Two weekends left for the Central District Civil Rights walking tour

You have two more chances to go on a walking tour of the Central District’s Civil Rights history. Hosted by the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) and the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM), the two-hour walking tours will explore places throughout the neighborhood that were important during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

The tours are being held in conjunction with the Freedom Riders exhibit at MOHAI through October 24, which is hosted in part by CD Forum.

The two remaining walks are October 15 and 22. Tickets are $10 (or $5 for MOHAI members). They can be purchased in advance online.

From MOHAI:

Neither the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s nor the racially discriminating practices that fueled it were limited to the Deep South. In Seattle, de facto housing segregation confined the majority of the city’s African American residents to the Central District and racial inequality was widespread in schools and in the workplace. The Central District neighborhood was a hotbed of activity in the 1960s, as men and women working or living in the area led the local Civil Rights Movement. Explore this rich history on a two hour walking tour, led by docents from the Museum of History & Industry and the Northwest African American Museum.

This program is offered in conjunction with the exhibit Freedom Riders, on view at MOHAI September 26 through October 24. It is presented by the Museum of History & Industry and the Northwest African American Museum.    

Meet at: Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 104 17th Ave. S. This walking tour will cover about 1.5 miles; please wear appropriate shoes. Tour will end approximately half a mile from the starting point.

The Seattle Times recently featured the walks:

“I think that people will really kind of connect more through the walking tours,” MOHAI communications director Jackie Durban said. “We really wanted to bring history out into the streets, outside of the building and personalize and highlight a local connection to Seattle.”

The tour makes 10 stops throughout the Central District, each of which was significant during the civil-rights movement. On the itinerary are Garfield High School — where black activist Stokely Carmichael spoke to an audience of 4,000 in 1967; the Douglass-Truth Library, home to one of the largest collections of African American literature on the West Coast; and the Central Area Motivation Program — launched during the civil-rights movement and instrumental in creating initiatives to provide housing, employment and food programs throughout Seattle.

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