Asberry Historic Home Site
Nettie Asberry standing in front of her home, where she taught, led, and made change happen.
Nettie J. Asberry was a civil rights icon and Black leader in Tacoma’s Hilltop until her death in the 1960’s. She cemented her legacy in Tacoma through a lifetime of service to Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood and its residents, with her impact being irrevocably tied to her home, located at 1219 South 13th St, now 130 years old.
It was in this home that Nettie taught music and Black history to youth.
It was from this home that the Hilltop response to the flu pandemic of 1918 was coordinated.
It was in this home that she founded the Tacoma Colored Women’s Club, and the first NAACP chapter west of the Rockies.
It was in this home that the Black community gathered to address civil rights for Black people during the first half of the 20th century.
In early 2022, after years of effort and with significant investment from the WA State Legislature, the Tacoma Colored Women’s Club purchased the Asberry Historic Home Site, bringing closure the first phase of this important project.
Now, the Tacoma CWC believes that the Asberry Historic Home Site should be restored and managed for community benefit, implementing a long-time vision of a full historic restoration of the home with special consideration to Nettie’s famed front music room.
To fulfill this vision, we intend to complete a community-led design process to create a space for Black cultural reclamation. This is a special opportunity for this community to advance and protect urban historic preservation of a Black-centric sites in a city with too few examples of such.
With your financial support we can make the Nettie Asberry Historic Home Site a reality.
Lifting as we climb.
The Tacoma Colored Women’s Club is seeking to preserve and transform the historic home of Tacoma’s prominent black civil rights activist, Nettie Asberry. The house, in the heart of Tacoma’s Hilltop district, will be used as a community center to build upon and provide a cultural home for the black population of Tacoma.
With your financial support we can make the Asberry Historic Home Site a reality.
The Many Lives of Nettie Asberry
Nettie the Activist
Nettie helped Tacoma’s established and growing black community to demonstrate activism and meaningful influence on Tacoma’s civic and cultural matters. An important and lasting influence that can be traced back to a letter written in opposition to the history of racism in the United States, which was reprinted and borrowed from in protests across the country. It was written and signed by Nettie Asberry.
Nettie the Artist
Nettie was bright and talented. At eight years old she started piano lessons. Nettie worked as a music teacher, an organist, and a music director. Nettie was one of Tacoma’s most respected artists and teachers. She held an arts degree and studied music composition at the Kansas Conservatory of Music and Elocution.
Nettie the Influencer
In 1913 Nettie founded the Tacoma Chapter of the NAACP, cited in the organization’s magazine Crisis, as the first chapter west of the Mississippi River. She was an activist in the suffrage movement gaining women, including black women, the right to vote in Washington State in 1910, a decade before the passage of the 19th amendment nationwide.
Nettie the Organizer
In the early 1900s, Nettie began traveling across the state of Washington, encouraging diverse groups of black folk to organize into clubs to voice their causes influenced by the teachings of Booker T. Washington. The Washington State Federation of Colored Women was created in 1917, and Nettie became its president.
“Courage is the saving grace in this tense world racial situation. Courage of the white people who dare to show their fairness by helping us achieve positions of human dignity; and courage of those of other races who risk insults by quietly asserting their rights as human beings.”
— Nettie Asberry
The History of Nettie Asberry
Nettie Asberry was born July 15th, 1865, the year the Civil War ended, weeks after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and lived long enough to watch the news of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on television. Nettie was one of six children to Violet Craig, the only one born free.
Nettie was bright and talented. At eight years old she started piano lessons, at 13 she became the secretary of a local woman’s suffrage group. In 1883, Nettie received a music degree from the Kansas Conservatory of Music and Elocution in Leavenworth, KS. She was a music instructor and teacher in the all-Black town of Nicodemus, KS, now a National Historic Site in the U.S. National Park Service..
Nettie moved to Seattle, where she worked as a music teacher, an organist, and a music director. After her first husband’s death, Nettie moved to Tacoma where she lived for 75 years. Most of them in her home at 1219 South 13th in the hilltop neighborhood. She remarried to Henry Asberry.
Together, Nettie and Henry turned their house into a home for the community. Nettie taught music to children, and formed a music club to foster a culture of music appreciation in Tacoma’s youth.
In the early 1900s, Nettie traveled across the state of Washington, influenced by the teachings of Booker T. Washington, and encouraged diverse groups of black communities to organize into clubs to voice their causes. In 1917 The Washington State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs was created, and Nettie became its president.
Nettie was one of Tacoma’s most respected artists and teachers. She held an arts degree and studied music composition at the Kansas Conservatory of Music and Elocution.
In 1913 Nettie founded the Tacoma Chapter of the NAACP, cited in the organization’s magazine Crisis, as the first chapter west of the Mississippi River. She was an activist in the suffrage movement gaining women, including black women, the right to vote in Washington State in 1910, a decade before the passage of the 19th amendment nationwide.
Nettie was also an accomplished speaker and performing artist. During the fight to pass women’s suffrage in Washington State in 1910, Nettie Asberry remained vigilant in protecting the language that included women of color. In her spirit, she still protects that language today.
Nettie helped Tacoma’s established and growing black community to demonstrate activism and meaningful influence on Tacoma’s civic and cultural matters. An important and lasting influence that can be traced back to a letter written in opposition to the history of racism in the United States, which was reprinted and borrowed from in protests across the country. It was written and signed by Nettie Asberry.
Help carry on the spirit of Nettie Asberry through financial support of the Asberry Historic Site.