Wishing someone "Happy Black History Month" in February might have once been as offbeat as dropping a badly timed meme. Today, it’s a rallying call to celebrate a legacy too monumental to ignore. This year, we honor "A Century of Black History Commemorations" marking 100 years since Dr. Carter G. Woodson launched the first iteration of one in 1926. Focusing on the evolution and impact of Black history commemorations over the last century, Bellevue is proud to honor how public remembrance and study of Black history has shaped identity, education, and cultural understanding. 

1. Melodies of the Diaspora: Celebrating 100 Years of Black History Month"

In celebration of a century of Black History Months, the City of Bellevue presents "Melodies of the Diaspora: Celebrating 100 Years of Black History Month," an exhibit featuring Pacific Northwest's Black artists at Bellevue City Hall and at the former Bellevue Arts Museum. The exhibit will feature paintings, photography, sculptures, textiles and fashion. Community members can view the artwork at Bellevue City Hall during the building’s open hours and at Bellevue Arts Museum on Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. throughout the month of February.

2. The Bellevue Collection: Celebrating Black Excellence Through The Lens of Fashion

Explore the Black icons of style at The Bellevue Collection, where an interactive video experience honors Black History Month "Through the Lens of Fashion" in collaboration with the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. These icons own their fashion point of view and unique perspectives, whether on the stage or on the street. 

The Significance of Black History

As we reach a 100 year milestone in celebrating Black history, it's important to look back at what got us here in the first place. In 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Work to ensure that Black contributions to American life would not be forgotten. One hundred years later, Black History Month is no longer a single week of recognition but a nationwide moment of reflection, celebration, and renewed commitment. In Bellevue and across King County, that reflection carries a distinct resonance.

One of the earliest documented Black pioneers in Washington Territory was George Washington Bush, who arrived in 1845 and later settled near present day Tumwater. His decision to lead a wagon train into the Pacific Northwest expanded Black presence in the territory during a time when exclusion laws defined much of the country. His courage altered the trajectory of settlement in Washington.

In Seattle, Black communities took root in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Central District became a center of Black life, culture, and political organizing. Leaders such as Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney, longtime pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, helped guide civil rights efforts locally. Activists including Edwin T. Pratt, head of the Seattle Urban League until his assassination in 1969, pushed for fair housing and employment equity across King County.

Black women also shaped the region’s civic and cultural fabric. Dorothy Hollingsworth became Seattle’s first Black woman principal and later served on the Seattle School Board. Susie Revels Cayton, co editor of The Seattle Republican in the early 1900s, documented Black life and political issues in the Pacific Northwest with clarity and conviction.

Music and the arts form another chapter of King County’s Black history. Quincy Jones, who grew up in Seattle’s Central District, became one of the most influential producers and composers in American music. His early experiences in Seattle shaped a career that transformed global culture. Today, visitors can explore the broader story of Black achievement in the Pacific Northwest at the Northwest African American Museum, located in the historic Colman School building in Seattle’s Central District, a brief trip from Bellevue.

Their efforts shaped the region Bellevue calls home. These histories extend beyond neighborhood boundaries. Housing policy, education reform, labor advocacy, and cultural movements shaped the trajectory of the entire county. As King County grew and communities expanded east of Lake Washington, the legal victories and civic progress forged in Seattle influenced the broader region’s development. Fair housing protections, school integration efforts, and economic opportunity initiatives reshaped where families could live, work, and build generational stability.

A century after Carter G. Woodson began the work of formal recognition, the responsibility remains clear. Honoring Black history in King County means naming the people who built it, protecting the progress they secured, and ensuring that future chapters reflect the same courage, creativity, and conviction.

That legacy lives here.