Dr. Rosalie Reddick Miller was the first African American woman dentist to practice in the state of Washington. She was born on December 29, 1925 in Waycross, Georgia. She attended the all-black public schools in Columbus, Georgia, and in 1946 received a B.A. from Fisk … Read MoreRosalie Reddick Miller (1925-2005)
Robert “Bumps” Blackwell was a musician, producer, and composer who worked with the top names in early jazz and rock and roll. Blackwell was born in Seattle, Washington on May 23, 1918. By the late 1940s his Seattle-based “Bumps Blackwell Junior Band” featured Ray Charles … Read MoreRobert “Bumps” Blackwell (1918-1985)
Rev. Peter Barrow moved his family from Mississippi to Spokane, Washington in 1889. Almost immediately upon arriving, he began to involve himself politically and religiously in the city’s early life. According to Union Army Pension Records, Barrow was born into slavery in 1840 near Petersburg, … Read MorePeter Barrow (1840-1906)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Between 1860 and 1900, Portland, Oregon‘s African American population increased from sixteen to 775, still small, but large enough to support two churches, a few businesses, and The New Age, a black paper established in 1896 by Adolphus D. Griffin, former … Read MoreThe New Age, Portland, Oregon (1896-1907)
Philip Burton was a Seattle lawyer for more than 40 years, a voice for the disadvantaged, and a fighter for reforms to end discrimination in education, housing and employment. His legal actions led to the desegregation of Seattle Public Schools. Fighting for civil rights was … Read MorePhillip Burton (1915-1995)
Odessa Brown, for whom the Children’s Clinic in Seattle is named, was born April 30, 1920, in Des Arc, Arkansas. She moved to Seattle in 1963 after receiving training as a licensed beautician at the C. J. Walker Beauty School in Chicago. A mother of … Read MoreOdessa Brown (1920-1969)
The Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, which treats children throughout Seattle and King County, was developed cooperatively by the Seattle Model Cities Program, Children’s Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center, and concerned citizens of the Central Area. It opened in 1970, at 2017 East Spruce Street and … Read MoreOdessa Brown Children’s Clinic
Founded in 1920, The Northwest Enterprise served an important role in supporting and maintaining an emerging African American community in Seattle, Washington and throughout the Northwest. The newspaper served its community in five specific ways: visibility, success, support of black institutions, community leadership, and resistance. … Read MoreNorthwest Enterprise (1920-1954?)
This Seattle branch of the YMCA is located at 23rd Avenue and East Madison Street. The site was formerly used as a tennis club by members of the community. The property was owned by the Colman family, long-time supporters of the YMCA. Members of the … Read MoreMeredith Mathews East Madison YMCA
Argued February 26, 1974. Decided April 23, 1974. After being denied admission to a state-operated law school, petitioner brought this suit on behalf of himself alone for injunctive relief, claiming that the school’s admissions policy racially discriminated against him in violation of the Equal Protection … Read More(1974) DeFunis v. Odegaard
