Tag Archives: African American

Joshua Rose

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Oakland’s first black city councilman Joshua Rose from 1965 to 1977, served on the Oakland City Council representing District 2.

Joshua Rose pictured in 1928 (University of Pittsburgh)

Early Life

Joshua Richard Rose was born in Lexington, Virginia, on September 11, 1906, to George and Mary (Charles) Rose.

His family relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Joshua attended Schenley High School.

After high school, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), where he completed the required credits for a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree in 1934. He did post-graduate work in economics, philosophy, and psychology at New York University.

YMCA

While at Pitt, he worked at the Hill District Center Avenue YMCA. The Y served as a residence for Black students at Pitt who were not allowed to reside at the university residence halls.

The Montclair Times Jun 18, 1935

After graduation, Rose accepted a position with the YMCA in Montclair, New Jersey.

The Pittsburgh Courier – February 23, 1935
Montclair Times – Feb 1939

In 1939, Rose moved to California with his wife Virginia and their two children, Richard and Virginia, to help establish a branch of the Oakland YMCA for the local African American community.

Oakland Tribune April 23, 1939

He helped create what was later known as the Northwest Branch, initially located at 36th and San Pablo but later moved to 3265 Market St. in the early 1940s.

Rose was responsible for introducing summer day camps incorporating arts and crafts with sports and outdoor activities, including an annual trip to Yosemite National Park.

Oakland Tribune March 28, 1943

Rose worked throughout his career to provide many Oakland youth with constructive activities and summertime employment through the YMCA’s programs. In 1967 Rose retired as Associate General Secretary of the Metropolitan Branch of the YMCA.

Board of Playground Directors

SF Examiner July 18, 1947

In 1947, the city council selected Rose to be the first African American member of the Board of Playground Directors, a group that would eventually become the Oakland Recreation Commission.

Oakland Tribune June 1, 1959

Rose was a board member for 17 years, including serving as chairman from 1961 to 1962.

Oakland Tribune May 9, 1957

Oakland City Councilman

On August 27, 1964, he was asked by Mayor John Houlihan if he would complete the unexpired term of Robert V. McKeen on the Oakland City Council. Rose agreed and became the first African American to sit on the Council.

Oakland Tribune August 30, 1964

He represented the 2nd District. Rose, a Republican, was re-elected three times in 1965, 1969, and 1973.

“I have a deep interest in Oakland’s future. To secure that future, dedication and sacrifice based on sound academic training and reliable experience are necessary.”

Joshua A. Rose April 1965

He was a respected member of the Council, particularly for his work in easing racial tensions in the city in the late 1960s when the Black Panther Party, founded in Oakland in 1966, challenged the local political establishment.

After sustaining severe injuries in an automobile accident, Rose officially retired from the Council on June 30, 1977.

Death

“Josh was a symbol for us” “A symbol of success.”
Mayor Lionel Wilson Septe 1987

Joshua Rose passed on April 13, 1987, from Parkinson’s disease. He was 81.

SF Examiner April 16, 198

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Fanny Wall Children’s Home

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Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery, an orphanage and daycare center, was established in 1918 by African-American clubwomen in West Oakland. Sometimes it is called the Fanny Wall Home.

“Charity is the Golden Chain that reaches from heaven to earth.”

from the letterhead

The Beginning

In 1914 the Northern Federation of California Colored Women’s Clubs President Fanny Wall and Financial Secretary Hettie Tilghman began working on a children’s home and day nursery to support black working mothers and care for orphaned black children. After years of planning and fundraising, the home opened in 1918 on Peralta Street in West Oakland.

“Care for the Orphans

“Shelters the Half Orphans”

“Keeps the Children of Day Workers.”

Oakland Tribune April 1920

Initially, the home was called the“Northern Federation Home and Day Nursery.” It was subsequently renamed to honor Fannie Wall who was the first woman to run the charity on a daily basis.

The Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery was open to children of all races, ethnicities, and religions, it was the first facility in Northern California to provide various services including housing, boarding, and daycare for black orphans.

It was located at 1215 Peralta Street in West Oakland from 1918-1928.

