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Black History Month Virtual Display

California Landmarks named after African Americans - February Black History Month 2021  

Click the first photo below to begin our virtual tour display (29 images total). In order:

  1. Negro Bar State Park, Folsom Lake State Recreation Area (3 images)
  2. Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park (6 images)
  3. William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. Memorial Highway; William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. Streets; Memorial plaque in San Francisco
  4. Ida Louise Jackson Graduate House at UC Berkeley (2 images)
  5. Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center
  6. Tom Bradley International Hall  (Part of UCLA) (2 images)
  7. Bunche Hall (Part of UCLA) (2 images)
  8. Beckwourth Pass (No. 336 California Historical Landmark) and James Beckwourth Cabin Museum (nearby Pass) (2 images)
  9. Pío Pico State Historic Park (2 images)
  10. Isaac Flood House (2 images)
  11. C.L. Dellums Station (2 images)
  12. Liberty Hall/Marcus Garvey Building (2 images)
  13. Elihu M. Harris Building (2 images)
  14. Works Cited
1.1 Negro Bar State Park, Folsom Lake State Recreation Area: During the California Gold Rush, a group of African Americans mined a certain sandbar in today’s Folsom Lake State Recreation Area. Today, the spot is called “Negro Bar” for this reason.
1.2 Negro Bar State Park, Folsom Lake State Recreation Area: Due to the racist history of its name, whether the location should be renamed or kept has been a topic of debate in recent years. The California State Parks system is currently reviewing a name change.
2.1 Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park: In 1908, Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth founded a town centered on the African American community called Allensworth, the first and only of its kind in California.
2.2 Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park: Located in Tulare County, the newfound town flourished, boasting its own hotel, school, church, train station, stores, and library.
2.3 Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park: Unfortunately, several factors, including Allensworth’s unexpected death in 1914, water suppliers backing out of an agreement, and a railway company creating a separate route in order to bypass the town, led to the town’s sudden decline.
2.4 Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park: Nonetheless, its success and uniqueness preserves it as a significant landmark and it was named a California State Historic Park in 1976.
2.5 Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park: Today, the site remains open to the public.
2.6 Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park
2.6 Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park
3 William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. Memorial Highway: In 1841, William Alexander Leidesdorff made his way to San Francisco from New Orleans on his steamboat (he was the first individual to take a steamship on the San Francisco Bay). He established himself as a prominent figure in the city, building the first commercial warehouse and City Hotel in the area and serving as San Francisco City Treasurer and Councilman. He is buried in Mission Dolores.
4.1 Ida Louise Jackson Graduate House at UC Berkeley: Graduating with her M.A. in education from the University of California in 1923, Ida Louise Jackson was a trailblazing teacher. She persevered through blatant discrimination while in college and as a new teacher to become the first African American teacher in the Oakland school system.
4.2 Ida Louise Jackson Graduate House at UC Berkeley: She dedicated her life to educating and encouraging students to pursue teaching positions at a time when this was seen as a near-impossible pursuit.
5 Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center: Renowned tennis player and UCLA alumnus Arthur Ashe held the #1 ranking in the world for men’s tennis in 1975, after winning both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon men’s singles titles. Currently, he is still the only African American male to do so in these competitions, and the first African American inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame.
6.1 Tom Bradley International Hall (Part of UCLA): Tom Bradley was the Mayor of Los Angeles from 1973-1993.
6.2 Tom Bradley International Hall (Part of UCLA): He remains the first and only African American to hold this position, and at five terms remains the longest-serving mayor that Los Angeles has had.
7.1 Bunche Hall (Part of UCLA): The Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies was established in 1969 as the Center for Afro American Studies. The center was renamed in 2003 after UCLA alumnus, activist, scholar, and Nobel Prize winner, Ralph J. Bunche.
7.2 Bunche Hall (Part of UCLA): Ralph Bunche became a world-renowned diplomat for the United Nations, winning the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the 1949 Armistice Agreements in the Middle East. While attending Harvard University, Bunche earned his M.A. in 1928 and his Ph.D. in governmental/international relations in 1934, thus becoming the first African American to earn a political science doctorate.
8.1 Beckwourth Pass (No. 336 California Historical Landmark) and James Beckwourth Cabin Museum (nearby Pass): James Beckwourth was an African American pioneer, mountain man, fur trader and scout. Beckwourth was influential in creating one of four mountain passes through the Sierra Nevada for emigrants heading west.
8.2 Beckwourth Pass (No. 336 California Historical Landmark) and James Beckwourth Cabin Museum (nearby Pass): Beckwourth spent many months preparing a trail through the Sierra Nevada to Marysville. In the fall of 1851, he brought his wagon train of emigrants across the Sierra’s.
9.1 Pío Pico State Historic Park: Pío de Jesus Pico was born at the San Gabriel mission in 1801, his ancestry included a mixture of Spanish, African, Indian and Italian, and he lived in a time when the Spanish, Mexican and American flags flew over California.
9.2 Pío Pico State Historic Park: His adobe home “El Ranchito” has been restored to what it looked like in the 1800s. An influential figure in early California History, Pico was Governor in 1832 and in 1846.
10.1 Isaac Flood House: Born in to slavery in South Carolina, Isaac Flood bought his freedom and settled in Oakland California. He and his wife, Elizabeth Flood. Both, Elizabeth and Isaac fought for the desegregation of schools in California.
10.2 Isaac Flood House: Elizabeth, a school teacher from Sacramento, started the first public school for African American Children in California in 1855. In 1871, Isaac petitioned the Oakland School Board to accept minority children into public schools, based on the passage of the 14th amendment.
11.1 C.L. Dellums Station: C.L. Dellums Station located in Oakland, California, opened in 1995. It is named after C.L. Dellums, longtime Oakland resident, and organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1937.
11.2 C.L. Dellums Station: The organization was the first labor union established and led by African Americans.
12.1 Liberty Hall/Marcus Garvey Building: Built in 1877, the building now known as Liberty Hall or the Marcus Garvey building served as meeting hall and headquarters for the largest Northern California chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) run by founder of the movement Marcus Garvey from ca. 1925-1931.
12.2 Liberty Hall/Marcus Garvey Building: The association had over 700 branches in the U.S., and Garvey’s “Back to Africa” movement gained support far and wide. The Liberty Hall-Marcus Garvey building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
13.1 Elihu M. Harris Building: Former Assemblymember Elihu M. Harris was a notable member of the California Legislative Black Caucus.
13.2 Elihu M. Harris Building: He authored AB 312, the bill that turned Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday into an official State holiday in 1981.