Black population of Central District reaches its peak concentration at 73% (1970)

By the 1970s, census data shows that Black residents comprised 73% of the population in the Central District. Another 11% of the population in the neighborhood included other people of color such as Asian Americans and Hispanic residents and only 16% of the population was white. Although the area formed as a hub of the Black community because segregationist policies and racism made it one of the only places Black residents could live, over time the community thrived by creating supportive services and institutions of its own.

Resource: Gene Balk. “Historically Black Central District could be less than 10% Black in a decade,” Seattle Times (Seattle, WA). Sept. 6, 2016, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/historically-black-central-district-could-be-less-than-10-black-in-a-decade/