Exhibit at the African American History Library Oakland
Phillip Richard Springer (1874-1952) was the first black man in Oakland to own a taxicab. He was born in Barbados, in the British West Indies, and left home at age 16. At first, he operated under a jitney permit in Oakland, but he later had the license changed to a taxicab permit. By 1915, Springer’s Cab Company was well established. The Pullman Porters and West Oakland
Phillip R. Springer – date unknown
Phillip lived at various addresses in West Oakland.
1916
In the 1917 directory, he is listed at 835 Union Street with chauffeur as his occupation.
In the 1925 directory, he is listed along with his wife Edna at 879 Campbell Street with a taxi cab driver as his occupation.
From 1927 until he died in 1952, he lived at 957-35th Street with his family. The 1930 census reports that he owned his home and was a taxi cab driver at his own stand.
The Springer Home from 1927-at least 1952 957- 35th Street – Google Maps
Oakland Tribune 1952
A Family Business
Helaine Springer Head knows the taxicab business inside out. That’s because she grew up in it. Her late father, Phillip Springer, was the
“the first black man to own and operate his own taxi business – Springer Cab – in Oakland in the early 1900s”
Helene Springer Head 1975
Before Springer died in 1952, he gave his wife and daughter a crash course in running the business, as it was up to them to carry on. They ran the company out of the family home on 35th Street.
Oakland Tribune
Eventually, Helaine decided to strike out independently and acquired City Cab in 1964. She started with two cabs, and by 1975 she had three.
When Lydia Flood Jackson died at 101 in 1963, she was the oldest native of Oakland.
Sacramento Bee June 11, 1963
She was the daughter of a formerly enslaved person, the first Negro to attend an integrated Oakland public school in 1872, and became a leader of the women’s suffrage movement in 1918.
Oakland Tribune July 10, 1963
Lydia was born on June 9, 1862, at her family home in Brooklyn Township, now a part of Oakland.
She died on June 9, 1963. Services were held at the First A.M.E. Church in Oakland, California, formerly known as the Shiloh African Methodist Episcopal Church, which her parents helped found in 1858.
Her father was born into slavery in South Carolina and was freed in 1838; he traveled to California during the Gold Rush, settling in Oakland.
In 1854 her mother founded California’s first Negro School in Sacramento and was the first teacher. She founded a private school for minority groups in Alameda County in 1858 when Indians, Negroes, and Chinese were not allowed in White public schools. The school was at their home at 1334 East 15th Street in Oakland.
The Floods had a son, George, who is believed to be the first African-American child born in Alameda County. Elizabeth and Isaac Flood were among the earliest African-American families in the Oakland area and one of the most prominent and progressive.
Education
In 1871 her father, a leader of the Colored Convention, successfully fought to have Negro children admitted to public schools.
The Oakland School Board passed the following resolution:
Oakland Tribune July 10, 1963
In 1872, his daughter Lydia became the first student to attend the Swett School (later the Old Bella Vista School). Then, she attended night school at Oakland High and married John William Jackson in 1889.
Activist and Clubwoman
Lydia Flood Jackson – undated Flood Family Papers
Jackson was a member of the Native Daughter’s Club and the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club for forty-two years. Jackson was a leader in the California Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. While a member of the Federation, she was on them to demand women’s suffrage. While addressing the organization’s 1918 state convention, she told her audience.
“Today we are standing on the threshold of a great era looking into futurity to the mid-day sun of Democracy”
She founded Flood Toilet Creams, a successful West Coast cosmetic business that manufactured toiletries, creams, and perfumes. (I wish I could find more information on this)
Carolyn Carrington pins corsage onto Lydi Flood-circa 1960s- African American Museum Oakland
Oakland Tribune June 1962
Lydia Flood Jackson was honored on her 100th birthday by the City of Oakland as their “oldest living native and daughter of the first Negro school teacher in California.”
In this series of posts, I hope to show Then and Now images Oakland Schools. Along with a bit of history of each school, I highlight. Some of the photos are in the form of drawings or postcards, or from the pages of history books.
