Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.
This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO recognizing African American history and experience in the City of Berkeley.
It highlights holdings in the following areas:
- Selected Library Material at AAMLO
- Selected Magazine and Newspaper Holdings at the Oakland Public Library
- Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO
Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.
Selected Library Materials
Afro-Americans in Berkeley, 1859-1987 by Gretchen Lemke
Parallel Communities : African-Americans in California's East Bay, 1850-1963 by Delores Nason McBroome
From Labor to Reward : Black Church Beginnings in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond, 1849-1972 by Martha C. Taylor
African American Theses and Dissertations, 1907-1990, University of California, Berkeley
Black Pioneers at the University (University of California, Berkeley. Black Alumni Club)
A California Supreme Court Justice Looks at Law and Society, 1964-1996 by Allen E. Broussard
Ruth Acty, First African American Teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District by Ruth Acty
The Struggle Continues : Interview With Maudelle Shirek
Tarea Hall Pittman : NAACP Official and Civil Rights Worker (University of California, Berkeley. Black Alumni Club)
William Byron Rumford, the Life and Public Services of a California Legislator by Lawrence P. Crouchett
Sign My Name to Freedom : a Memoir of a Pioneering Life by Betty Reid Soskin
Desegregation of the Berkeley Public Schools (Berkeley Unified School District)
The Buses Roll by Carol Baldwin
Never a Dull Moment : the History of a School District Attempting to Meet the Challenge of Change : Berkeley, California, 1955-1972 by Carol Sibley
Samurai Among Panthers : Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life by Diane Carol Fujino
Selected Archival Collections
Berkeley Civic Study Club Records. The Berkeley Civic Study Club was founded in 1924 by a group of African American women wanting to study civic issues and participate in bettering their community. According to club publications, the purpose of the Berkeley Civic Study Club was "[...]to unite its members in non-partisan, educational, and civic work; to present information, and offer for free discussion, civic and legislative problems." The Berkeley Civic Study Club Records consist of one ledger containing meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, correspondence, financial records, and rosters from 1932-1974.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Audiovisual Collection. Includes oral history interviews with pharmacist, community leader, and politician William Byron Rumford (1908-1986), the first African American elected to any state public office in Northern California. Rumford became co-owner of a pharmacy in Berkeley in 1942 at the age of 34, which he later purchased outright and renamed Rumford's Pharmacy. In 1944, he was appointed by Governor Earl Warren to the Rent Control Board and served in the California State Assembly from 1948–1966, with a special focus on in fair employment, control of air pollution, and fair housing. In 1955, Rumford first introduced a Fair Housing Act, and in 1963, the California State Legislature passed the Rumford Fair Housing Act which outlawed restrictive covenants and the refusal to rent or sell property on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, or physical disability. The AAMLO Audiovisual Collection also includes recordings of the 1980 dedication of the William Byron Rumford Freeway. Other oral history interviews with with assemblyman Byron Rumford are held in the Lawrence P. Crouchett Papers.
Ruth Acty Papers. Educator, author, and actor Ruth Acty (1913-1998) was the first African American teacher hired by the Berkeley Unified School District in 1943. The Ruth Acty papers include curriculum material, teaching notes, writings, photographs, awards, legal and financial records, and correspondence that document her life and activities as a teacher and author.
Ida L. Jackson Papers. Ida Louise Jackson (1902-1996) began her education at the University of California, Berkeley in 1920. At the time, Jackson was one of only eight African American women and nine African American men enrolled at U.C. Berkeley. In 1921, while attending U.C. Berkeley, Jackson founded the Rho Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the oldest Greek-letter society for African American women in the United States. Jackson would remain active with Alpha Kappa Alpha throughout her life. In 1925, Jackson received a long term substitute position at the Prescott School, becoming the first African American woman to teach in the integrated Oakland Public Schools.
