Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute
Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute (SBSHI) is Wa Na Wari’s two-year oral history and community story training institute. It is held in partnership with the Black Heritage Society of Washington State and the Library, with support from 4Culture. SBSHI runs from June 2023 to June 2025.
What is Wa Na Wari?
Wa Na Wari is a center for Black art and stories. The center is located in a 5th-generation Black-owned home in Seattle’s historically redlined Central District. Known as the “house that fights displacement with art,” and described as a “container for Black joy,” Wa Na Wari creates space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation and connection.
Why Oral History and Why Now?
The Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute is one way, among many, that Wa Na Wari seeks to build collective power towards a future of Black ownership and belonging by rooting our work in a legacy of Black resilience, creativity and self-determination. Training community members in the techniques and best practices of Black memory work is an important step towards shifting power around whose stories are told, how they’re told, and what place those stories hold in the shaping of Black futures.
About the Cohort
Over the course of two years, the cohort works with historians, archivists, geographers, librarians, artists and others to learn and explore the ethics, techniques, best practices, tensions and dilemmas of oral history and Black memory work. Cohort members acquire skills in archival research methods, audio recording techniques, oral history interviewing techniques, transcription, story editing, audio editing, and public art proposal and activation processes.
In year one, the cohort attended workshops, conducted research and recorded interviews with community members around three general topics: Black educators, Black barbers & beauticians, and Black experiences on the Seattle waterfront.
In year two, each cohort member will propose and create a public activation for sharing the interviews they’ve recorded. The institute culminates with an exhibit/installation at Wa Na Wari, in summer/fall 2025, where cohort members will share their work with the public.
The Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute is co-directed by Zola Mumford and Jill Freidberg.
Thanks to our partners Wa Na Wari, Black Heritage Society of Washington State and 4Culture.