Welcome to Snohomish Hate Free
Black History Month 2026
Some Notable African American you hear less about…
George Washington, however, not the one you immediately think of. This George Washington was born in 1817 into slavery, but was manumitted, or freed by his enslaver, while in his teens, a rare and remarkable occurrence for the times. He travelled west in the 1850’s, becoming one of the first settlers of what would become Centralia, Washington, all before emancipation. From the farm he cleared and worked over the course of about 20 years, George Washington donated the land, and platted it, for the siting of Centralia. To say this was a gift of great value is an understatement. He did this while African Americans were not treated as equals in Washington Territory, and did not have full political rights.
While Pauli Murray is not specifically local to our region, she did have a position as visiting lecturer at the University of Washington in the 1960’s. Her impact has been national and profound in scope. Pauli Murray was born in 1910 into the Jane Crow era, a term she invented to describe the extra layer of discrimination endured by black women. Pauli Murray was a civil rights advocate, poet, lawyer, legal theorist, Episcopal priest, and early LGBTQ+ activist. Her legal arguments against segregation were cited by Thurgood Marshall in Brown vs Board of Education, who later was appointed first Black Supreme Court Justice. Ruth Bader Ginsburg credited Murray’s work as foundational to sex discrimination cases heard by the Supreme Court. Pauli Murray built an enduringly influential legacy in all of her writings and lived experiences and is venerated in the Episcopal Church with a dedicated Remembrance Day: July 1, annually. She died in 1985.