Fannie Wall ( 1860-1944) came to Oakland with her family in the early 1900s.  She was born in Gallatin Tennessee in 1860.  She was married to Archey(Archy) H. Wall (18?? -1931), was a staff sergeant in the US Army.  They had two daughters, Lillian (Williams) and Florence (Murray), and one son Clifton. Archey was transferred to the Presidio in San Francisco and they ultimately ended up in Oakland. Wall was an early community activist who participated in several organizations that promoted African American economic empowerment

She served several terms as the president of the California Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs.

She co-founded the Art and Industrial Club of Oakland in 1906.  Under her presidency, the club joined the Child Welfare League. Wall also help establish the “Colored Y” of Oakland.

In 1936 Archie Williams her grandson (Lillian)won a gold medal in the 400-meter run in Berlin.

Oakland Tribune Aug 8, 1936

Fannie Wall died on April 14, 1944, in her home on Telegraph Avenue.  She is buried in the same plot as her husband in the San Francisco National Cemetery.

Oakland Tribune Apr 20, 1944

Linden Street Site

In 1928, having outgrown its original location they moved to a new one on Linden Street.

Fannie Wall Children’s Home, 815 Linden – 2nd site -Courtesy The African American Museum and Library Oakland

The handsome house at 815 Linden Street was purchased for $5000. The upper-middle-class house was designed by Charle Man in the 1880s.  It was one of five buildings built by Frances Reichling a surveyor, who subdivided his property at the corner of Linden Street and Eighth Street.  The largest of the buildings became the family home and the others were rentals.

Linden Street 1948 -African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)

The home could accommodate up to 20 resident children and 8-15 children for daycare services and be operated by a professional staff of over ten employees that included social workers and a volunteer psychiatrist. 

The house was considered a step up from the one on Peralta Street and was across the street from the “Colored Y.”

Women and children seated around the piano at the Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery- updated -African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)

New Look

The Linden Street site was given a face-lift in 1953. The “new look,” a two-room addition was used as the administrative offices, releasing the old offices and reception room for nursery classes and a future library.  They provided room for 47 children.  

In 1962 the Oakland Redevelopment Agency purchased the property at 815 Linden St. in order to demolish the building for the Acorn Project.

Management

“Fannie Wall is Calling”

From the annual report

The Northern Federation of Colored Women Clubs operated the Fannie Wall Home until 1941. The home was then incorporated as an independent organization. At that time it was the only home in California that primarily cared for African-American children.

The home was admitted as an agency of the Community Chest-United crusade in 1923

Fannie Wall was elected as the first president and served more than 20 years as the head of the 21 board of directors. She was succeeded by Mrs. Lydia Smith Ward who in turn was followed by Mrs. Chlora Hayes Sledge in the 1940s.

The home was managed by a Board of Directors, which largely consisted of members of the Northern Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, a community advisory committee, and an executive director who oversaw the home’s day-to-day operations.

The Board of Directors of the Fanny Wall Home – Chlora Hays Sledge, President, center-left.Courtesy The African American Museum and Library Oakland

The home was the first Community Chest Children’s Agency in the East Bay to employ a trained social worker.

Girls with fans at the Fannie Wall Home, in the 1940s.Courtesy The African American Museum and Library Oakland

Fundraising

 The home received funding from a variety of sources including rent from an apartment in Berkeley donated by Josephine Sutton, Community Chest, the Dreiser Trust, and through fundraising events coordinated by the home.

Ticket to chicken dinner for Fannie Wall Home Benefit-1944 -African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery, Inc. charity ball program – 1946 – African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)- Identifier
MS162_B1_F6_001
Oakland Tribune 1958

The third charity ball was held on January 19, 1948, at the Oakland Auditorium.

In 1959 a fashion show was held at Slim Jenkins to raise money for the building fund.  Models showed the latest styles.

A Haven For Children

Rodeo artists Schwartz and Grodin entertain children with finger paints at the Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery – circa 1947 -African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection
Oakland Tribune 1949

In 1949  the Fannie Wall home had 30 children who received daycare while their parents worked.  Ranging in age from 3 to 14 years. During the summer months, the children took swimming lessons at the de Fremery Park pool: enjoyed story hours at the West Oakland Branch Library, and had special excursions to other city parks and playgrounds.

