
Trip
Day Hike - Seattle Central District
Night hike Seattle's "CD" during Black History Month to explore Seattle's racist housing past. This fourth in a series of February walks follows "redlining" just south of I-90 starting at the Northwest African American History Museum (closed).
- Info
- COVID-19: Learn about our most up-to-date guidance for participants and leaders on our COVID-19 Response page. All participants and leaders must agree to the COVID-19 Code of Conduct before participating in this Mountaineers activity.
- Tue, Feb 23, 2021
- Seattle Hiking Committee
- Day Hiking
- Adults
- Moderate
- Mileage: 4.6 mi
- Elevation Gain: 300 ft
- High Point Elevation: 318 ft
- Pace: 2.0 mph
- FULL, 3 on waitlist (10 capacity)
- FULL (2 capacity)
- Cancellation & Refund Policy
Meet shortly before 6pm in the parking area of Dr Jose Rizal Park, 1007 12th Ave South, just west of the Pack Med Center on north Beacon Hill. Please visit King County Metro Trip Planner for directions.
This up and down night hike criss-crosses East Seattle to follow the southern boundary of a large "redlined" district noted in a Kroll 1936 real estate map. We head south through Beacon Hill then east at S McClellan to return back via the the I-90 Trail Jimi Hendrix Park and the I-90 Trail. We'll look for enduring evidence of 20th century segregation in our fair city.
March 2013, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "A clear-eyed view of our past reveals a history of racial and ethnic intolerance. In the 19th century, all Native Americans were banned from living in Seattle, a city named for a local tribal leader. In the 1880s, Chinese workers were expelled amid riots. The Japanese internment during World War II remains a stain.
"But Seattle’s exclusionary practices extend beyond those events, and were in place much more recently. The city was stitched together with racial exclusions written into property deeds and community covenants. Real estate agents and lenders used “redlining” to draw racial boundaries. In 1960, Seattle was 92 percent white. More than 90 percent of Seattle’s black population was pushed into the Central District. In 1964, Seattle voters soundly defeated an “open housing” ordinance that would have let anyone live anywhere. It lost by more than 2-to-1. The city was segregated, and a large majority wanted it that way."
The University of Washington Seattle Civil Rights Labor History project provides insights to our history of racial segregation:
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/segregated.htm
Required Equipment
- Navigation
- Headlamp
- Sun protection
- First aid
- Knife
- Fire
- Shelter
- Extra food
- Extra water
- Extra clothes