Nettie Craig Asberry

Nettie Asberry (July 15, 1865 – November 17, 1968) was an African-American leader, music teacher, and centenarian who helped to found the Tacoma NAACP and was active in the Washington State Association of Colored Women's Clubs. a month before her eighteenth birthday. It is possible that she was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate degree. This was where she became one of the founding members of the Tacoma Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter. She tried to fight segregation in Tacoma and Fort Lewis and established the Tacoma City Association of Colored Women's Clubs before traveling around to promote similar ideas, and was provided a federation throughout the state. Asberry was a longtime resident of Tacoma and taught children music and was a choir director at Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church, which she was able to do using her PhD. It has also been considered that she was the first African American woman to ever receive a PhD.

Legacy The Tacoma City Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (Tacoma CWC) named the Asberry Culture Club, named in Asberry's honor.

On January 4, 2022, the Tacoma City Council designated the Henry J. and Nettie Craig Asberry House a city landmark. That same week the Tacoma CWC bought the historic Asberry House. Six months later, Tacoma CWC received funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to be used for the purpose of preserving and interpreting Asberry's home.