Join us for a special one-night only exhibition of rare materials from the CHS collections, accompanied by an engaging talk by CHS Director of Public Programs, Susan Anderson, who with CHS Reference Librarian, Frances Kaplan, curated the display of these archival materials to help reveal the hidden history of multicultural California’s 19th century African American past. 1910 California Historical Society Portraits Shorey and wife Julia Shelton, daughters Zenobia and Victoria, ca. Tuesday, February 18, 6:00 p.m., North Baker Library, California Historical Society Capt. In the Library: Hidden Histories of African Americans in the Bay Area, Exhibition and Talk by Susan Anderson By occupying recreational sites and public spaces, African Americans challenged racial hierarchies and marked a space of black identity on the regional landscape and social space – creating black-owned resorts, communities, businesses, and recreational culture that drew vacationers and participants from Northern California and around the state. Jefferson will discuss her new book, Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era which explores how, as Southern California was reimagining leisure and positioning it at the center of the American Dream, African American Californians were working to make that leisure an open, inclusive reality. In partnership with the African American Center of the San Francisco Public Library, the California Historical Society presents a book talk and signing with historian, Alison Jefferson. Tuesday, February 11, 6:00 p.m., Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library main branch Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era, Book Talk with Alison Jefferson The “Gold Chains” website includes numerous stories that spotlight the lives of slaves in California, Black abolitionists, the relationship between slavery and the California Gold Rush, discriminatory laws, and more. “Gold Chains: The Hidden History of Slavery in California” includes 14 essays, one video and three audio stories that present the experiences of African Americans and Native Californians during the 1800s. The ACLU of Northern California in collaboration with radio station KQED, the California Historical Society and the Equal Justice Society co-created an educational project directed at highlighting the stories of slavery throughout California. Gold Chains: The Hidden History of Slavery in California We invite you to partake and participate. And, in the Bay Area and around the state, local groups sprung up, inspired by Carter Woodson’s efforts.Ĭognizant that – even with the efforts of earlier generations – much of the state’s African American history has been overlooked or suppressed, the California Historical Society is marking Black History Month through several public history programs. In 1945, the city of Los Angeles launched Negro History Week activities under the aegis of the Our Author’s Study Club. African American churches were home to commemorations of Negro History Week in the 1930s. The California Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs offered regular lectures on black history during its heyday in the Progressive Era 1920s. In 1919, Oakland journalist, Delilah Beasley, published her seminal book, Negro Trailblazers of California, in which she interviewed and documented hundreds of pioneers.
Since the inception of Black History Month, Californians eagerly generated opportunities for students and their fellow citizens to learn about African American history they understood that black people had contributed to the state’s growth and development and participated in historical events of importance.