Legendary Bay Area African Americans
Sports and Stuff
Culture
By the Numbers-ish
Oakland History
100
He was a musical prodigy, becoming proficient on the keyboard, guitar, drums and bass by age 11.
In the mid-1960s, he was a DJ for KSOL in San Francisco.
His music group, a multiracial fusion of funk, rock, soul and psychedelic rock, became one of the most influential musical groups of its era (1960s).
In 1993, the group was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.
Sly Stone
100
When did the NY Giants relocate to San Francisco?
1958
100
In the 1940s and 1950s, the ________ became Black San Francisco's cultural and economic heart.
It became known as the _______.
1) The Fillmore District
2) Harlem of the West
100
Only two counties in the Bay Area have African Americans making up more than 10% of their total population.
Alameda (12.6 percent) and Solano (14.7 percent).
100
Built in the 1940/50s through the heart of the African American community - disrupting community cohesion, and economic viability by cutting it off from Downtown Oakland.
What is Highway 17 (now I-880 or Nimitz Freeway)?
200
Oakland born actor that became the first Muslim American to win an Academy Award (2016).
Before bursting onto the American media landscape, he was signed to the legendary Bay Area rap label Hieroglyphics Imperium and rapped under the name Prince Ali.
Mahershala Ali
200
Regarded as one of the greatest MLB players ever, played for SF Giants from 1954 - 1972.
Willie Howard Mays Jr.
200
Bay area hotel known for being a swanky spot to grab a drink, but it's also home to one of the only museums worldwide exclusively focused on the African Diaspora culture.
St. Regis Hotel
200
Today, African Americans living in the Bay Area’s nine counties account for ____% of the area residents.
6.7%
200
Year when Oakland was recognized as the most diverse city in the country.
2021
300
She might not be well-known nationally, or even in some parts of the Bay Area, but she was a legendary housing rights activist for SF's Bayview-Hunter's Point community. She was a leader of the community's growth and rejuvenation in the 1960s and '70s.
Eloise Westbrook
300
How many players from the SF 49ers team are ranked within the NFL's Top 100 players?
8 players, 4 of them identify as African Americans
No. 79 -- LB Dre Greenlaw
No. 78 -- S Talanoa Hufanga
No. 61 -- WR Deebo Samuel
No. 35 -- RB Christian McCaffrey
No. 19 -- TE George Kittle
No. 15 -- LB Fred Warner
No. 14 -- LT Trent Williams
No. 4 -- DE Nick Bosa
300
Bay Area historical powerful location where the Black Panther Party opened their headquarters in 1966.
It’s All Good Bakery
300
Median household income for African Americans in the Bay Area
$48,000.
300
Founders of the Black Panther Party
Who are Bobby Seale & Huey P. Newton?
400
She is one of the trailblazers of social justice activism, not just for African Americans, but for the Bay Area as a whole. She was born in San Francisco in 1871 and began as a organizer and secretary for Bethel A.M.E. Church Sunday School of San Francisco in the early 1890s.
Hettie B. Tilghman
400
Before he was called "Pops" or inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988, he played baseball at Encinal High School in Alameda.
Willie Stargell
Fun fact: A monument was dedicated to Stargell in Alameda in 2015 and there is a street, Willie Stargell Avenue, named after him right outside the exit from the Webster Tunnel that connects Oakland and Alameda.
400
Started in 1973, became the only black-controlled independent public radio station west of the Mississippi, and was the first to launch a show focusing on rap music in 1979.
Radio station KPOO
400
When did Oakland first become incorporated as a town?
1856
400
At Oakland Tech, a group of students called The Apollos worked to make _______ a California state holiday, first celebrated in 1982. It didn’t become a national holiday until 1983.
Martin Luther King (MLK) Day Holiday
500
She made history by becoming the first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School in 2013.
After graduating, she moved back to the Bay Area to work for Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley as a Skadden Fellow and now she works full-time as a non-litigation disability rights advocate.
Haben Girma
500
Retired Oakland-born NFL running back, twice led the league in rushing touchdowns.
Attended Oakland Technical High School (2000-2004)
Attended UC Berkley, played for Golden Bears football team from 2004-2006.
One of his touchdowns in the 2010-11 playoffs, is considered to be one of the greatest runs in the NFL history.
Current owner of the indoor football team Bay Area Panthers.
Launched cannabis company and brand Dodi Blunts, which donates proceeds to the Last Prisoner Project, a drug policy reform group.
Marshawn Lynch
500
Was founded in 1960 as one of the country's first Black bookstores and became the oldest African American bookstore in the United States. It closed its San Francisco location in 2014 but has an office in Oakland and plans to reopen again at the African American Art and Culture Complex.
Marcus Books
500
The first people of African ancestry arrived in the South Bay in ____
1777 or Late 1700
Local historian Jan Batiste Adkins published documented presence of people of African American Heritage who came to San Jose specifically in 1777
500
Event that marked the beginning of the labor movement.
What is the Oakland 1946 General Strike?
Oakland was at the center of the general strike during the first week of December 1946, one of six cities across the country that experienced such a strike after World War II and marked the beginning of the labor movement.