The idea of The African American Academy came about when parents and administrators noticed that African American students were lagging behind their white and Asian peers in grades and test scores. They noticed that there was a lack of African American teachers, especially male teachers and that there were no cultural differences in teaching and learning styles for African American students. Many people and organizations came together to go to the Seattle School Board and proposed a school where African American students would be able to get a proper education in an environment where they have an African-centered curriculum, small focus class sizes, peers, teachers and support staff that were African American. The proposal for The African American Academy was approved in 1990, in September 1991 its first location was kindergarten through fifth grade at Coleman School in Central District, a year later it was relocated to Rainier Valley, in 1993 it was relocated to the Magnolia neighborhood. In 2000 it was permanently relocated to the south end of Beacon Hill in a three-story building designed by African American architect Melvin Edward Streeter.