The confiscation of land, displacement and erasure has tormented Black people since emancipation. After the disbursement of land to the formerly enslaved was revoked after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, the call for reparations has had a steady drumbeat. But since the California Reparations Task Force delivered its landmark, 1,200-page report in June, the drumbeat has never been louder. The report has 115 recommendations for reparative measures, including restitution for racially motivated takings of homes. In the fourth episode of Road to Reparations in California, we explore the stories of thriving Black communities - Bruce’s Beach, the town of Allensworth, San Francisco's Fillmore district and more - that were destroyed because of racist policies. The effects of displacement and housing discrimination continue to ripple through cities across America.
To read more about our KQED's reparations coverage please visit: www.kqed.org/reparations
Archival Sources:
Library of Congress
State Archives of Florida
New Hanover County Public Library, Local History Room
Security Pacific National Bank Collection; Shades of L.A. Photo Collection; Los Angeles Public Library
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA
Courtesy of the California African American Museum
Miriam Matthews Photograph collection; Towns (Royal E.) Papers; The Flatlands Newspaper Collection; African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library
Courtesy Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Center
Courtesy of California State Parks
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Courtesy of University of Maryland's T-Races project
Pond 5
Storyblocks
The Internet Archive
The National Archives and Records Administration
Where Is My Land
Justice For Bruce’s Beach
Kavon Ward (if anything came from her personal IG account)
State of California Department of Justice
Lakshmi Sarah
Beth LaBerge
KQED Archives