Note: Piecing together the history of some of the older schools is sometimes tricky. I do this all from home and online — a work in progress for some. I have been updating my posts with new information or corrections.
Let me know of any mistakes or additions.
King Estates Junior High School
In 1956 the city of Oakland and the Board of Education (OUSD) agreed to purchase a 46-acre tract on Mountain Blvd. near the Oak Knoll for future development as a combined school and recreation area.
Central National Savings Bank Map 1923
They purchased the land from the heirs of Arthur Dale King a Hillsborough millionaire, who died in 1952.
Under the agreement, 19 acres of the total 46 were for the two new schools.
In June of 1958, the Board of Education approved the plans for the new King Junior High School on Fontaine Street.
Groundbreaking Oakland Tribune Feb 1959
The estimated cost of the school was $1,638,445. The school was designed by the firm of Confer and Wills.
Oakland Tribune Jun 1958
Oakland Tribune Jun 1958
Twenty-six classrooms
Gymnasium
Library
Multipurpose room
Administrative Offices
800 Students
In October of 1960, the board ok’d the name “King Junior High” for the new school in King Estates.
Oakland Tribune Sept 06, 1960
School Shooting
Oakland Tribune March 18, 19
Oakland Tribune March 1973
In March of 1973, 15-year-old Leonard Key watched his mother die by a sniper’s bullet outside the school gym. Leonard’s mother, Mrs. Kay Key, and two sisters had just seen him play in an all-star basketball game.
Police arrested two 15-year-old boys who confessed to firing random shots onto the campus with a sawed-off shotgun and a .22-caliber pistol.
King Junior High Today
Google Maps
Google Maps
OUSD Photo
Google Maps
OUSD Photo
In 2005 two small highs schools opened at the campus; they are the Youth Empowerment School and East Oakland Community High School.
Now Rudsdale Continuation School and Sojourner Truth School are there.
The school named for Ralph Johnson Bunche (1903-1971). He taught Political Science at Howard University and was the first African American to get a Ph.D. in political science from an American university. He worked with helped Martin Luther King Jr. He was the first African American to be honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. He helped form the United Nations and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy.
Bunche Visits the School
In 1966 Ralph Bunche paid a visit to the school that bears his name.
“I have been waiting to come and see you since the school was established.I’ll try not to do anything that would anything that will embarrass you.”
Ralph K. Bunche 1966
Ralph K. Bunche 1966
Ralph K. Bunche 1966
He spoke to the 450 students in the play yard of the school. He then spent about an hour shaking hands with all the children and signing autographs.
After the event, some of the children said:
“He’s real nice, I liked the way he talked,” said Claudia Mason age 10
“He’s an intelligent man,” “He’s a real fine gentleman “
said Wayne Jackson age 10
Tribute to Bunche
Ralph Bunche Day was held on November 19, 1971. The children of the school paid tribute to the man the school is named after.
The school was called the Laurel Annex School and was organized in May of 1935.
The name officially changed to Redwood Heights School in June of 1935.
Location of the first School
The first school was located at 4359 Bennett Place.  Avenue Terrace Park is there now.
New School and location
The Oakland Board of Education officially broke ground on the site of the new school at Mountain Blvd and 39th Avenue. The new school was the tenth building as part of the 1948 tax election.
The two-story building had 11 classrooms, a kindergarten, an auditorium, and a library. Donovan and Kerr were the architects.
4401 39th Ave, Oakland, CA 94619
Redwood Heights Construction 1959 Oakland History Room Photo
The Board of Education approved plans for the new school in February of 1927.
The plans called for a two-story steel and concrete structure at an estimated cost of $260, 000. The “Spanish type” building constructed in the form of an L and had 35 classrooms, a gymnasium, shops, and an auditorium.
Oakland Tribune 1928
Westlake Junior High was known as Lakeview Junior High.
Dedication Ceremony
The formal dedication of the school was held on March 14, 1928.
Name Change
Renaming the school became necessary to avoid conflict with Lakeview elementary school.
