 | | Where | Central Library |
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| Address | This event is being presented in person at Central Library, with the option to view the livestream from home.
Registration required.
Click here to register. |
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| Audience | Adults |
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| Language | English |
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| Summary | Join us to celebrate the release of the second edition of this seminal work. |
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| Description | It is presented in partnership with Northwest African American Museum, Elliott Bay Book Company, and University of Washington Press. Books will be available for sale at Central Library on the evening of the event, and signed copies may be available from Elliott Bay Book Company after the program.
Dr. Taylor will appear in conversation with Dr. Quin’Nita Cobbins-Modica.
This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation and the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation. Thanks to media sponsor The Seattle Times. This event will be recorded, captioned and then posted on the Library's YouTube channel after the event.
About the Book:
Seattle's first black resident was a sailor named Manuel Lopes who arrived in 1858 and became the small community's first barber. He left in the early 1870s to seek economic prosperity elsewhere, but as Seattle transformed from a stopover town to a full-fledged city, African Americans began to stay and build a community. By the early twentieth century, black life in Seattle coalesced in the Central District, a four-square-mile section east of downtown. Black Seattle, however, was never a monolith. Through world wars, economic booms and busts, and the civil rights movement, black residents and leaders negotiated intragroup conflicts and had varied approaches to challenging racial inequity. Despite these differences, they nurtured a distinct African American culture and black urban community ethos. With a new foreword and afterword, this second edition of “The Forging of a Black Community” is essential to understanding the history and present of the largest black community in the Pacific Northwest.
About the Speakers:
Quintard Taylor is the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History and professor emeritus at the University of Washington. He is the author of renowned works such as “In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528–1990” and “America I Am, Black Facts: The Timelines of African American History, 1601–2008,” as well as co-editor of several volumes, including “African American Women Confront the West, 1600–2000” and “Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California.” He also co-authored “Dr. Sam, Soldier, Educator, Advocate, Friend: An Autobiography,” and he is the founder of BlackPast.org, a website with seventy-five hundred entries on African American and Global African history which had over six million worldwide visitors in 2020.
Quin’Nita Cobbins-Modica is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Seattle Pacific University. She completed her Ph.D in 2018 at the University of Washington and has taught courses in U.S., African American, and Pacific Northwest history at Gonzaga University and the University of Oregon. She is a scholar of African American history whose research centers on black women’s activism and politics in the American West. Her current book project explores the long history of black women’s political engagement and community-building efforts in Seattle that offers an expansive new interpretation of how their activism went well beyond formal politics, extending into unions, businesses, social services, and community organizations.
Cobbins-Modica is also the coauthor of “Seattle on the Spot: The Photographs of Al Smith” which documents Seattle’s vibrant Central District in the 1940s and 1950s. For the past nine years, she has worked with Blackpast.org in several roles including webmaster, associate editor, and executive director. She is presently a member of the board and continues to develop her own and other public-facing scholarship.
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| View in Catalog | The Forging of a Black Community by Quintard Taylor |
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| ADA Accommodations | We can provide accommodations for people with disabilities at Library events. Please contact leap@spl.org at least seven days before the event to request accommodations. Captions are available for all recorded Library programs. |
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| Event Information | For registration information and other questions, Ask Us or call 206-386-4636. |
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