Curatorial Statement:

Rooted in legacy, endowed with power, and unmistakably Black, Central District Legacy: Black. Power. Black Panthers. honors the Seattle Black Panther Party and the enduring cultural force of Seattle’s Central District (CD). As the first Black Panther Party chapter established outside California, the Seattle chapter—founded in spring 1968—worked to protect, preserve, activate, and sustain revolutionary resolve in the pursuit of resources, dignity, and self-determination for Black people. The chapter endured until 1978, leaving an imprint that continues to shape civic life, cultural memory, and community care in Seattle and beyond.

Created by a coalition of Seattle activists, the Seattle Black Panther Party advanced community justice and built models of mutual aid that raised political consciousness throughout the Central District. This exhibition centers that legacy through the visions of its artists—inviting viewers to see, imagine, and embody Blackness, Power, and the history of the Black Panthers. Individually and collectively, the works created by Charles Conner, Toni Toney, Thadeus Hunnicutt, Tasanee Durrett, Ed-Lamarr Petion, and others offer a visual narrative of youth solidarity; activism by any means necessary; the vibrancy of color; the enduring charge of the raised Black Power fist; and the panther itself—an emblem of protection, prowess, and uncompromising Blackness.

From Oakland to Seattle’s CD—and across Detroit, Chicago, New York, Texas, and beyond—the Black Panther legacy is carried through networks of care, organizing, and cultural production. In Seattle, that legacy is reflected in the impacts of programs such as the Children’s Free Breakfast Program and institutions such as the Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center, as well as in iconic activists, poets, and teachers like Aaron Dixon. With roots reaching from William Grose to Zoë Dusanne, and from Quincy Jones to Anthony Ray “Sir Mix-a-Lot,” the Central District’s ripples continue to travel outward. Together, the works in this exhibition hold those histories with reverence while activating them in the present—affirming Central District Legacy: Black. Power. Black Panthers, as both remembrance and living resolve.