Birthday Party 1946

Monthly parties were held to honor the children whose birthdays occurred during the month. They would dress up for a special dinner or an afternoon party.

Oakland Tribune Aug 8, 1948
Integrated Playground at the Fanny Wall Home, the 1950s. Courtesy The African American Museum and Library Oakland

The Final Location

In 1964 they purchased a house at 647 55th Street for $19,000. They initially struggled to obtain a license from the Social Welfare Department, and the home was not re-opened until 1967 as part of a placement program for the Alameda County Welfare Department.

Fannie Wall Children’s Home 55th Street – 3rd site Courtesy The African American Museum and Library Oakland

The home was forced to close again in 1970 for remodeling and reopened in 1978 as a child daycare facility and Head Start Center. It is now called Fannie Wall Head Start.

Group photograph of attendees at Fannie Wall Children’s Home and Day Nursery mortgage burning ceremony (first row, left-right): Annie Mae Smith, Albertine Radford, Silvia Parker, Mildred McNeal, Marge Gibson (second row, left-right): Bessie Watson, Euna Tucker, N. Adams, Lela Posey (third row, left-right): Eugene P. Lasartemay, Roy Blackburn, Kermit Scott, Harold Adams – 1981 -African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection
Fannie Wall Pre-K Program – 647 55th Street Oakland CA

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Delilah Beasley

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Delilah Beasley – undated

Delilah Beasley was a columnist for the Oakland Tribune and was the first African American woman to be published regularly in a major U.S. newspaper. 

She is most known for her book “The Negro Trail-Blazers of California,” published in 1919 and reprinted in 1968. 

Early Life

Delilah Leontium Beasley was born Cincinnati, Ohio, just after the Civil War on September 9, 1871 (some report 1867) to Daniel Beasley, an engineer, and Margaret Harris.

Beasley began her newspaper career in 1887, writing for the black newspaper, the Cleveland Gazette on church and social activities.

After her parents’ death, she went to Chicago and took a position to learn massage: she desired to become a nurse, which she became a few years later.

She traveled to California to nurse a former patient and stayed.

After moving to Oakland in 1910 at the age of 39, she wrote for the Oakland Sunshine and the Western Outlook.

In 1910 3,055 African Americans were living in Oakland.

Trail-Blazers

To help her race; to open doors into the arts and sciences for the negro boys and girls, has been the impelling force for Delilah Beasley”

Los Angeles Times Jul 13, 1919

Oakland Tribune April 16, 1915

Beasley spent the first nine years in Oakland researching Black Americans’ history in the west at the University of California at Berkeley. She also would give presentations at local churches.

An early cover of the book

In 1919 she self-published a book called The Negro Trail Blazers of California. The book chronicled African American “firsts” and notable achievements in early California. The book includes diaries, biographical sketches, poetry, photographs, old papers, conversations with old pioneers, and a comprehensive history of early legislation and court cases.

California Eagle Dec 7, 1918

[archiveorg negrotrailblazer00beas width=560 height=384 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

California Eagle March 15, 1919

Activities Among Negroes

Her book paved the way for Beasley to become the first African American women in California to write regularly for a major metropolitan newspaper. She worked for the Oakland Tribune from 1923 to 1934 and wrote a weekly column entitled “Activities Among Negroes.”  The column carried civic and religious news of the black community

Oakland Tribune August 24, 1924

Civic Organizations

Beasley was determined to advance the rights of African Americans and women; she joined many civic clubs. These included the NAACP, the Alameda County League of Women Voters, the National Association of Colored Women, the Oakland Council of Church Women, and the Linden Center Young Women’s Christian Association.

She was an honorary member of the League of Nations Association of Northern California.

Oakland Tribune March 3, 1928

Delilah died at the age of 62 on August 18, 1934.  Beasley is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery.

Oakland Tribune Aug 19, 1934

She live for many years at 705- 34th Street.

