Black History

Fillmore Black Community Calls for Donation of Heritage Center

The Fillmore District in San Francisco was known as the “Harlem of the West” during the San Francisco jazz era. The neighborhood was bustling with Black-owned businesses, restaurants and professionals serving thousands of Black customers. The nightclubs featured top-tier talent like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jr., and Leona King, among many others.

Published

3 years ago

November 20, 2021

Oakland Post

“San Francisco City leaders have a moral obligation to right the racist wrongs that destroyed that culture and that community and allow the Fillmore Heritage Center to live up to the full meaning of its name,” said Danny Glover, a Hollywood star and Bay Area social justice fixture.

SF native and activist Danny Glover, Black leaders say center should serve the Black community which was ousted from the area by racist programs and policy

By Post Staff

San Francisco native and actor/activist Danny Glover joined local Black leaders Monday to call for the City of San Francisco to donate the mostly vacant, city-owned Fillmore Heritage Center to a nonprofit that would serve the Black community as a form of reparations for the disruption of what used to be a Black, thriving neighborhood.

But by the 1960s, all but a few nightclubs had survived the city’s “urban renewal” initiatives.

“The Fillmore was the vibrant hub of San Francisco’s Black community before it was destroyed by inherently racist programs designed to remove Black families and culture,” Rev. Amos C. Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist Church and president of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP, said at a Nov. 15 press conference. “Deeding the Fillmore Heritage Center back to the local Black community is an extremely important first step in righting that immense historic wrong.”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has not yet responded to a request for comment by this publication, however ABC7 News has reported lukewarm responses from Breed, who said that the situation is complicated, and much is yet unknown about the prospect of donating the center. “I would like to see the venue become a huge success. I don’t want to continue to see the venue be a financial drain to the city,” Breed said of the site.

“San Francisco City leaders have a moral obligation to right the racist wrongs that destroyed that culture and that community and allow the Fillmore Heritage Center to live up to the full meaning of its name,” said Glover, a Hollywood star and Bay Area social justice fixture. He demands, with the support of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, that the city deed the property and turn over its operation to a nonprofit group representing the array of Black business, cultural, spiritual and community interests in the city.

“My professional career in the performing arts began with mentoring by the kind of outstanding Black performers who made the Fillmore one of the most important cultural centers in the West,” Glover said.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

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February 28, 2025

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025

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February 22, 2025

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U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

Published

1 week ago

February 19, 2025

Oakland Post

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).

By Scott Horton

United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.

The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32^nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”

In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.

“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.

“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”

In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.

In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.

Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.

Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).

He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.

Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.