Legacy — The first primarily Black-owned bank west of the Mississippi River, Liberty Bank provided essential services to people and businesses who were otherwise unable to obtain them. Though the bank itself was demolished, its legacy lives on through the Liberty Bank Building which offers affordable housing and supports Black businesses.

Legacy — The Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Memorial Park is a four-and-a-half-acre green space that boasts a view toward downtown Seattle from the east hillside of Martin Luther King Jr. Way between South Walker and South Bayview Streets. The park honors the legacy of Dr. King and pays tribute to the vision he promoted for social justice and world peace.

Arts & Culture — From its founding as the Alhambra Cabaret in 1920, through the 1930s when it was renamed, and into the 1960s, the Black & Tan Club hosted nearly every nationally acclaimed jazz musician and well-known local talent. "The Black & Tan" also employed an almost exclusively Black staff until closing its doors around 1969.

Arts & Culture — The Dr. James & Janie Washington Cultural Center is a Craftsman bungalow in the Central Area that was once home to James and Janie Washington, who moved to the Seattle area during World War II to seek work in the naval shipyards. Janie later became a nurse; James was an activist with the NAACP and an acclaimed artist whose work was exhibited throughout the Seattle area.

Arts & Culture — Originally a synagogue and later a community center administered by the Seattle Parks & Recreation Department, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute has been a venue for Black performing arts in the Central Area since the 1970s, offering classes and performances in dance, film, music, and theater from local and international artists.

Arts & Culture — Since 2008, the Northwest African American Museum has illuminated the history and culture of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest. The museum is housed within the former Colman School building, constructed in 1909 and claimed for the Black community in 1985 by activists who occupied the building for eight years in the nation’s longest act of civil disobedience.

Arts & Culture — Originally built in 1908 by the Danish Brotherhood in America, Washington Hall was one of the few venues in town that would rent space to African Americans. As a result, it was the site of Black civic, social club, and military gatherings through the 1960s and hosted such musical greats as Jimi Hendrix, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday.

Call to Action — A former firehouse built in 1909, Byrd Barr Place is known to many as the Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP). Created by local activists to tackle citywide poverty and racism, CAMP became the first community-inspired program to receive federal funding through Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and remains the oldest surviving independent agency of that era.

Call to Action — The People's Wall is a mural commissioned by the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party, covering a street-level retaining wall which is all that remains of the Party's demolished 1960s headquarters. Incorporating iconic images and names of fallen comrades, the People's Wall stands today as a call to action to serve, protect, and empower the Black community.

Spirituality & Community — First named for Henry Yesler, one of the city's founders, the library served a changing ethnic community across several decades. In the 1960s, the Black Friends of the Yesler Library were instrumental in acquiring collections of African American literature to expand the collection into a major regional resource. In 1975, a public vote changed the library's name to the Douglass-Truth Library.

Spirituality & Community — The First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) is the oldest African American church in Seattle. In the 1960s and '70s, its church leaders were instrumental in the Seattle civil rights movement. Today, the church operates the Martin Luther King FAME Community Center, promoting social, cultural, arts, and economic programs for all residents.

Spirituality & Community — Mount Zion Baptist Church has a legacy of more than 100 years of continued service in Seattle. At one point, the church grew to more than 2,500 members, making it the largest African American congregation in the state. The current church is an example of Afrocentric architecture, expressing the history of African and American faiths.

Spirituality & Community — Yesler Terrace is known as the first racially integrated public housing project in the United States. Built by the Seattle Housing Authority in 1939, Yesler Terrace served a growing African American population migrating to Seattle during World War II. Since its construction, social equity and non-discrimination have remained key values of the housing project.

Spirituality & Community — Initially operating on an all-volunteer basis from a donated building, the YMCA Meredith Mathews-East Madison Branch became an Armed Services YMCA for African American servicemen during World War II. It also attracted new audiences by developing youth programs and hosting live music, featuring some of the Northwest's best-known jazz and R&B musicians.

Spirituality & Community — With African American members restricted from the Seattle YWCA downtown, the YWCA Phillis Wheatley Branch was born as the Y's African American Culture Club. In the 1930s, when its board representative petitioned to receive (and was granted) voting member status, Seattle's YWCA board became the first racially integrated YWCA board in the nation.