Cecil Thurston and Elmer McConnell, professional barbers for 40 years, photograph by Jonathan Eubanks

As she embarked on this project, writer Opal Palmer Adisa had lived in West Oakland for seven years and witnessed rapid changes in the neighborhood. Feeling a strong commitment to area, which is rich in the history and culture of a working-class African American populace, she sought to preserve and honor the voices, stories, and images of 20 of its residents who had lived in the neighborhood for 20 years or longer.

The project culminated in several forms. Oakland photographer Jonathan Eubanks—well-known for his documentation of The Black Panther Party as well as other social movements from Oakland’s history—photographed the seniors for an exhibition at the African American Museum and Library. Video producer Ian Dawkins-Moore created a 60-minute documentary using footage from the library’s collection, and juxtaposing West Oakland’s past with overlays from the 20 interviews. The project was delayed somewhat by the need to raise additional funds to complete the video.

Adisa’s process began with an extensive canvassing of seniors in the neighborhood-through fliers at library branches; visits to churches, senior centers, and residential homes; and connections to home-bound seniors through Meals-on-Wheels. Once her subjects were identified, she held preliminary interviews with each of them (sometimes conducted by telephone) to establish a rapport and relationship; and then returned to video or audiotape an interview session. She and her collaborators encountered the unanticipated challenge that while many seniors wished to be interviewed, they did not want to be videotaped or tape recorded. Others were lonely and eager to tell their stories, but had little connection to the neighborhood. Ultimately the project featured 46 subjects.

In most instances, the seniors wanted to be interviewed in their homes and many no longer lived in West Oakland. The artists drove as far as Stockton to interview Rose Dalton, 101 years old, who was raised in West Oakland near DeFermery Park and who now lives with her granddaughter; and to Suisun to interview Marcela Ford, 90 years old, one of the co-founders of the African American Museum. Other subjects included Ananis Wills, the first black dry-cleaning company owner in Oakland; Margaret Wright, called by many “the Mayor of Myrtle Street”; dancer and choreographer Ruth Beckford; labor historian Joe Johnson; barbers Cecil Thurston and Elmer McConnell; and sisters Mary Jones and Lillian Steward, whose father’s ministry, Beth Eden, is a landmark in the West Oakland Community.

Adisa wrote profiles of the participants—interweaving their personal stories with quotations from their interviews. As the project progressed, she came to realize that her original plan, which had been to write a biography of each subject, was too ambitious and would require many more interviews. “So instead, what I have done is to focus on certain highlights in each person’s life and identify that which distinguishes each.”

In her final report, Adisa writes of being awed by the seniors’ tenacity, wit, and zeal. She notes, “The overriding theme of the interviews was that West Oakland was an integrated community where everyone got along. It certainly was not free from racism, which seemed to rear its ugly head after World War II, but still people for the most part were allowed to be themselves, despite their race.” The project’s title, Tales of a Forgotten Glory came from an inspiring interview with Joe Johnson.

The African American Museum and Library of Oakland (AAMLO) addresses the needs of the wider Bay Area African American community and documents the achievements as well as the ordinary history of Blacks in the area. The institution was created through a public-private partnership between the Oakland Public Library and the Northern California Center for African American History and Life, which joined forces in 1994 to create AAMLO—now a division of the public library. AAMLO holds more than 300 original manuscripts, several oral histories, more than 8,000 books dealing with Africa-American history and life in California, and full and partial runs of early black weeklies—some dating from the early 1890s. It publishes exhibition catalogues, posters, calendars and a quarterly newsletter.

During the course of its collaboration with Opal Palmer Adisa, the library moved from 56th and Peralta to a new site on 14th Street in downtown Oakland. The photographs and documents from this project were exhibited at its opening in April 2000 through 2003. The exhibition will re-open in May 2004 at the Prescot-Joseph Center, 920 Peralta Street in Oakland. The library collaborated with the artists on the historical context for the manuscript and video; and it now serves as the repository for materials developed through the project.

Opal Palmer Adisa is a multi-disciplinary writer, and the author of numerous poems, the novel It Begins With Tears, and the performance piece, “The Despair Series,” which was produced as a video and was shot in West Oakland. As a resident of West Oakland, she had come to know many of the neighborhood’s seniors. She had collaborated with photographer Jonathan Eubanks and video producer Ian Dawkins-Moore on prior projects.

Joseph Johnson, labor historian, photograph by Jonathan Eubanks

Opal Palmer Adisa

Jamaican born, Opal Palmer Adisa is a literary critic, poet, prose writer, and storyteller. Her published works are: Caribbean Passion, poetry (Peepaltree Press, 2004); Leaf-of-Life, poetry (Jukebox Press, 2002); The Tongue is a Drum, CD of poetry and jazz with devorah major (Irresistible Recordings, 2003); It Begins With Tears, (Heinemann, 1997); Tamarind and Mango Women, winner of the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award (1992); traveling women (1989); Bake-Face and Other Guava Stories (1986); and Pina, the Many-Eyed Fruit (1985); and the recording Fierce/Love with devorah major (1992).

