Black History on Queen Anne

Honoring Black History Month 2021, the Society recognizes some of the notable African Americans who have resided or worked on Queen Anne Hill over the years.  Among them:

• Homer Harris (1916-2007), football hero, physician, community leader* 

• Denice Johnson Hunt (1948-1994), an architect with a highly productive public practice

Others have contributed to the Queen Anne community, including

• Benjamin McAdoo (1920-1981), an activist architect whose work includes Queen Anne Pool

• Richard Norman, a Black aeronautical engineer who moved to Seattle from Mississippi and worked for Boeing, purchased the La Quinta Apartments on Capitol Hill, and in 1963 the Queen Anne Apartments

• James Washington, Jr. (1908-2000), a successful artist whose work we see at Betty Bowen Viewpoint

• Kim Turner's Mt. Pleasant Cemetery Tour cites the presence there of suffragist 

• Bertha Pitts Campbell (1889-1990) and Seattle City Council-member

• Sam Smith (1922-1995) -- neither of them residents of Queen Anne while alive.

Other African Americans buried at Mt. Pleasant:*

• Green Fields (1840-1914), a Civil War veteran, worked for the City of Seattle as a street cleaner.  He saved his money to purchase a modest home in the Queen Anne area.*

• Leala Holden (d. 1959), jazz musician*

• Ron Holden (1940-1997), "dancehall singer"

• Jerline Abair "Jeri" Ware (d. 1997), human rights activist