Exterior of Delilah Beasley’s house, 705 34th Oakland, California – African American Museum & Library at Oakland 

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African American Women’s Clubs

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During the later part of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Black women in Oakland established clubs and institutions to address the growing demands of the Black community.

California State Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc. brochure – see here.

I will highlight some of them here.

Fanny Jackson Coppin Club

The Fanny Jackson Coppin Club was founded in 1899 by the Beth Eden Baptist Church members. 

The Fannie Jackson Coppin Club is known as the “mother club” of California’s African American women’s club movement. 

“Not failure, but low aim is the crime.“

Motto

The club was named in honor of Fannie Jackson Coppin (1837-1913), who was born a slave in Washington, D.C., and became a renowned educator.

Colored Directory 1917

At first, the club’s priority was to provide African American travelers who could not stay at segregated hotels with welcoming places to spend a night.

The club was involved with the creation of the Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored People in Oakland to provide care for elderly African Americans in the state of California.

Oakland Tribune June 26, 1959
California Club Journal 1973

Art and Industrial Club

In 1906, a branch of the Art and Industrial Club was formed and devoted itself to the arts and the “uplift of the race.”

“Deeds Not Words”

Motto
Colored Directory 1917

Mother’s Charity Club

Founded in 1907

“Lift as We Climb“

Motto

The Mother’s Charity Club was founded in 1907. They were dedicated to philanthropic endeavors. During its earliest years of activity, the Mother’s Charity Club fed and cared for many children and sick and needy persons.

Colored Directory 1917
1959-60

Elmhurst Progressive Club

The Elmhurst Progressive Club was founded in 1912 to uplift humanity.

“Progressive“

Motto
Colored Directory 1917
Oakland Tribune 1914

Imperial Art and Literary Club

The Imperial Art and Literary of Oakland were founded in 1912. They provided charity and promoted the arts and literary work.

“Love and Truth“

Motto
Colored Directory 1917
Oakland Tribune 1931
California Club Journal 1973

Self Improvement Club

Self Improvement Club of Oakland was founded in 1916. Their goal was to improve humanity and the surrounding communities.

“He who is true to God, is true to Man”

Motto
Colored Directory 1917

Rhododendron Self Cultured Club of Oakland

The Rhododendron Club was formed in the early 1950s to uplift and work for the development culture of their race. They wished for their every deed to be large and strong.

“Like Ivy we Climb–Lifting as we Climb“

Motto
Four women holding presents at the Rhododendron Club fashion show at Slim Jenkins

Rhododendron Club fashion show contestants posing at Slim Jenkins

Fidelis Art and Culture Business Women’s Club of Oakland

California Club Journal 1973

The Art Social Club of Oakland

California Club Journal 1973

Royal 10 Society Club of Oakland

I only found this photo. I will update you if I find more.

Members of the Royal 10 Social Club attending a Hawaiian-themed luau party
Updated
African American Museum

Linden Street YWCA

Group portrait of Les Elites Industrial Club Linden Branch Y.W.C.A

In 1920, a group of African American clubwomen formed The Linden Street branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). 

They provided religious training, counseling services, vocational training, art classes, adult education classes, and all types of cultural events. 

 Located at 828 Linden Street, the branch was housed in a two-story building with four club rooms.

By 1938, the Linden Street “Y” had a membership of over 750.

In 1944 following a new national policy, the board of directors of the central Oakland YWCA integrated the Linden Street YWCA.

“to make its program available to all women and girls irrespective of race, creed, or color.“

It was renamed the West Oakland Center of the YWCA. The two-story building was razed in the early 1960s

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Oakland’s First African American Cab Driver

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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 Springer
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.

Phillip Springer
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.

Oakland Tribune 1964
Oakland Tribune May 13, 1975
Oakland Tribune 1972

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OPD – First Black Women Recruit

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In 1970 Saundra Brown was the first black woman accepted for the Oakland Police Department’s Recruits Academy.

SF Examiner December 18, 1970

“I’m kind of optimistic”

Saundra Brown December 1970

Born and raised in Oakland. She felt she knew the problems of the young here. She said, “in a city like Oakland, with its Black Panthers and militant groups, there is a special need for minority police officers.” She worked with teens during her college days.