Ruth Beckford, nationally recognized dancer and teacher of dance at DeFremery Park during the 1940s and 50s, photograph by Jonathan Eubanks

Professional Experience

• Associate Professor and Chair, Ethnic Studies/Cultural Diversity Program, California College of Arts and Crafts, (1993- )
• Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley, African American Studies Department (1994-96)

Awards and Honors

• Nominated International Woman of the Year, International Biography Center, England (1996-97)
• Canute A. Brodhurst Prize for the story, “The Brethern,” in The Caribbean Writer, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix (April, 1996)
• Writer-in-Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (1996)
• Instructional Mini Grant, University of California, Berkeley (1996)
• Caribbean Writer Summer Institute Recipient, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida (1995)
• Teaching Development Grants, California College of Arts and Crafts (1995, 1994)
• Daily News Prize for best poems in The Caribbean Writer, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix (1995)
• Honoree of Literary Women, Pleasant, California (1994)
• PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award for poetry collection Tamarind and Mango Women (1992)
• Master Folk Artist, Storytelling, California Arts Council (1991-92)
• Distinguished Bay Area Women Writer Award/California Legislative Assembly Certificate of Recognition, presented by the National Women’s Political Caucus (1991)

Selected Poetry Publications

Children’s poems anthologized in:

• A Caribbean Dozen, John Agard and Grace Nichols, editors, (Walker Books, Limited, London, 1994);
• Weather (Wayland Publisher, London, 1995)

Adult poems anthologized in:

• The Garden Thrives: Twentieth Century African American Poetry, Clarence Major, editor (HarperPerennial, 1996)
• This Far Together: Haight Ashbury Literary Journal Anthology, 1980-1995, Joanne Hotchkiss et. al, editors (Bay Area Center for Art & Technology, 1996)
• A Bite to Eat Place, Andrea Adolph, Donald L. Vallis, and Anne F. Walker, editors (Redwood Press, 1995)
• I Hear A Symphony, Paula Woods and Frank Liddell, editors (Doubleday, 1994)
• Sister Fire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry, Charlotte Watson Sherman, editor (HarperPerennial, 1994)
• Adam of Ife: Black Women in Praise of Black Men, Naomi Long Madgett, editor (Lotus Press, 1992)
• Erotique Noire: Black Erotica, Miriam Decosta-Willis, et al, editors (Doubleday, 1992)
• Making Face, Making Soul, Gloria Anzaldua, editor, (Aunt Lute, 1990)
• Creation Fire: A CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women’s Poetry, Ramabai Espinet, editor
• Voice Print, Stewart Brown, Mervyn Morris, and Gordon Rohlehr, editors (Longman: England, 1989)
• Caribbean Poetry Now, Stewart Brown, editor (Hodder and Stoughton: Toronto, 1983)
• Perspective on a Grafted Tree, Patricia Irwin Johnston, editor (Perspective Press: Indiana, 1983)
• Caribbean Woman, Lucille Mathurin-Mair (Savacou Publications: Jamaica, 1977)

Selected journal publications include: Catalyst, The Caribbean Writer, The Berkeley Poetry Review, The Black Scholar, Drumming Between Us, Nimrod, Black Box, New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly, Day Tonight/Night Today, Sub Rosa, and State of Peace: The Women Speak.

Publication of Prose and Essays in Anthologies

• Daughters of Africa, Margaret Busby, editor (Pantheon Books, 1992)
• Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam, Carmen C. Esteves and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, editors (Rutgers University Press, 1991)
• Black Women’s Health Book: Speaking for Ourselves, Evelyn C. White, editor (The Seal Press, 1990)
• Caribbean Women Writers, Selwyn Cudjoe, Editor (Calaloux Publications, 1990)
• Caribbean New Wave: Contemporary Short Stories, Stewart Brown, editor (Heinemann, 1990)

Additional essays in the following journals: Zyzzyva, Obsidian II, Short Fiction by Women.

Interviews in the following journals: African American Review and Konceptualizations

Publication of Essays, Articles, and Reviews

• Women’s Studies International Forum
• San Francisco Review of Books
• Konceptualizaitons
• SAGE
• Explorations in Sights and Sounds
• Black Scholar
• African American Review
• MELUS
• The Women’s Review of Books
• Black Quarterly Review
• The San Francisco Review

Former Oakland Office of Marcus Garvey’s UNIA (presently Jubilee West at 8th Street at Chester), photograph by Jonathan Eubanks

Ian C. Dawkins-Moore

Born and raised in London, England, Ian Dawkins-Moore graduated in 1970 with a degree in civil engineering. He then traveled throughout Europe, working at a variety of jobs. In 1974, he decided to dedicate himself to the teaching profession and traveled to West Africa for two years—traveling extensively throughout the region. In 1976 he again returned to England and worked on an oil rig in the North Sea as a roustabout, and as a planning engineer for an oil company in Aberdeen, Scotland. He also played saxophone in various bands at local establishments and was involved in a number of well-received theatrical productions.