Stephens Family Papers. After receiving a Bachelor of Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1924, Virginia Stephens Coker (1903-1986) became the first African American woman to receive a law degree from the University of California Berkeley's Boalt School of Law in 1929. While at Berkeley, Virginia also helped Ida L. Jackson found Rho Chapter in 1921 and Alpha Nu Omega, a graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. These were among the first Greek sororities for African American women west of the Mississippi. [View online]
Frances Albrier Papers. Social activist Frances Albrier (1898-1987) was active in politics, women’s organizations, and civil rights issues, serving as president of many Bay Area organizations and co-chairing local political campaigns. In 1938, she became the first woman elected to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. The following year she became the first woman to run for the Berkeley City Council, led the Citizen’s Employment Council’s “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” campaign, and organized the East Bay Women's Welfare Club, a women’s group which advocated for the hiring of black teachers in the Berkeley Unified School District. In later life she became an advocate of senior citizens throughout the 1960s-1970, serving on local, state, and federal committees on aging and the establishment of the Berkeley Senior Center. For her community service and many contributions in civil rights to the Bay Area, the City of Berkeley re-named the San Pablo Park Community Center in her honor in 1984.
Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers. Noted civil rights leader, social worker, and radio personality Tarea Hall Pittman (1903-1991) enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1923 where she eventually met her husband, William R. Pittman (1901-1984). The couple lived in Berkeley and in 2015 the Berkeley City Council voted to rename the South Branch Library in Pittman's honor. In the 1930s, Tarea Hall Pittman became active in civil rights organizations, serving as president of the California State Association of Colored Women’s Clubs from 1936-1938, organizing West Coast branches of the National Negro Congress, and hosting the radio program, "Negroes in the News," on KDIA. William R. Pittman (1901-1984) was the first African American dentist to establish a practice in Berkeley, California. In 1931 he established his dental practice at 2930 Grove St. in Berkeley, California. He practiced dentistry for over 44 years before retiring in June 1975. William Pittman was a member of many professional and civic groups including the American Dental Association, California Dental Society, Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities, NAACP, and the YMCA.
Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers. Congressman Ronald Vernie Dellums was born on November 24, 1935 and lived most of his life in Alameda County, California. After graduating with a Master of Arts in Social Work from the University of California, Berkeley (1962) he worked as a psychiatric social worker for the California Department of Mental Hygiene. With encouragement from Maudelle Shirek, he was elected to the Berkeley City Council, serving from 1967 to 1970. Dellums was elected to the House of Representatives in 1970 and served in 14 Congressional Sessions until his retirement on January 3, 1999. Selected congressional material include unprocessed files on legislative issues related to Berkeley, California.
Erna P. Harris Papers. In 1952 journalist and peace activist Erna P. Harris (1908-1995) moved to Berkeley, California where she operated a print shop and continued to be active in a number of peace and civil rights organizations. She was appointed to the National Board of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in 1956 and regularly traveled to WILPF congresses in Europe and Asia. She was a member of the WILPF delegation that traveled to the U.S.S.R. in 1964 to participate in the U.S.-Soviet Women's Seminar in Moscow that sought to build peaceful ties between women in the two countries. Harris was also active in many CO-OPs in the Berkeley area, working closely with the Consumers' Cooperative of Berkeley, Books Unlimited, CO-OP Legal Services, and U.A. Housing, Inc.
Lasartemay Family Papers. Eugene Pasqual Lasartemay (1903-1993) was active in a number of civic, religious, and historical organizations in Berkeley and Oakland. He was a co-founder of many black organizations in the East Bay including the East Bay Negro Historical Society and the Berkeley Branch of the NAACP. He served as president of the United Consumers and Producers, East Bay Negro Historical Society, vice president of the East Bay Pensioner’s Club of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union and the Berkeley Branch of the NAACP, and treasurer of the Fannie Wall Children’s Home of Oakland. Ruth Hackett Lasartemay (1902-1991) was active in many civic and women’s clubs in Oakland and Berkeley including the California State Association of Colored Women’s Club, Inc., National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc., League of Women Voters, South Gate Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, and was a co-founder and the first curator of the East Bay Negro Historical Society.