The students wanted the school named after Col. Charles Lindbergh. The board decided against that. Lakeview Junior High became West Lake Junior High in May of 1929
One hundred sixty-two students graduated from West Lake Junior High on June 06, 1929. “The Biggest Class Ever.”
Oakland Tribune June 1928
Oakland, CA December 13, 1953 – Heralds from Westlake Junior High School opens the Christmas Pageant at the Oakland Auditorium. (Russ Reed / Oakland Tribune Photographer) (Photo by MediaNews Group/Oakland Tribune via Getty Images)
The world’s largest and fully mechanized mail handling facility designed to serve central California and the Pacific ocean area
Postmaster General – Aug 1959
It was announced that the facility would be built on a 12-block site in West Oakland bounded by Peralta, 7th, Wood Streets, and the Southern Pacific railroad yards.
Oakland Tribune August 26, 1959
The postmaster general officially named the Oakland project “Project Gateway”
Oakland Tribune August 26, 1959
Major Problems
City officials were excited that construction would begin in about one year. They expected an Oakland payroll of 750 workers and the clearing of some 20 acres of sub-standard homes for a significant redevelopment project.
Oakland Tribune August 30, 1959
Oakland Mayor Clifford E. Rishell noted that the post office project presents some significant problems, chiefly relocating 300 families (about 1000 people) in the project area.
Oakland Tribune July 25, 1965
The Oakland Redevelopment Agency was in charge of the relocation. A survey at the time determined that half of the 300 families had moderate incomes, permitting them to rent or purchase a home in other sections of the city. The other half will probably require public housing.
The job we face isn’t easy, but it isn’t impossible
Arthur Hoff – Oakland Redevelopment Agency
One of West Oakland’s most revered landmarks was lost when the New Century Recreation Center and the adjoining school property at Atlantic, Pacific, and Peralta Avenues were razed.
The project would also destroy a junkyard, a few businesses, and McFeely School, which opened in 1949.
Evictions
In a March 1960 special meeting of city and postal officials, 34 families were told they had already received eviction notices. The families lived in homes already sold to the government by Southern Pacific. Twenty-one families had already found new homes.
August 01, 1960, was when they were to begin clearing the site.
Oakland Tribune July 19, 1960
A squadron of bulldozers was set to plow into the 12-block block of buildings. Twelve parcels of the 187 total had been acquired in negotiation. Commendation orders were entered for the holdouts.
12 Blocks Cleared For the Postal Center
Oakland Tribune Nov 30, 1960Oakland Tribune Nov 30, 1960t
Sherman Tank
The postal officials were perplexed when building wrecker Aldo S. Allen submitted a low bid of $64,000 to clear the 20-acre site for Project Gateway. He was $10,000 lower than the next lowest bid and $50,000 lower than the highest bid.
“I got an idea” Allen a one time midget car racer explained.
Aldo S. Allen – 81st Ave Oakland CA
He planned to spend $2,000 on a surplus Sherman Tank of World War II vintage, a 73,000-pound dreadnaught powered by a 500 horsepower engine. The tank would be much more powerful, faster, and safer.
He was Right!
Aldo climbed into the tank in front of a row of six houses. He first practiced on a tree.
SNAP! Down went the tree.
Oakland Tribune August 16, 1960
Without pausing, he went towards the first house and bore a tunnel through it. The second story remained intact. Again, he aimed for the home. There was a roar, and the second story came down, burying the tank momentarily.
10 Minutes Flat! The time to clear the first house
Oakland Tribune August 16, 1960
It took 90 minutes to flatten and remove all six houses
Oakland Tribune August 16, 1960Oakland Tribune August 16, 1960Oakland Tribune August 16, 1960
Oakland Tribune August 16, 1960
Before and After
Oakland Tribune August 17, 1960
The Daily News Texan August 16, 1960
The post office Site is Now A Dump
Oakland Tribune July 15, 1963
1963, after five years of post office promises, the city demanded action. The site had become a 12-block dumping ground, and the city was losing $22,000 in tax dollars and $50,000 in additional school taxes. They were told that construction was set to begin in 1964. By July 1967, the building was nearly one-third complete. The belated Effects of a Long Wet Winter moved the opening date to March 1969.
