Monday, February 2, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
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Print viewFebruary focus on black history
Washington's first African-American settler
George Washington Bush, 1790-1863
The first African American to settle in what is now Washington state, Bush migrated with his family on the Oregon Trail, eventually making a home in a spot that became known as Bush Prairie (near Tumwater).
Bush left Missouri, a slave state, in 1844 hoping to escape racial discrimination. His intended destination was Oregon, but a black-exclusion law forbade African Americans from settling there. So he and his party headed north of the Columbia River, reaching Puget Sound in 1845.
Bush's journey was the subject of a 1973 series by Seattle-based painter Jacob Lawrence.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
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