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Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers Collection, 1860s-2010s

Overview of the Collection

Collector
Williamson, Jerrelene
Title
Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers Collection
Dates
1860s-2010s (inclusive)
1980-2010 (bulk)
Quantity
8 boxes, (3.34 linear ft.)
Collection Number
Ms222
Summary
Materials related to the work of Jerrelene Williamson, both in her private research and in her role as president of the Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers. Materials focus on the greater Spokane and inland Northwest Black communities and include photographs, profiles, and research materials.
Repository
Eastern Washington State Historical Society (Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture)
2316 W. First Avenue
Spokane, WA 99201
archives@northwestmuseum.org
Access Restrictions

Collection is not restricted.

The Eastern Washington State Historical Society does not own playback equipment required for access of the 3x3 hard disks. There is one 3x3 hard disk in the colleciton and can be found in Series 6.

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Jerrelene Williamson (b. 1932), historian and longtime President of the Spokane chapter of the Northwest Black Pioneers (NWBP) since its inception in 1989, helped found the original NWBP in Seattle in 1987. The Northwest Black Pioneers was a collaborative project devised to celebrate and preserve Black history in the region through exhibits. The project expanded into an organization dedicated to promoting the Black experience in the Pacific Northwest, raising social awareness and education about local Black communities and events, and providing scholarships to Black high school students.

Williamson was born in Chicago, IL, in 1932. At the age of two, she moved to Spokane, her father’s hometown since his birth in 1899. Williamson was one of two Black graduates in 1950 from her class at John R. Rogers High School, where she is now a member of their Walk of Fame. In 1965, she became the first Black grocery store checker working for a Spokane Safeway, from which she retired in 1991.

Jerrelene Williamson is a renowned leader and widely involved with Black historical and civil rights organizations in the Pacific Northwest, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Seattle’s Northwest African American Museum. In 2003, Williamson received the Jefferson Award, presented by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in partnership with the American Institute for Public Service, in recognition of her extensive contributions in collecting, preserving, and advancing Black history in the region. She is a member of the Spokane Hall of Fame. Jerrelene Williamson is the author of African Americans in Spokane (2010) and is a recipient of the Spokane Library Foundation’s Spokane Community Impact Award (2019). Her work with the Spokane NWBP is recognized nationwide and has garnered her labels like the “guardian of Spokane’s Black history.”

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Content Description

The collection is composed of original materials and manuscripts compiled by Jerrelene Williamson to document the Northwest’s extensive Black history. This includes correspondence between the Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers (SNWBP) and collaborators; speech and event records; publications from local religious, educational, and corporate institutions involving significant members and events in regional Black history; research materials comprising newspaper clippings, publications, and photocopies of primary sources.

Jerrelene Williamson worked as a historian for SNWBP on the organizations and collected many primary and secondary materials as part of her research. Much of the collection pertains to exhibits, community outreach, and her personal work. Other materials in the collection were gifted to her by members of the black community and are dispersed throughout the collection.

It also contains correspondence between Jerrelene Williamson and university students; documentation of official SNWBP exhibits in collaboration with museums, historians, and Jerrelene Williamson. Lastly the collection comprises biographical information and images pertaining to notable members and contributors to the local Black community and other ephemera.

Books in the collection have been separately catalogued. Other areas of interest within the collection may be inland northwest history, local minority organizations, and Jerrelene Williamson and her family.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Copyright has not been assigned to the Eastern Washington State Historical Society. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Museum Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Eastern Washington State Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher

Preferred Citation

Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers (Ms 222), Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture/Eastern Washington State Historical Society, Spokane, WA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into 7 series; series 1 contains 5 subseries:

  • Series 1, General, 1980-2010
  • Subseries 1.1, Ephemera
  • Subseries 1.2, Jerrelene Williamson’s work
  • Subseries 1.3, Research and resources
  • Subseries 1.4, Dwayne Mack
  • Subseries 1.5, Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers Activities
  • Series 2, Events and Exhibits
  • Series 3, Organizations
  • Series 4, Biographies
  • Series 5, Scrapbooks and Artifacts
  • Series 6, Photographs & Audio/Visual Materials
  • Series 7, Newspapers

Acquisition Information

Gift of Jerrelene Williamson, 2017

Processing Note

This collection contains sensitive materials with content that researchers may find harmful, including materials related to racism, sexual abuse, violent acts, white supremacy, and colonial erasure. The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture is dedicated to addressing the harmful language and sensitive content within its collections through thoughtful curation, collection safeguards, and reparative cataloguing. To learn more about the MAC's practices, contact archives@northwestmuseum.org

Separated Materials

Books were removed from the collection and catalogued separately. Please see collection file for details.

Duplicate photographs from exhibition materials have not been retained if they have a corresponding copy negative.

Bibliography

Many of the photographs in the collection were colelced and researched by Williamson for her book: Images of America: African Americans in Spokane (Arcadia Press, 2010) (see 979.37 W676a)

Related Materials

  • Mahaley Collection, L2017-9
  • Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers Object Collection, 4410
  • George Washingotn Carver USO and Spokane Star Ephemera Collection, L2008-55

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Family Names

  • Spokane Northwest Black Pioneers Collection--Archives

Finding aid prepared by Anna Harbine and Alex Fergus
2023

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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