By Kiara Doyal
The Seattle Medium
Although Seattle’s Central District has changed dramatically over the past several decades, many longtime Black residents say the neighborhood remains home, not simply because of where they once lived, but because of the history, relationships and cultural institutions that continue to define it.
For generations, the Central District served as the heart of Seattle’s Black community, where Black families built homes, churches, businesses and organizations that helped shape the city’s cultural identity. While rising housing costs and redevelopment have transformed the neighborhood’s demographics, community leaders say preserving that legacy has become just as important as preserving the neighborhood itself.
According to Stephanie Johnson-Toliver, president of the Black Heritage Society of Washington State, the Central District’s central location and accessibility continue to attract new residents. But those same qualities have also made it increasingly difficult for many longtime Black families to remain in the neighborhood.
“There is definitely a shift in the demographic. In terms of who is moving in is based on what this particular area of the city offers,” said Johnson-Toliver. “As far as I’m concerned, the Central District has always been the center of Seattle, and how it is connected to all four boundaries of the city is what is drawing people in. But affordability is the big issue.”
Tiffany Kelly-Gray, director of strategic initiatives at Byrd Barr Place, agrees that rising housing costs have been the driving force behind the neighborhood’s dramatic demographic changes.
“When Byrd Barr Place opened, this community was about 80% Black, and now it is about 8%, and I think that is a bit drastic,” said Kelly-Gray. “There are a lot of answers why it has changed so much over the years, but the biggest factor is affordability.”
Even as families have moved to other parts of the region, Kelly-Gray said many continue returning to the Central District because it remains the cultural heart of Seattle’s Black community.
“What we see is that the people who used to own homes here who are Black no longer live here, but they still come back,” said Kelly-Gray. “They come back to these communities for events, the barbershops, the church services and the restaurants. People know where to go to still have that relevant cultural experience, even if it’s not where they live.”
Kelly-Gray said organizations like Byrd Barr Place and Africatown play an important role in ensuring those connections continue, even as the neighborhood changes.
“I can’t make housing more affordable here, right? I can’t change the cost of a single-family home,” said Kelly-Gray. “But what I can do is make sure that organizations like Byrd Barr Place or Africatown have cultural spaces that Black people can still come back to and still represent the community they grew up with. So, I do think that there is an interest in keeping and maintaining the cultural legacy, even if the people who live in the community aren’t the same people.”
Johnson-Toliver said preserving the Central District extends beyond homeownership. It also means protecting the stories, artifacts and experiences that define the neighborhood’s history.
At the Black Heritage Society, that work includes preserving one of Washington state’s largest collections of Black historical materials, including oral histories, photographs and documents that tell the story of Seattle’s Black community.
“People decide to share and preserve their culture by telling us, recording it, documenting it, saving it, and then sharing it back in community,” said Johnson-Toliver. “Also, when we have cultural community events that bring people together, that is another way we are preserving this culture.”
Johnson-Toliver said community events also create opportunities for younger generations and newcomers to learn about the Central District’s rich history.
“I was so taken away by how many people showed up for the Reunion on Union,” said Johnson-Toliver. “That is us preserving this culture in the Central District. At Langston we have a talkback where the community can talk back and share, and that preserves and enlightens those who don’t know about the culture.”
She also highlighted the work of the Historic Central Area Arts and Culture District, which is working to preserve the neighborhood’s legacy through landmark designations and public recognition of historically significant sites.
Following the successful landmark designation of the historic People’s Lodge, the organization is now pursuing landmark status for Garfield Playfield because of its significance in Seattle’s Black baseball history dating back to the 1920s.
“As quickly as you try to erase it, I think that people double down and say, ‘No, this is our footprint, and you can tear that building down, but you can’t tear down the history that lived there,’” said Johnson-Toliver. “We are excited about bringing the nomination forward and the history of Garfield Playfield and the baseball that was played on that field.”
Johnson-Toliver believes preserving that history also requires making it more accessible to future generations.
“I think it’s a two-way street,” said Johnson-Toliver. “For newcomers, if you are really invested in your neighborhood and want to know the history of the Central District, then you have to do your own deep diving and research.”
“And then on our end, as organizations, we can do a better job at working to digitize those collections. And once we do, we can share more broadly, because that is what people want. We need to make the assets really available and accessible and show up in the community when we have an opportunity to talk about the Central District.”
Community leader and former state Rep. Dawn Mason said the neighborhood’s identity has endured despite the Black population becoming more dispersed throughout the region.
“Everything that we put on is peaceful. We have Black Wall Street, Juneteenth, the Annual Fish Fry, and so much more, and we have never had an incident of violence or negative behavior,” said Mason. “We leave the places the way we found them, very clean and neat. You can’t even tell that we were there, and that is our story.”
Mason said events like Reunion on Union remind people that, regardless of where they now live, the Central District remains a place they return to reconnect with one another.
“We just had the Reunion on Union, and we just loved on each other,” said Mason. “And why were we there? Because we were home.”
Although Seattle’s Black community has become more geographically dispersed, Mason believes it has never lost its sense of belonging.
“Even though our community has been disintegrated in the Central District, we do know how to get home, no matter where we have been dispersed to,” said Mason. “It’s like in The Wiz. ‘When I think of home,’ I think of a place where there is love overflowing, and we do come back to that home. We create communities for ourselves, just like we did when we moved from the South up to the North.”
Johnson-Toliver shares that same optimism, believing the Central District is entering a new chapter that honors both its history and its future.
“We are rooted here,” said Johnson-Toliver. “We are determined by almost any means to stay and maintain our piece of the block here in the Central District. We are really fortunate that these last couple of years have had organizations like Black Homeowners to empower people to stay.”
She said preserving the Central District is ultimately about protecting something that cannot be erased.
“You can’t tear down the history that has lived here,” said Johnson-Toliver. “All my excitement lies in seeing what is coming next. Preserving the past, but looking to the future.”
For Johnson-Toliver, that future is already beginning to take shape.
“It’s almost like the Central District is rising from the ashes,” said Johnson-Toliver. “It’s like a phoenix. Preserving the past, but looking to the future.”
