal point for the Black community, because, at times, there was no other place for Black people to live due to policies such as segregation and redlining. Yet in the past several decades, there has been significant change. Census data showed that some Central District census tracts were 90% Black in 1970, but their Black population shares have dropped below 20% in more recent data.

"It's been devastating," Garrett said about the declining population of Black people in the Central District.

To counteract displacement and gentrification, Garrett said the city should invest in building affordable housing and providing pathways for home ownership for people to stay or to come back. He pointed to the Africatown Plaza at 23rd Avenue South and East Spring Street, an affordable housing building where he said 90% of the people living there have ties to the community.

The Yesler Black cultural corridor is ultimately a way to continue investing in the Central District and acknowledge the deep history of the community while still envisioning the future for the neighborhood.

"To see it and to continue to call it out — it builds an ecosystem for us to be able to utilize," Arunga said. "Yesler is the turning point of how the Central District even came to be a Black epicenter."