Royal Edward Towns (February 10, 1899–July 23, 1990) was one of the first African American firefighters in Oakland. He was born in Oakland in 1899.
Royal E. Towns
He joined the OFD in 1927 and was assigned to Engine Company No. 22, a segregated firehouse in West Oakland. The station is located at 3320 Magnolia Street. He helped train many other black applicants to pass the test and was a scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop that included Sam Golden, who became the first African American fire chief in Oakland.
The exterior of Engine No 22 firehouse
Royal Towns was the 11th black Oakland fireman hired in 1927. They didn’t employ the 12th for another 15 years.
Royal E. Towns (center) and his colleagues with Engine Company No. 22 of the racially segregated Oakland Fire Department. (1943)
Royal E. Towns and his colleagues with Engine Company No. 22 of the racially segregated Oakland Fire Department. (1943)
In 1971 there were only 35 black firefighters.
Towns became the first to be promoted in the OFD. He became a chief operator in 1941 and retired as a lieutenant in 1962.
Royal Towns on the left with Oakland firefighters standing in front of fire engine no. 22 – Circa 1943
Royal Towns was instrumental in helping desegregate the fire department. He helped train many other black applicants to pass the fire department test.
Personal Life
Royal Towns was born in Oakland on February 10, 1899, to William Towns and Elizabeth Towns.
Towns married Lucille Dennis on May 26, 1920. Together they had three children. The family lived in various locations within Oakland.
The photos are courtesy of the Royal E. Towns papers, MS 26, African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California. Photos at Calisphere
According to the tenants of the Peralta Villa housing projects in West Oakland, they first heard about the program when the group of boys from the Alameda County Central Labor Council (funded by a grant from the War on Poverty) started demolishing the backyard fences and flower gardens.
The fences were removed, Housing Authority officials say, as the first step in a program of “beautification”
The tenants were irate because some had paid the OHA for the fences and planted their gardens. No advance notice was given – the workers just started tearing everything up.
As a part of the War on Poverty, a work-study program was funded to provide the salaries of University of California students to work with the tenants.
The students worked with the residents of Lockwood Gardens to help them develop a sense of community identity and to learn how to help themselves.
These students encouraged the tenants to form the Lockwood Improvement League.
The War on Poverty funded the program,the same people supporting the “Beautification Program” and removing their fences.
The tenants of Peralta Villas met at Cole School and formed the Peralta Improvement League. Thirty tenants volunteered to create their own “human fence” They wrote up a list of demands and began their fight to save their gardens.
Stop tearing down the remaining fences.
Rebuild the fences already taken down
Reimburse the tenants whose private property was destroyed
Consult the tenants first before doing any further work
Oakland Tribune July 1965
The labor for the “Beautification Program” was provided by the Alameda County Labor Councilthrough a grant from the War of Poverty.
Lockwood Gardens
On June 25, 1965, the OHA decided to “beautify” the projects. They started with Lockwood Gardens.
The people of Lockwood Gardens newfound sense of community identity was outraged.
Each thirty-plus units in Lockwood Gardens had a yard, and most had fences. Some had lawns, and some had shrubs and flowers.
The enclosed yards gave the tenants a sense of individuality, security, and pride.
All backyard fences would come out; the lawns, shrubs, and flowers would be dug out. A common turf area without fences would replace private yards.
Oakland Tribune June 30, 1965
They had been using my yard as adverstiment for years.”
They were also upset by the lack of warning. They got 200 signatures in favor of keeping the fences.
The Lockwood Gardens tenants were all for beautification but not at the expense of their backyards. One tenant was upset because he had just rebuilt his fence. Not all the tenants of the tenants took care of yards or kept their fences in repair. But they felt the OHA could work it out with those tenants.
The Protests
Beautiful Backyard – July 1965 San Francisco News-Call Bulletin newspaper photograph archive
The tenants of both Peralta Villa and Lockwood Gardens protested and managed to halt or limit the work that could be done at either of the projects.
