Seattle's Ugly Past: Segregation in Our Neighborhoods Newcomers
to Seattle love the variety of neighborhoods. We’re a
counterpane of livable places with modest and grand homes often
tucked together in a green and pleasant landscape. It’s a
residential smorgasbord of cultures, home styles and enclaves,
from houseboats to high-rises, bungalows to classic boxes. But
that excitement of choice wasn’t always there for everyone. For
most of the 20th century, the city was restricted and
segregated, if not literally gated. 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 an