For over 70 years, Seattle’s Black community has a held a summer festival that was part of Seattle's International Festival, now Seafair. The first, in 1952, was called the East Madison/East Union Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras later transformed into the Pacific Northwest Black Community Festival, and in 1997 it became the Umoja Fest African Heritage Festival.
On the afternoon of July 25th, 1993, drill teams, marching bands, Seafair royalty, clowns, pirates, and politicians paraded down Martin Luther King Jr. Way during the annual Black Community Festival Mardi Gras parade, one of the day’s many Seafair activities. The parade started at East Cherry Street and moved south on Martin Luther King Jr. Way and then west on South Jackson Street to 20th Avenue South.
Here, a Freemasons float turns a corner during the 1993 Mardi Gras parade. It probably represents the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, a predominantly Black branch of the North American Freemasons, with its temple located on 24th Avenue S. in the Central Area. The float, carrying a man in Masonic regalia, and two women in gowns, also bears the emblem of a related women's organization, Job's daughters.
Caption information source: “Umoja Fest2021 Brings the Community Together,”South Seattle Emerald, August 11, 2021. Retrieved at https://southseattleemerald.com/2021/08/11/photo-essay-umoja-fest-2021-brings-the-community-together/ Caption information source: "Ethnic fetes flavor mix of Seafair events," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 26, 1993, p. B1