Oakland Tribune July 13, 1965
The OHA laid out a new backyard fence policy.
“Residents must keep their backyards neat and in repair; no new fences could be installed; no satisfactory fence will be torn down now, but eventual elimination of all fenced areas can be expected.”
In August of 1965, the OHA board voted to poll each family of Campbell Village, Lockwood Gardens, and Peralta Villa if they want a fence. Everyone was to be asked, even those who lived on the 2nd floor. There was a total of 916 total units in the three projects.
The tenants were given two choices in the questions asked :
Oakland Tribune Sep 01, 1965
“It appears to be a lower-the-cost- maintenance program”
The Pro-Fence group leader
In July 1966, one tenant reported that all the fences had been removed, and the place looked like a dump. The lawn was dead in most areas as it wasn’t being watered.
A special edition of my blog in honor of Black History Month and a wonderful man.
Calvin Simmons Conductor
I was lucky enough to know Clavin Simmons personally. He was the conductor of the Oakland Symphony when I worked there.
Let me back up a little bit. My mom Sarah Chambers started working at the Oakland Symphony in 1977 when I was still in high school. She began as the receptionist and worked her way up the ladder to the Director of Education.
SF Examiner January 28, 1985
She would sign me up during the summer to hand out flyers at lunchtime events. One of our board members would do the same with her daughter Libby Schaff was the Mayor of Oakland from 2015-2023.
I was hired in 1980 as the receptionist and worked my way up the ladder to Box Office/Marketing Assistant. We both worked for the Symphony until September 1986, when they filed for bankruptcy.
Before the Oakland Symphony
Calvin was born in San Francisco in 1950 to Henry Calvin and Mattie Pearl Simmons.
Music was a part of his life from the beginning. He learned how to play the piano from his Mother.
Balboa High School Yearbook 1968Balboa High School Yearbook 1968
Calvin attended Balboa High School in San Francisco, where he was a member of the orchestra.
“did tons of conducting with school orchestra.”
Madi Bacon
SF Examiner September 19, 1969
The Maestro Kid
He was the assistant conductor with the San Francisco Operafrom 1972 to 1975, winning the Kurt Herbert Adler Award.
He remained active at the San Francisco Opera for all his adult life, supporting General Director Kurt Herbert Adler, first as a repetiteur and then as a member of the conducting staff. He made his formal debut conducting Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème with Ileana Cotrubas. His later work on a production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District drew national attention.
In 1979 he conducted the premiere of Menotti’s La Loca in San Diego.
He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, conducting Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, returning the following year. He was on the musical staff at Glyndebourne from 1974 to 1978.
Oakland Symphony
with Harold Lawrence, manager Oakland Symphony circa 1978
Simmons became musical director of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra at the age of 28 in 1978. He was one of the early African-American conductors of a major orchestra.
His debut audition was in early 1978.
SF Examiner April 16, 1978
SF Examiner April 23, 1978
A Maestro Wordless – September 1978
SF Examiner September 26, 1978
Windsor Star January 22, 1982
Calvin joined the Youth Orchestra tour in July 1982
Calvin July 1982 Oakland Symphony Picnic – Photo by Bill Londagin
On Sunday, August 22, 1982, I was next door helping my husband, who was repairing our neighbor’s roof. All of a sudden, my mom screams out the window that Calvin has died. Such a sad day. It took another week to find his body. It was such a loss to Oakland and the music world. He was on his way to greatness.
SF Examiner August 23, 1982
Calvin was visiting friends in Upper State New York. Connery Pond was where he went a lot to unwind and regroup. While waiting for dinner, Calvin took a canoe ride out in the pond. He was by himself about 150 feet from the shore; he was a good swimmer. A woman was taking pictures of the sunset from the beach. She pointed her camera towards Calvin, and he must have noticed that, and being the ham he was, he stood up to pose. He then fell into the water.
SF Examiner August 23, 1982
Philadelphia Daily News August 24, 1982
A Final Tribute
There was a memorial service on September 07, 1982, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco; more than 2200 people attended.
There was a memorial concert on September 20, 1982, at the Paramount Theatre.
