(Jackie Lawson) I love it here, and I think
and I call up and I say, this is Jackie,
everybody seems to know who Jackie is and I appreciate that.
And this beautiful Bible.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) "Jackie" is Jackie Lawson.
"Here" is the Museum of History
and Industry, where Jackie is helping
make sure that Seattle's African American past
has a future, too.
(Jackie Lawson) Maybe they are longshoremen or something.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) This 79-year-old native Seattleite, grandmother,
and historian is chair of the collections committee
of the Black Heritage Society of Washington State.
With help from a team
of dedicated volunteers, she's responsible
for taking care of the society's
priceless collection of local history.
(Jackie Lawson) Did you list this?
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) Every Friday, the group gathers at MOHAI,
where the society's collection is housed,
to work on sorting, researching and documenting the stuff
of history.
(Jackie Lawson) I got interested in history, probably
in '76 when Haley's book first came out
and someone said, "why don't you go to the archives and
see, you know, find your grandfather?"
Never dawned on me, but I did go out to
the archives, found grandpa as a 6-month-old baby.
And that was it.
I was
bitten at that time.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) Jackie's research made previous
generations of her family, once unknowable, come to life.
(Jackie Lawson) I found out that his father and his mother
were married, legally in the courts,
during slave time in 1814 in North Carolina.
And I actually have their marriage certificate.
This is the kind of stuff I love to find these great
old documents and to know that they were really they were real.
These are real people.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) I asked Jackie
whether she believes that
because of what African Americans
have had to endure in this country,
if their history is somehow more important or more valuable.
(Jackie Lawson) I think everybody's history is valuable to that family.
Ours is different because
it's more difficult to find.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) That history is a little easier to find now that some of it's
on display at the new Northwest African American Museum.
The majority of the collection remains at MOHAI.
(Jackie Lawson) Our collection, as you can see, it spans
all the way from photographs and small ephemera
and little artifacts to something as large as this.
This is a game table that was donated
by the wife of the nephew
of Russell "Noodles" Smith.
It came from the Black and Tan nightclub,
which was very popular in Seattle.
It was right off of Jackson on 12th Avenue.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) Jackie's passion for preserving
history is more than simple nostalgia.
(Jackie Lawson) We all need to know from where we came and
so that we'll know what mistakes were made by our families.
The good things that we did,
there are so many of us that really don't know
the great things that our families did.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) And she has faith
that the Black Heritage Society will preserve
that priceless history for everyone.
She's even donated her own family photos to the collection.
(Jackie Lawson) I have faith
in the Black Heritage Society, even when I'm no longer
working here, I know that it's going to be taken care of,
so I know that they're safe.
So here's my family.
(Narrator, Feliks Banel) Watch City Stream
Thursday nights at seven on the Seattle Channel or get video
on demand and podcasts anytime at seattlechannel.org.