[6]  2023 exhibits include: "Colors of Life- African American Abstract Art and the Regathering of Community", which features the work of four Black Pacific Northwest artists: Showcasing abstract art featuring the works of Northwest artists: Vincent Keele, Shantell Jackson, Lo Mar Metoyer, and Yeggy Michael.

Other current exhibitions are "Freedom of Expression", which showcases visual artistic expression produced by artists of African descent residing in the Pacific Northwest, "challenging any misconception of what “Black” art is or is not" (NAAM Website), and "A Long Walk to Hope: Exploring Seattle’s Martin Luther King, Jr.

The following year, community activists Earl Debnam, Michael Greenwood, Charlie James and Omari Tahir-Garrett occupied the disused Colman School to claim the building as the desired museum location.

In 1993, a not-for-profit organization called the African American Heritage Museum and Cultural Center was formed and a Board of Directors was selected to oversee the project with Mayor Norman Rice's office.

[7] During the March 2008 opening ceremonies, Wyking Kwame Garrett seized the microphone and described the Urban-League-led museum as a "disgrace," a "scam," and "not what we sacrificed our lives for."

Sam McKinney, former pastor of Seattle's Mount Zion Baptist Church, thanked the occupiers: "For eight years, they fought the wrecking ball.

[13] Donald King Architects (DKA), a local black-owned architecture firm, was selected to design the museum conversion.

[16] The museum's inaugural exhibit featured the work of Jacob Lawrence and James W. Washington, Jr., two prominent, internationally acclaimed African American artists who made their homes in Seattle.

Both Lawrence and Washington did the painful work of finding their authentic voice as artists, a hard journey that few accomplish and which in itself sets them apart.

"[17] Interactive story times, movie nights, book talks, lectures, and research and writing workshops are among the programming and events hosted by the Museum.