SEATTLE — Seattle’s Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) officially re-opened from several years of pandemic closures on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2023.
“We are so excited to welcome people back to see our exhibitions and come together in our community living room” says Executive Director LaNesha DeBardalaben.
The Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) is celebrating Black History Month with an in-person keynote program featuring Dr. Damion Thomas, author, speaker, and the museum curator of sports for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Dr. Thomas will speak about race, athleticism and activism.
“I talk about the role of sports and the African American fight for greater rights and freedom in this country,” Thomas said.
The keynote program will highlight familiar athletic trailblazers like Muhammad All while putting the spotlight on lesser-known sports stories that shaped America.
“For example, I’ll be talking about horse racing and the central role that horse racing played in the African American fight during the era of enslavement,” said Thomas.
Thomas said the Northwest will also be a focus in his talk.
“It connects with so many vital moments and points throughout African American history," he said.
NAAM features the stories of many Black Pacific Northwest trailblazers like Jimi Hendrix and lesser-known sports figures like the 1945 Spokane women's softball team made up of United Service Organization members who supported troops during World War II and Harold Mills who became the first African American to earn a national championship in hydroplane racing.
The Seahawks, Mariners and Seattle University Athletic department are sponsoring the program.
“We are so thrilled to have these partners step up to sponsor this gathering of community,” said DeBardelaben.
NAAM is also hosting several exhibitions including The Colors of Life: African American Abstract Art and the Regathering of Community, as well as, A Long Walk to Hope: The Photography of Seattle’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual March.
DeBardelaben says having a speaker from the Smithsonian in Washington D.C is a boost to the revival of NAAM.
“We have so many stories that haven’t really been told and we get to bring people inside the museum to learn together and enjoy art and cultural literacy together here in the re-opened NAAM.”