about the central district
The Central District has been home to Seattle’s African American community for over 100 years. It is the birthplace of many world-renowned artists, including the sculptor James Washington, musicians Quincy Jones and Jimi Hendrix and of Seattle’s famous Jackson Street Jazz scene frequented by Ray Charles, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker. Since the 1920s, the Central District has been a hub for African-American art and artists. Though its demographics are changing, the neighborhood remains the spiritual and cultural center for many blacks in the Pacific Northwest.
By incorporating this historically and culturally significant neighborhood into the name of our organization, we honor the tradition of black arts in Seattle and reflect our mission to explore and celebrate the ways in which the black experience continues to profoundly shape our collective American culture.
Read more on the Central District:
The Forging of A Black Community
(University of Washington Press, 1994), by Quintard Taylor
Jackson Street After Hours
(Sasquatch Books, 1993), by Paul De Barros
Jackson Street After Hours archives
Seattle’s African American Heritage Guide
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The CD Forum is a member of the Arts Coalition and encourages you support the arts in Seattle.