Celebrating Tulsa's 'Black Wall Street' by rebuilding Seattle's Central District

Here's something you may not know about the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, K. Wyking Garrett told a crowd of Black business owners this week.

Within years of its destruction, its people had built it back stronger than before.

It could happen in Seattle’s Central District, too, he says.

For Garrett, the story of the Tulsa Massacre is a story of rebirth. He’s been thinking about how it applies to the Central District, which has gone from 90% Black to just 9% since its peak in the 1960s.

“The narrative was really that the ship has sailed for Black people in the Central District,” Garrett said. “We just didn’t accept that narrative.”

Garrett’s organization, Africatown Community Land Trust, has been building affordable housing and spaces for Black-owned businesses for several years now. The projects take a long time to plan and build, but they're happening.

Some of the businesses in those spaces have become highly successful, such as Communion, where chef Kristi Brown is a finalist this year for the “Best Chef in the Northwest” award by the James Beard Foundation.

Chukundi Salisbury explained that when people say Black Wall Street, they aren’t talking about a place where people trade stocks and bonds.

“In the context of our culture — Black culture — when we talk about Black Wall Street, we're talking about the concentration of Black wealth in one place,” Salisbury said.

Business owner Ruzeda Fields put it this way: “It means making sure that when Black people are paid, our money stays in our pocket for more than just several hours,” she said. “It stays within the community and gets recycled and makes sure that everybody in the community eats before we feed other people.”

Some younger business owners are still learning details about the disturbing history of what happened in Tulsa.

“Even in my generation, I'm still trying to take it all in that so many amazing Black business owners lost what they worked so hard for,” said Monika Thornton-Lawrence. After its successful rebirth, it was eventually destroyed again when a freeways was pushed through the neighborhood.

But it’s the potential for rebirth here in Seattle that’s caught the imagination of business owner Meisha Russell.

“Gives me hope, gives me drive,” she said. “Gives me a reason to keep going, to know that we have people that's backing us, that we have a community too. I'm going to get emotional, but — it just gives you hope.”

Africatown is hosting a street fair on Monday at 23rd Avenue S & S Jackson Street, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., called “Honoring our Black Wall Streets,” to remember Black business districts, and to build energy for rebuilding them in Seattle and across the country.

Event Planner Amirah Karim said the fair will include apparel, art, educational resources, food trucks, beauty, and cosmetics. There will even be a mobile dental clinic where people can get their teeth examined.