Saundra graduated from Fresno College with a degree in sociology. She always had her eyes set on working with juveniles and looked into law enforcement as a possible field. She applied to OPD immediately after her June 1969 graduation. No opening existed.

She was working as a claims adjuster when she heard that OPD was looking for a “black policewomen.”

Police Academy

Saundra Brown, the first black woman on the Oakland police force

At that time, a MALE recruit needed only a high school diploma or a score of 262 on a GED course. WOMEN must have a four-year college degree or four years of experience in law enforcement. She had that.

She attended the same 15 weeks of Police Academy as the 22 males in her class. She was expected to compete with the males.

She took courses in criminal law and report writing, first aid traffic investigation, and the Oakland penal code. There were also defensive tactics, involving strenuous activities such as calisthenics, some judo, and a little karate.

SF Examiner December 1970

“Oh, I did alright I guess” she laughed. I can throw the biggest guy in the class.“

Saundra Brown – December 17, 1970

During the course, she learned for the first time in her life, to handle firearms.

“I used to be scared of guns,” she laughed,. “but now I feel safer with a gun in possession because I know how to use it”

Oakland Tribune Dec 14, 1970

Graduation

Oakland Tribune December 14, 1970

On December 18, 1970, she accepted her star and adulations from Police Chief Charles Gain as the only woman in the police academy of 24.

She finished at the top of her class. She hoped to be assigned to the juvenile division. However, Chief Gain had other ideas.

As the only minority-group policewoman, to handle firearms, he joined a slightly more signere were 710 men on the force, only seven women.

At that time, women were not allowed to compete with men for advancement. Fascinated with the legal issues she encountered as a policewoman, Saundra decided to attend law school while continuing to serve her hometown of Oakland as a police officer until 1977.

She served with OPD from 1970-77

Life after the OPD

She then received a Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1977.

She was a judicial extern at the California Court of Appeals in 1977 and a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, from 1978 to 1979 and 1980 to 1982. From 1979 to 1980, she was a senior consultant to the California Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice.

She was a trial attorney of the United States Department of Justice Public Integrity Section from 1982 to 1983. She then served as a Commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission from 1983 to 1986 and the United States Parole Commission from 1986 to 1989.

SF Examiner Jan 22, 1989

She was a Judge on the Alameda Superior Court, California, from 1989 to 1991.

Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong official portrait art by Scott Johnston, oil on linen, 38×27-inches, collection of the United States District Court of Northern California, Oakland

On April 25, 1991, Armstrong was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by William Austin Ingram. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 14, 1991, and received her commission on June 18, 1991.

She earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from the Pacific School of Religion in 2012, and she assumed senior status on March 23, 2012

https://blackthen.com/the-real-cleopatra-jones-saundra-brown-1970-look-at-her-now/

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Stephens’ Family

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Updated October 2022

The William M Stephens family was a successful African American family from Oakland. They owned the Stephens Restaurant, and Virginia, their daughter, won acclaim at the age of fourteen when her name Jewel City was selected for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition buildings in a competition sponsored by the San Francisco Call-Post.  Virginia was the first African American woman to receive a law degree from the University of California Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law in 1929.

Stephens Restaurant at 200 East 14th Oakland
Circa 1925 – photo by M.L. Cohen
Stephens Family papers, MS 5, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

The Stephens Family

William Stephens Circa 1901
Stephens Family papers, MS 5, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California

William Stephens was born in 1870 in Accomack County, Virginia. He moved out to California while still a child and attended school in Oakland and San Francisco. After graduation, Stephens completed Heald College coursework before working with the Southern Pacific Railway in 1886. Beginning as a Sleeping Car Porter, he worked his way up to a clerkship under H.E. Huntington, assistant to the company’s President.

In 1894 he lived at 1132 Linden Street in West Oakland.

In 1898, Stephens resigned from Southern Pacific and took a position with the Crocker family, traveling with them throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Through these travels, Stephens learned about the hotel and restaurant business.

