Academic Historian

Minnie A. Collins is poet and author of The Purple Wash (2012), Palm Power: Hearts in Harmony (2018), Commemoration Plaques at Seattle’s Historical Liberty Bank Building Apartments (2019), screenplay Troubled Waters for The Mahogany Project and We Out Here (2020), and essay “Sojourner Truth Prevails” (2021) in the National African American Clergy Women’s collection, and contributor/editor to 2022 anthology Black Writers UnMasked. Additional writings are in Raven Chronicles, Emerald Reflections, Fly to the Assemblies! Seattle and the Rise of the Resistance, Voices That Matter, Threads, WA Humanities Crosscurrents, Blackpast.org.  Avocet-Nature Journal, and Southeast Emerald. Her 2021 and 2022 venues included Jacob Lawrence exhibit at Seattle Art Museum, The Green Book at the Tacoma WA Historical Museum, Highline Heritage Museum, NPR, Seattle Public Library’s Bell Hooks’ YouTube and monthly Writers Read. Intersections of diversity, inclusion, equity, and preserving nature are her passions.

Marcellus Sterling Collins, Sr. (1919-2018)

Recognized by Broward County Florida as a successful businessman and civic leader dedicated to economic development, education, and community service, Marcellus Sterling Collins, Sr. continued the early 20th Century legacy of his parents, Richard A. and Leola Collins. Beginning in 1923, his father and mother … Read MoreMarcellus Sterling Collins, Sr. (1919-2018)

McKissack & McKissack Company (1905- )

McKissack &McKissack is the oldest African American-owned architecture, construction, and engineering firm in the United States. The firm’s history began when Scotsman John McKissack, the owner of a construction and brick building company in West Tennessee, purchased an enslaved West African Ashanti ancestor (1790–1865). John … Read MoreMcKissack & McKissack Company (1905- )

Seattle Steelheads (1946)

Poster for Seattle Steelheads at Borchert Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 12, 1946 “Image Ownership: David Eskenazi Collection” The Seattle Steelheads were the all-black minor league baseball team formed in the spring of 1946 as part of the West Coast Negro Baseball League organized by Abe … Read MoreSeattle Steelheads (1946)

Zion Preparatory Academy (1982–2004)

“Image Ownership: Mike Siegel” From the 1960s to the 1980s, Seattle, Washington public school pupils and their parents, as well as the school board and the courts, were involved in a series of contentious and highly controversial attempts to desegregate the city’s public schools racially. … Read MoreZion Preparatory Academy (1982–2004)

The African American Academy (1991-2009)

In the late 1970s after two decades of school desegregation efforts in Seattle, Washington, school administrators and parents of black children began to notice that average academic test scores for African American students began to lag behind those of white and Asian pupils in almost … Read MoreThe African American Academy (1991-2009)

Seattle Royal Giants (1928-1945)

The Seattle Royal Giants was a semi-professional baseball team that played through the Pacific Northwest in the first half of the 20th Century.  The Giants began in 1928 under the leadership of three former professional players in the Negro Baseball League, Elmer Wilson, Jimmy Claxton, … Read MoreSeattle Royal Giants (1928-1945)

Gordon Alexander McHenry (1921-2001)

In 1943 Gordon Alexander McHenry became the first African American engineer hired by the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. He was later promoted to Boeing Executive management (1955).  Prior to 1943 Boeing labor unions had hindered the hiring of African American engineers. During his forty-year … Read MoreGordon Alexander McHenry (1921-2001)