by Amanda Ong
This Saturday, April 29, The Seattle Public Library will host “Preserving Neighborhood Character: The Soul Pole at 50 Years” from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Douglass-Truth Branch in the Central District. The event commemorates the 50th anniversary of the historic Soul Pole’s installation at the branch on April 24, 1973.
Continue reading Central District’s Soul Pole Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary This Saturdayby Rayna Mathis
Seattle’s Central District (CD) has gone through drastic changes over the last 20 years. Many communities have called this historic neighborhood home: Jewish people, Japanese Americans, and African Americans. Long-time residents and displaced families whose histories go back generations will lament this sentiment.
If you’ve been to the CD in the last month, you might have noticed an important piece of 23rd and Yesler missing — the Soul Pole. In the summer of 1969, as part of President Johnson’s Model Cities Program (which ended in 1974), the Soul Pole was carved in a month by five teen artists, aged 14–16: Brenda Davis, Larry Gordon, Gregory Jackson, Cindy Jones, and Gaylord Young and was led by Seattle Rotary Boys Club Art Director, Gregory X. The sculpture honors 400 years of African American history by using four figures to represent significant moments of the Black man’s experience from primitive, to slavery, to liberation.
Continue reading Where Did the Soul Go?
