Delbert Richardson and Louisa Boren students Since the opening of We STILL Dream a Future: Reclaiming Our Humanity at ARTS at King Street Station, the gallery has been full of young people, educators, and parent chaperones. The exhibition, created by Mr. Delbert Richardson, is a chronological timeline of American History framed through an African American perspective. Visitors explore the exhibition in sections from Mother Africa to 2026 through a multi-sensory and interdisciplinary approach that uses historical artifacts, and storytelling that weaves historical facts and lived experience.
Seattle Public School teacher Zack Elway brought his 5th graders from Louisa Boren Stem K-8 for a field trip. Over the course of an hour, the students discussed the engineering expertise required to build the pyramids in Egypt, the cruelty of the Middle Passage as they handled antique shackles, and the amazing contributions of Black inventors and scientists.
As a teacher of history, our visit was an important reminder of the centrality of artifacts and the people and spaces that preserve them. It is one thing to teach students about the history of Systemic Racism, Jim Crow Laws, chattel slavery, and Black Inventors, and another thing entirely for them to hold inventions in their hand or see actual KKK robes designed for babies, covered with American flags.”
-Zack Elway, Seattle Public School Teacher
The exhibition is on view at ARTS at King Street Station until May 9, 2026.