Jesse W. and Marcella Ford Papers. In the fall of 1962, Marcella Ford (1900-2001) taught the History and Culture of the American Negro at Berkeley Adult Evening School, the first course of its kind in the Bay Area. After two years of teaching, she became an education consultant helping Bay Area schools establish curriculum on black history. For her contributions to education and dedication to African American history, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater Shaw University in 1982.
Morrie Turner Papers. Morrie Turner, the first nationally syndicated African American cartoonist, was born on December 11, 1923 in Oakland, California. Turner attended Oakland public schools before transferring to Berkeley High in his senior year. After graduation he joined the Air Force, where he had his first opportunity to draw a comic strip called “Rail Head” for Stars and Stripes magazine. After leaving the military he returned to Berkeley and married his Letha Mae Harvey. The couple lived and raised their family in Berkeley.
Annette Starr Bruce Hudson Papers. In 1954, Annette Starr Bruce Hudson (1920-2002) opened a charm and modeling studio, Annette's Studio of Transformation, in Berkeley, California, which trained hundreds of graduates each year in personality development, voice and diction, wardrobe, modeling, makeup, hairstyling, figure control, visual poise, and social grace. In the 1950s, Hudson also wrote the social event column, "People!, Places!, and Things!," for the African American newspaper The California Voice.
W. Hazaiah Williams Papers. In 1956, William Hazaiah Williams Jr. (1930-1999) was ordained as a minister at the South Berkeley Community Church, but his standing as a minister was later revoked by the Congregational Church, which led him to found The Church for Today in Berkeley, California, a multicultural, interdenominational church where he was minister for over forty years until his death. In 1967, he founded the Alamo Black Clergy, an interdenominational consortium of Black ministers in the East Bay that advocated for civil rights, and the East Bay Conference on Race, Religion, and Social Justice. That same year he was elected to the Berkeley Board of Education (1967-1975) where he eventually became president of the school board and advocated for multicultural education and teacher training and the further racial integration of the Berkeley schools. In May 1969, Rev. Williams submitted a prospectus for The Center for Urban-Black Studies. The Center offered seven courses and a number of programs that addressed the need for the Black church and ministers to take a leading role in civil rights and Black liberation theology.
Robertha J. Wells Papers. The Robertha J. Wells Papers include education material, certificates, programs, employment records, ephemera, and photographs documenting Robertha J. Wells, Earle Keikikane and the Wells family of Berkeley, California.
Lillian M. Potts Papers. Lillian M. Potts (1917-2010) was born on November 16, 1917 in Eudora, Arkansas. In 1943, she met and married Weilan Potts and the couple moved to Berkeley, California. After working as a primary school teacher in Arkansas and California, she worked for the California Equal Employment Opportunity Commission until her retirement in 1980. Both Weilan and Lillian Potts were active in advocating for civil rights issues and were active in the N.A.A.C.P., with Weilan chairing the G.I. Assistance Committee in 1951 and Lillian acting as an advisor to the Berkeley Youth Council for five years during the 1960s. Lillian was also active in a number of civic and political organizations serving as president of the 20th Century Democratic Club and the Berkeley Victory Democratic Club, and treasurer of the FEPC Employment Commission.
Robert B. Pitts Papers. Robert B. Pitts (1909-1982) was the first regional administrator of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and an advocate for housing and urban development. Includes speeches delivered by Robert B. Pitts at conferences, conference correspondence and programs, and HUD reports and correspondence while Pitts served as the HUD racial relations officer and regional director.
Charlesetta Braggs-Ford Papers. Includes reports, bulletins, newsletters, correspondence, flyers, and conference programs documenting Berkeley Campus CORE and Berkeley CORE (circa 1960s).
