: Dance at USO #2 in 1946 when the US Military was still segregated, Tacoma Public Library (36839)Our first highlight is Dr. Nettie Asberry:
Dr. Nettie Asberry, a pioneer of the civil rights movement in the Pacific Northwest, was born in Kansas in 1865 and moved to Tacoma in 1890. She tirelessly campaigned for justice, including protesting the showing of The Birth Of A Nation in Tacoma and segregation on Fort Lewis, and was a founding member of Tacoma’s NAACP chapter, the first west of the Rockies. Dr. Asberry held a Ph.D. in music and taught music and choir in the Hilltop neighborhood, and was the first organist and music director of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tacoma. It is believed she is the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in the United States.
There is so much more to learn about Dr. Nettie Asberry. Visit https://www.historylink.org/File/8632 for a deeper look at her story.
Other sources/info:
https://tacomahistory.live/2020/09/25/asberry-v-wilson/
“Nettie Asberry’s letter of protest against the Birth of a Nation, published on August 13,1916, is one of the most important documents in Tacoma’s civil rights history.”
Once openly denied a teaching position in Tacoma because she was Black, Tacoma Public Schools have since named an elementary school after Helen B Stafford. The tenth of eleven children born to her mother, who had been enslaved, Helen moved to Tacoma from Kansas in 1926. She was the first Black case worker for what was then the Tacoma Department of Public Assistance, served on the board of the YWCA while fighting for the inclusion of Black women in their services, and was president of the Tacoma chapter of the NAACP. Though denied the ability to teach public school, Helen was able to educate students through her position as the Superintendent of the Sunday School program at the Allen AME Church in Tacoma. Her involvement in the Tacoma USO No. 2 helped nearly one million servicemen of color to have access to resources and recreation.
For more information on this remarkable woman, visit:
Moving to the Pacific Northwest as a member of the National Guard in 1950, Harold ran into obstacle after obstacle when trying to buy a Tacoma area home. Developers, homeowners, and potential neighbors all told him and his wife they would not be welcome because they were Black. This and other experiences of discrimination galvanized Harold to fight for civil rights and seek out opportunities for public service. He went on to become president of the Tacoma chapter of the NAACP, active in the Tacoma Urban League, serve as the first Black member of the Tacoma City Council, and became the first Black mayor of Tacoma in 1994.
Harold Moss passed this last September at home with family.
There is so much more to learn about who he was and all he did for our community. Read more here: https://www.historylink.org/File/20125
- PLU Podcast: Willie Stewart ’69 talks breaking barriers as Tacoma’s first black principal in 1970
- UW Libraries: When Races Collide: Willie Stewart and the Voluntary Desegregation of Tacoma Public Schools
- UW Tacoma Community History Project: Willie Stewart and the Desegregation of Tacoma Public Schools
Thank you for celebrating Black History Month with us through highlighting individuals who have made our community what it is today.
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