Dawkins-Moore moved to the United States in 1981 and established himself as a freelance writer, graphic artist, civil engineer, and award-winning video producer. Among other major projects, he produced the Great Black Inventors video series and was the executive producer and force behind the video news magazine CULTURE SHOCK, which explores the contributions and confrontations of different cultures.

Jonathan Eubanks

Professional Experience

• Fine Art Photographer, Visual Arts Consultant, and Documentary Photographer
• As Principal Photographer, Oakland Traditional Cultural Arts Project, photographed for the following catalogues: African American Traditional Arts and Folklife in Oakland and the East Bay; Traditional Arts; and Chinese Traditional Arts and Folklife in Oakland.
• Archival Photography, Festival at the Lake—Pride of Oakland

Awards

• Nominee, Bay Area Business Arts Awards (1995)
• “Tribute to Pioneers ‘89-‘90,” Ebony Museum, Oakland, California
• Outstanding Achievement Awards in Media, University of California, School of Public Health
• Second Place, Best Overall Exhibition and Set-up, “People Are Creative,” Berkeley, California
• Best General Exhibit Display, Grant Avenue Art Festival, San Francisco, California
• First Place, Most Popular; Second Place, Color; Third Place, Best Picture Overall, Peralta College—interior of Greek Orthodox Church

Published Work

• Power to the People: Rise and Fall of the Black Panther Party, Simon & Schuster (1997)
• Beginner’s Guide to Frantz Fanon, video, HOP, London-Black Panther photographs (1997)
• South China Morning Post, photo series on Geronimo Pratt (November 1995)
• Panther book, major contributor of photographs, New MarketPress (1995)
• Panther film, Black Panther Productions, contributor of photograph (1995)
• Emerge magazine, feature story, cover and insert photographs (June 1994)
• The Unsung Heart of Black America, book, principle photographer
• Oakland Traditional Cultural Arts Projects, archival photographs and catalogues
• Essence Magazine, Black Panther Party photographs
• National Black Arts Festival ’88 and ’90, exhibition book, Atlanta
• Picturing California: A Century of Photographic Genius, exhibition books
• Visions Toward Tomorrow, exhibition book
• Thinking About College, ANR Publications, University of California, Berkeley
• California Association of Compensatory Education, various catalogues
• Scientific American
• New Perspectives in Black Art, exhibition book,
• Greek Orthodox Church Souvenir Book, Oakland

Exhibits

• “Arts in Libraries,” Oakland Main and other libraries, Oakland, California
  “Watchers and Seekers,” group show, Berkeley, Pacific School of Religion
• “The Photographs of Jonathan Eubanks, Touch of Mahogany Gallery, San Francisco
• Black Repertory Group 1990 Silver Anniversary, one-man show, Berkeley, California
• “Oakland’s Artists, Photographers,” group show, Oakland Museum, Oakland, California
• “Boats on a Lake,” in Picturing California: A Century of Photographic Genius, The Oakland Museum of California and several years on an international tour
• “Visions Toward Tomorrow,” group show, The Oakland Museum of California and Los Angeles
• National Black Arts Festival, Atlanta, Georgia (1988 and 1990)
• “Black Panther Party, 1967-71, two-person show, Koncepts Cultural Gallery, Oakland, California
• “A Bay Area Sampling,” group show, Oakland Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, California
• “Ten Black American Photographers,” CalExpo, Sacramento, California
• One-man show, Mount Hood College, Oregon
• “Boats on a Lake,” in “Art in Embassies” tour, Southeast Asian and Africa
• Perspectives in Black Art,” group show, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California

Permanent Collections

• Jane Alexander, Chair, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC
• Florence Crittenton Services, San Francisco, California
• Arthur Schombert Center for Research in Black Culture, New York
• African American Museum Project, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
• Port of Oakland
• Oakland Museum of California
• African American Museum and Library, Oakland
• Eubanks Conservatory of Music and Arts, Los Angeles, California
• Greek Orthodox Church, Oakland, California

Teaching

• California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California (1972-1982)
• SOS Upward Bound Program, University of California, Berkeley (1968-1971)
• Orumbi West, YMCA, Oakland, California (1970-72)
• Tutoring graduate students, University of California, Berkeley (1968-1989)
• Private tutoring (ongoing)

Sixteenth Street Train Station, used for all passenger trains through the 1980s, photograph by Jonathan Eubanks