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Collection. Includes assorted publications and records of California branches including the Berkeley chapter of the NAACP (circa 1958-1985).
Commemorator Newspaper Collection. The Commemorator newspaper was a newspaper printed in South Berkeley from 1990-2013 by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party. The newspaper collection consists of 54 issues of Commemorator newspaper printed from 1990-2012. [View online]
Michael Twomey Music Collection. The Michael Twomey Music Collection consists of 221 cassette tapes of live music recordings of various jazz and blues musicians in clubs and concert venues around the San Francisco Bay Area (including Berkeley, California) between 1971-1996.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection. The vertical files are arranged alphabetically by subject, organization, or last name, and include correspondence, programs, flyers, and pamphlets mostly about African American organizations and cultural institutions in the Oakland and the East Bay during the mid-20th century (1940s-1970s). Selected items include
- Church programs and ephemera of numerous African American churches in Berkeley including the Church by The Side of The Road, McGee Avenue Baptist Church, South Berkeley Community Church, St. Paul AME Church, and others
- Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and election material related to William Byron Rumford
- Campaign literature related to Ronald V. Dellums' Berkeley City Council run
- Funeral programs of Melvin "Mel" Reid (1918-1988), founder of Reid's Records together with his wife Betty Reid Soskin. At the time it closed in 2019, Reid's was the oldest record shop in California, and one of the oldest African American businesses of any kind in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Documents related to the South Berkeley Model Cities Program
- And many others
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection. The collection is organized into 28 series by subject, and includes photographs of significant Berkeley figures such as and Byron Rumford, and documents various aspects of the African American community in Berkeley including athletics, business, churches, civil rights, early pioneers, entertainment, military, fraternal and women's organizations. Selected items include
- Street scenes taken on Sacramento St. in South Berkeley
- Exterior photographs of various Berkeley businesses and organizations
- Portraits of noted figures including William Byron Rumford, Frances Albrier, Ruth Acty, Tarea Hall Pittman, Ronald V. Dellums, Warren Widener, and others
- N.A.A.C.P. Berkeley Chapter group portraits
- Photographs associated with African American history at the University of California, Berkeley
- And many others
Oakland Post Photograph Collection. The Oakland Post Photograph Collection consists of 11,797 photographs appearing in the Oakland Post newspaper between 1963-2005. In 1972 the newspaper moved its business offices and printing facilities from Berkeley to 630 20th St. in Oakland, California. A majority of the photographs are portraits of African American politicians, business and community leaders, entertainers, athletes, and community and social groups from the East Bay. Selected photographs depict
- Politicians including former Berkeley mayors Warren Widener and Eugene "Gus" Newport and former City Council member Maudelle Shirek
- The Rainbow Sign and portraits of Mary Ann Pollar, director of the Rainbow Sign
- Photographs related to housing in Berkeley including Rainbow Village
- A portrait of Gordon "Buddy" Jackson, director of the Black House (part of the Berkeley Experimental Schools Project), and portraits of Robert D. Collier, director of the Martin Luther King Project (at the Berkeley Unified School District)
- Consumers' Cooperative of Berkeley
- African American-owned businesses and Sacramento Street merchants
- Berkeley Unified School District and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Laval S. Wilson
- Images of historic Berkeley protests including fair housing demonstrations against Mason McDuffie Realty Co.
- And many others
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection. Includes interviews with politician and activist Maudelle Shirek (1911-2013) discussing her career as a politician and activist in Berkeley. Also includes interviews with educator Gladys Jordan discussing her experiences as a teacher in Berkeley, Odell H. Sylvester Jr. discussing attending UC Berkeley in the 1940s, and Tuskegee airman Garnett Quinn discussing his childhood in Berkeley.
Additional Information
Search the library using the catalog.
Consult AAMLO's finding aids in the Online Archive of California.
We are working to create new resource guides. Have an idea for a new guide? Contact us at aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org.
