East Oakland

Antonio Fargus, Too Short, Richard Roundtree and Jay Payton at the Too Short Players Ball
Antonio Fargus, Too Short, Richard Roundtree and Jay Payton at the Too Short Players Ball, circa 1980s, Jay Payton papers, MS 205, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Eastmont Mall
Merchant table in front of Your Black Muslim Bakery in Eastmont Mall, circa 1980s, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Margaret Jones wearing Miss Teen East Oakland sash, August 22, 1966, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Margaret Jones wearing Miss Teen East Oakland sash, August 22, 1966, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.

This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO related to East Oakland.

It highlights holdings in the following areas:

● Selected Library Material at AAMLO
● 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

Civic Sideshows : Communities and Publics in East Oakland by Cristina Cielo

Oakland Community School : Black Panther Party's Liberation Schools by Ericka Huggins

De Facto Feminism : Essays Straight Outta Oakland by Judy Juanita

Rap and Politics : a Case Study of Panther, Gangster, and Hyphy Discourses in Oakland, CA (1965-2010) by Lavar Pope

Advertisement for the East Bay Dragons
East Bay Dragons in The Combination, The Combination magazine collection, MS 200, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Party Music : The Inside Story of the Black Panthers' Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music by Rickey Vincent

Pedagogy of the Block : The Aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement and the Negation of the Old American Dream by Marilynn S. Johnson

The Promise by Oral Lee Brown

The Abandonment of Housing in East Oakland [Planning Report Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning San Jose State University]

Literally Unbelievable : Stories From An East Oakland Classroom by Bronwyn Harris

Thus Far by Faith : A Study of Historical Backgrounds and the First Fifty Years of the Allen Temple Baptist Church by J. Alfred Smith

Oakland's Citywide Poetry Anthology : Voices From the Middle

Soul on Bikes : The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black Biker Set by Tobie Gene Levingston

Exterior of old Black Panther Party building at 85th Ave. and E. 14th St. slated for remodeling as Project Interface [5635] circa 1980s
Exterior of Black Panther Party building at 85th Ave. and E. 14th St. slated for remodeling as Project Interface, circa 1980s, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Selected Archival Collections

Students at the Oakland Community School
Students at the Oakland Community School, circa 1970s, African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection, MS 179, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection. Includes interviews with Rev. J. Alfred Smith Sr. of Allen Temple Baptist Church, Bishop Ernestine Reems discussing her ministry in East Oakland, Judge Gordon Baranco discussing his childhood in the San Antonio neighborhood, and Pauline King discussing moving to the Elmhurst neighborhood.

Oakland Economic Development Council Newsletter Collection. The Oakland Economic Development Council was a local agency established in 1965 to implement programs associated with the Office of Economic Opportunity and the ‘War on Poverty’ in Oakland, California. Programs included family planning clinics, preventative health programs, legal aid services, job training, remedial instruction, small business development, dental and eye services, head start and day care, youth employment, and emergency aid and housing for women and children. [View online]

Oakland Community School brochure
Oakland Community School brochure, circa 1970s, African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection, MS 179, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

Paula Beal Papers. Housing and food activist Paul Beal (1953-2016) was active with a number of housing activist groups including Causa Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC), Oakland Renters Union, and Oakland United Coalition following the wave of displacement and gentrification in Oakland, California in the early 2010s.

Elihu M. Harris Papers. Includes Mayor of Oakland (1991-1999) Elihu M. Harris' reports on Eastmont Town Center, the East Oakland Youth Development Project and Elmhurst tour press advisory.

Oakland Black Cowboy Association Records. Includes material related to horseback riding programs sponsored by the Black Cowboy’s Association and the East Oakland Youth Development Center.

Robert B. Pitts Papers. Includes selected demographic data for census tracts in the Greater East Oakland flatlands produced by the Bay Area Social Planning Council in 1974.

James Alfred Smith Scrapbooks. The James Alfred Smith papers consists of two scrapbooks which document Rev. J. Alfred Smith Sr.'s career between 1961 and 1983. They consist primarily of clippings relating to Smith's appointments and activities, his participation in conferences, his publications, and the history of Allen Temple Baptist Church during the seventies.

African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection. Consists of programs, flyers, correspondence, posters, pamphlets, and ephemera, related to individuals and organizations related to East Oakland including EastSide Arts Alliance, Allen Temple Baptist Church, the Oakland Community School, the East Oakland Faith Deliverance Center, the East Oakland Senior Center, the East Oakland Girls Association, and many others.

Oakland Post Photograph Collection. Photographs appearing in the Oakland Post newspaper between 1963-2005 document activities of the Love Center Ministries, Cumberland Grove Development, the East Oakland Youth Development, the East Oakland Merchants association, the East Oakland Food Pantry, and the East Oakland Boys Club, among many others.

Thrift Drug Co. advertisement
Thrift Drug Co. advertisement in the Combination, The Combination magazine collection, MS 200, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Offices of the East Oakland Health Alliance Center
Offices of the East Oakland Health Alliance Center, circa 1970s, African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph collection, MS 189, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Portrait of Reverend Walter Hawkins
Portrait of Reverend Walter Hawkins of Love Center Ministries, Oakland Post Photograph collection, MS 169, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.

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.