African Americans in Spokane

Local historian Jerrelene Williamson and the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society present about the history of African Americans in Spokane, touching on how the Northern Pacific Coal Company recruited Blacks from the South to break the coal strike in Roslyn, Washington in 1888 - the greatest migration of Blacks to the Northwest. It was years later when the mines closed in Roslyn that the Black workers and their families went to Spokane, Seattle, Portland and other parts of the Northwest. This program is part of Spokane Public Library's celebration of African American History Month.