In 1901, he married Pauline Logan (1874-1929) of Tehama, California.

Pauline Stephens circa 1898
Stephens Family papers, MS 5, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Pauline gave birth to one daughter, Annie Virginia (who went by Virginia), on April 7, 1903. Due to his daughter’s health problems as a young girl, Stephens resigned from his post with the Crockers and began working at an Oakland social club. He moved on from this position in 1915 to manage the clubhouse at the Hotel Del Monte Golf and Country Club in Monterey County.

Pauline died in May 1929.

Oakland Tribune May 29, 1929

William died on November 21, 1932

Oakland Tribune Dec 2, 1932

Stephens’ Restaurant

Stephens worked at the Del Monte Hotel for about nine years. It was there he learned more about the restaurant business. His first venture was known as the Joy Lunch Room. From his very first business, he was successful, and in 1927 the old Joy Lunch became known as Stephens Restaurant.

Group of men standing in front of Stephens’ Restaurant & Lunch Room at 110 East 14th circa the 1920s
Stephens Family papers, MS 5, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California

The restaurant soon became the dining rendezvous of the ultra-fashionable folk of the city and gave lucrative employment to young African American men and women.

California Eagle Dec 1930

Stephens’ Restaurant grew from small quarters into an ample establishment seating over 200 people, occupying three locations near Lake Merritt.

William Stephens (right) and employee inside Stephens’ Restaurant circa the 1920s
Stephens Family papers, MS 5, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

The restaurant enjoyed great success during the 1920s and 1930s and was usually filled to capacity. Stephens took great delight in employing African American high school and college students so they could earn money for their education.

Oakland Tribune 1927

The final location of the restaurant was 200 East 14th (now International Blvd) at 2nd Ave and was in business until 1938 when Narcisi’s Italian Restaurant opened.

Stephens Cocktail Lounge

In 1936 it was announced that the restaurant added a cocktail lounge and was under the management of George Devant and Charles Simpson (Stephens’s nephew.) Charles inherited the recipes that made the restaurant famous.

Known to gourmets for years as the

“home of real Southern cooking”

Oakland Tribune Mar 27, 1936
Oakland Tribune 1936

Virginia Stephens

 

Born in Oakland on April 7, 1903, Annie Virginia Stephens was the only child of William and Paul. She attended public schools in Oakland until the family moved to Pacific Grove, where she graduated from high school.

In 1915 the San Francisco Call-Post held a naming contest for the buildings within the Panama-Pacific International Exposition – Virginia won the competition (1300 titles were submitted) when her name “Jewel City” was selected; she was twelve at the time.

“We regret to say that when it was discovered that Miss Stephens had colored blood there was a sudden silence on the part of the press and the recognition ever given her was a season ticket to the grounds.”

The Crisis, Vol. 11 pg 36, No. 1

College

Virginia attended the University of California at Berkeley and received a bachelor’s degree in science in 1924.

While at Berkeley, Virginia and Ida L. Jackson was charter members 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.

Members of Rho Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, University of California, Berkeley (left-right): Virginia Stephens, Oreatheal Richardson, Myrtle Price (in back), Ida Jackson (sorority president), Talma Brooks, and Ruby Jefferson (1921), 
African American Museum and Library at Oakland. 

Encouraged by her father to attend law school, she enrolled in the Boalt School of Law at UC Berkeley and earned a degree in 19 9. At that time, she was only the second woman to receive a law degree from the school and the first African American woman to complete the progr m. Virginia passed the California Bar in the same year, the first African American female Attorney in California.

California Eagle 1930

Virginia married attorney George Coker (1906-1970) The Cokers helped tutor African American students for the State bar exams They moved to Virginia and maintained a private law practice there for almost a decade.

In 1939 after working in private practice for ten years, they moved back to California, settling in Sacramento. Virginia was appointed Attorney in the State Office of the Legislature Council in Sacramento in May 1939 In this capacity, she helped with drafting and amending legislative bills and worked under four different legislative councils:

Upon her retirement in 1966, Virginia attained the position of Deputy of the Indexing Section Virginia died in Sacramento at 83 on February 11, 1986.

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The End