African American Culture, History, & Arts: Advocacy

The Seattle Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded on October 23, 1913, and became the first of the national civil rights organizations to be established in the city. The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination.

The Commission serves as the official state representative of the African American community—advising the Governor, Legislature and state agencies regarding policy development and implementation. The commission also works to establish relationships with local governments and private sector organizations that promote equal opportunity for African-Americans.

For 50 years the Tacoma Urban League has worked in a variety of ways to strengthen and support the local African American community. Founded in 1968, the Tacoma Urban League is devoted to empowering African Americans and other disenfranchised groups to enter the economic and social mainstream. From its earliest days in the civil rights movement, through years of partnership with government and public agencies, the Tacoma Urban League has been a beacon of hope and a catalyst for change in the South Puget Sound African American community.

Since its founding in 2005, Tacoma’s Buffalo Soldiers Museum has served as a community resource encompassing a significant – and all too often overlooked – facet of American history. It is part of our overall historical education efforts.

Tumwater was the first major American settlement in the Puget Sound region, and the territory that would become Washington. And it was founded by George Bush, who was African-American.

Painter. A social realist, Lawrence documented the African American experience in several series devoted to Toussaint L’Ouverture, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, life in Harlem, and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was one of the first nationally recognized African American artists. Lawrence spent his last years in Seattle, WA, where he taught at the University of Washington.

At the heart of the African American experience in the Northwest is the story of our journey to this region, the establishment of our vibrant community, and the ways in which we have survived. To tell this ever-unfolding story, the Museum’s exhibitions and programs feature the visual arts, music, crafts, literature, and history of African Americans in the Northwest. Cognizant of the black community’s continuous evolution, NAAM focuses on African Americans whose route to the new world was through slavery as well as recent immigrants arriving from places such as Somalia, Sudan, and Ethiopia.

This page is a gateway to the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project resources for exploring the civil rights activism of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest.