By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
For decades, Arnold Nelson, 78, has collected pieces of Black history and popular culture, including figurines and collectibles honoring Black trailblazers whose achievements helped reshape American culture. His collection includes a complete GI Joe set honoring the Tuskegee Airmen signed by surviving aviators, a figure of Hattie McDaniel, the first Black actor to win an Academy Award, and a figure depicting Diahann Carroll as Julia Baker in “Julia,” the groundbreaking television series in which Carroll starred as a widowed nurse raising her son.
According to Nelson, the figures were more than toys. Growing up at a time when seeing Black people represented on television was uncommon, Nelson came to view the figures as tangible representations of Black achievement and a way to recognize and preserve the accomplishments of people who broke barriers.
“Back in the day when I started collecting these, I realized I didn’t look at them as toys,” explained Nelson. “I actually saw them as miniature statues of honor and recognition to these trailblazers.”
Now, selected pieces from Nelson’s collection are on display at Seattle’s Douglass-Truth Library as part of “Black Futures,” an exhibition connecting Black history, contemporary culture. The exhibit will be on display until September 20.
By bringing the collection into a public space, Nelson hopes to introduce another generation to the people and cultural milestones represented in the pieces he has spent years preserving.
The Douglass-Truth Library provides a fitting setting for that purpose. Located in Seattle’s Central District, the library has long served as a repository of Black history and culture. Its African American Collection, established through the efforts of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Delta Upsilon Omega chapter and community partners in the 1960s, has helped preserve literature, history and other materials documenting the Black experience.
Placing Nelson’s contemporary cultural pieces in that setting creates a connection between the history preserved within the library and the people and achievements represented in his collection. Nelson sees art and cultural artifacts as a way to tell stories that traditional accounts of history may overlook while encouraging curiosity, pride and a greater understanding of Black cultural contributions.
That connection between history and possibility also resonates with Zari Warden, a local digital marketing specialist, who sees “Black Futures” as an opportunity for people in the Central District to engage with Black culture and identity.
“Through our ‘Black Futures’ display, it is an incredible opportunity to continue sharing our culture with the community in the Central District and reminding people that we can unapologetically be ourselves and stand up for what we believe in,” said Warden.
Warden said Nelson’s collection also demonstrates how popular culture can provide an entry point for learning about Black history.
“He’s amazing! He has so many pieces in his collection. Nelson also showcases how Black nerdiness can be used as a tool to learn about our impact in Black history and culture through media/characters, and imagine our futures without restraint,” added Warden.
Warden’s emphasis on using culture to understand the past while imagining the future also reflects a broader theme surrounding the exhibition: the relationship between Black history, self-definition and liberation.
That relationship provides a connection to Black August, an annual observance rooted in the experiences of incarcerated Black activists and traditions of political education, remembrance and Black liberation.
According to Seattle activist Gabriel Teodros, Black August emerged from the California prison system in the late 1970s as a way to remember George and Jonathan Jackson and others connected to the Black liberation struggle.
Jonathan Jackson was killed on Aug. 7, 1970, during an armed attempt to free Black prisoners from a Marin County courthouse. His older brother, George Jackson, an author and activist incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, was killed the following August.
In the years that followed, incarcerated organizers developed Black August as a period of remembrance, political education, discipline and reflection. The observance eventually expanded beyond prison walls and became connected to a broader history of Black resistance and liberation.
“The Douglass-Truth Library may very well be the best place in Seattle to study the history of these moments in the continued struggle for Black liberation. Let’s celebrate liberation and work together to support the Black people still incarcerated,” said Teodros.
Teodros’ emphasis on the library as a place to study Black history also connects with Nelson’s view of why displaying his collection there matters. Nelson sees the objects not only as collectibles, but as educational tools that can encourage visitors to learn more about the people and cultural moments they represent.
“The library is a fountain of information for anybody that thirsts for knowledge and has a hunger for growth,” noted Nelson. “Self-definition is a key element in growth.”
That idea of self-definition runs throughout “Black Futures.” Nelson’s collection looks back at groundbreaking Black figures and cultural milestones, but its larger purpose is focused on what younger generations might see in those representations and imagine for themselves.
The collection also documents how Black representation in American popular culture has changed during Nelson’s lifetime. Images that once stood out because they were uncommon are now part of a broader cultural history that Nelson believes deserves to be collected, preserved and shared.
Ultimately, Nelson hopes the collection encourages younger visitors not only to recognize the people who broke barriers before them, but also to see themselves as part of the history still being written.
“Black Futures is a reminder that our stories, our innovation, and our art are continuous,” said Nelson. “When young people walk into the library and see these works, I want them to see their own potential reflected back at them and realize that they are the architects of what comes next.”
