By Ayla Nye, The Seattle Medium
Jacqualine Savanna Boles’s rich, soulful singing accompanied by the warm tones of a piano, filled the frigid February air as people from across the greater Seattle area gathered in front of the newly established Washington State Black Legacy Institute (WSBLI) building earlier this month.
On Feb. 1, WSBLI celebrated the opening of its West Seattle location with a ribbon-cutting and official welcome to the public.
The opening also marked the launch of the organization’s next major event, a Black History Art Exhibition, showcasing paintings and biographies of historical Black figures from Washington state. The exhibition will be on display through the end of the month.
The WSBLI building, located at 2656 42nd Ave SW, was officially acquired in November 2023 by Urban Black Community Development for $2.75 million on behalf of the institute. The building once functioned as a Christian Science church and was granted landmark status by the city of Seattle in 2009.
Formed in 2023, WSBLI serves as a community space where people can engage in open conversations and learn more about Washington state Black history. The institute receives support through private and city funding, as well as county grants and donations. It offers an art exhibit and archive collection that includes films, videos, interview transcripts, documents, print media, photos and audio recordings.
The institute found its roots in The Seattle Griot Project (SGP), an initiative that works to“preserve and promote lived Black history across generations and within the community” through digital archiving.
Roger Evans, the curator of WSBLI and project lead of SGP, said that initially SGP was established to document the stories of elders in the Central District community before they passed on. The project kept evolving from there.
“After we started getting the stories we wanted, we asked them, ‘Did they have anything to validate their stories?’ And, of course, most of them had artifacts. So we started digitizing the artifacts,” Evans said.
Evans said that as SGP’s work expanded, they needed a more formal, structured institution to support research efforts and to digitize analog content, leading to the creation of WSBLI.
Right now, WSBLI and SGP’s main goal is to use the historic artifacts and documents they have collected over the years to create a curriculum focused on Washington state Black history. Evans said he hopes they will collect enough verifiable data to integrate the curriculum into Washington state schools.
Evans emphasized that WSBLI and SGP are grounded in community.
“Our efforts are designed around community–community betterment, community interaction and community benefit. So everything that we do is aimed at helping our community,” he said.
Kateesha Atterberry, president and CEO of WSBLI and founder and managing director of Urban Black Community Development, kicked off the ceremony with a speech. Atterberry emphasized the importance of honoring and preserving Black legacy in Seattle and throughout Washington state.
“We will focus on continuing to build the legacy that was built before us,” she said.
Seattle City District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka made an official proclamation on behalf of Mayor Bruce Harrell and himself, declaring Feb. 1, 2025, as Washington State Black Legacy Institute Day.
After the ribbon-cutting, visitors were invited to explore the new art exhibit, which features a series of portraits of Black pioneers from the Pacific Northwest. The collection was created by Tacoma-based artist Dionne Bonner, who has been painting for over 25 years.
Bonner said that she was never taught about these historical figures in school. So, when she learned who they were and the profound impact they had on the area, she was inspired to depict them through oil paintings.
“Our history is seminal to our survival, and I think that’s true for every group,” Bonner said. “There’s so much that’s rich and important about Black history, and I feel that Black history is, on its own, important to the American experience.”
“We built this. This United States, and we played a huge role in the development of this land. Our future is bound by their past,” she said.
Bonner emphasized the importance of creating spaces, such as WSBLI, where people can have open conversations about Black history.
“It’ll help to educate not just this generation, but all the different generations. Young people, middle aged people, elderly people. I mean, everyone has something to gain from sharing information,” she said.
Evans said that the exhibit will remain open to the public until Feb. 28, after which they will have private showings until the institute can fund staff to keep the building open for business hours.
The exhibit also highlighted historic photographs provided by the Black Heritage Society of Washington State (BHS), a partner of WSBLI. As the president of BHS, Stephanie Johnson-Toliver has been working in close collaboration with Evans and the institute.
Johnson-Toliver said that she believes the institute’s work is integral to the Black community.
“In a way, it extends our story of the Black people in Washington state. At the Black Heritage Society we gather, collect and manage primary sources of things that sit on shelves, really beautiful collections. But what the institute does is they take it a step further. They’ve been really instrumental in creating digital pieces from primary sources,” she said.
Incorporating a Black history curriculum into the school system is “absolutely critical” Johnson-Toliver said. “Black people helped to make up the full history of our state, and so it would be wonderful if we could figure out how to be able to create study guides that are related to the archive,” she said.
Evans said that restoring history through archives empowers and raises awareness within the Black community by helping people connect with their identity and heritage.
He quoted famous poet Maya Angelou, “‘If you don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you’re going.’”
Source: Seattle Medium
