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Celebrating Black History Month

Human Rights Spokane celebrates Black History Month with national and local black pioneers and leaders who have helped shape the United States in many ways.

During these uncertain times, we also encourage anyone to use our online form to make an anonymous report of any instance of hate, bullying, or bias they have witnessed or received. This will help us track the number of the cases so we can help create change in our region.

A NASA astronaut who considered Spokane his hometown, Michael Anderson logged more than 593 hours in two space shuttle missions, and had additionally logged more than 3000 flight hours in training. Sadly, he was aboard the space shuttle Columbia on its last mission.

A civil rights activist and politician who served Georgia in the House of Representatives from 1987 to his death in 2020, John Lewis was passionate in fighting for equality and in ending segregation. In the 1960s he helped organized the March on Washington, and in 1965 led the first Selma to Montgomery march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where he and the other marchers were attacked by state troopers and police.

A former collegiate boxer for Gonzaga University, Carl Maxey went on to become the first African-American in Spokane to complete the bar exam. He was a civil rights attorney who took many cases pro-bono and fought tirelessly against racial discrimination.

A mathematician who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and NASA, she later headed the programming section of the Analysis and Computation Division (ACD) at Langley Research Center.

She invented a line of black hair care products as well as cosmetics and marketed them through her business, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She was recorded as the first woman self-made millionaire in America, and was well known for her philanthropy and activism.

He established New Hope Baptist Church and served as their pastor. He recited Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech annually for over 50 years and co-founded Spokane’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day March. He was an active proponent of social justice in Spokane.

He became the first African-American to perform pericardium surgery on the heart in 1893. He co-founded the National Medical Association for African-American doctors.

She founded Spokane’s influential black newspaper, The Black Lens, and was instrumental in founding the Carl Maxey Center, becoming its original executive director. Her passion for uplifting people and advocating for civil rights was and is still inspirational for the Spokane community.

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