California Historical Society

Mission

The California Historical Society, founded in 1871, is a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire and empower people to make California’s richly diverse past a meaningful part of their contemporary lives.

Featured Fun

Cognizant that–even with the efforts of earlier generations–much of the state’s African American history has been overlooked or surpassed, the California Historical Society marked Black History Month this year with several public history programs prior to sheltering-in-place–including one by their sponsored San Francisco History Days 2020 speaker. See them here.

Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 1:00PM – (Virtual) Revealing San Francisco’s Hidden 19th-Century Black History: A Tour of California Historical Society Artifacts

Join Susan D. Anderson, history curator of the California African American Museum, for a talk and tour of artifacts that reveal the hidden history of San Francisco’s 19th-century African American past. Anderson’s talk begins with the Gold Rush and weaves the state’s raucous beginnings into the national narrative.

Richmond Logan and Lilla Bozier, husband and wife; Red Bluff, California, 1880. (credit: California Historical Society)

The photographs, manuscripts, and publications in this presentation allow viewers to experience the urgency of early campaigns for civil rights and the fervent hopes of the African American community. Learn about the beloved ship’s captain who has a street named for him in West Oakland. Hear a Civil War poem by a distinguished Black poet and friend of John Brown proclaimed in public in 1864 San Francisco. See court documents of the lawsuit brought to challenge discrimination on streetcars 90 years before Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

This presentation proves that California history is more challenging, complicated, and fascinating than we’ve been taught. Hosted and co-sponsored by the Institute for Historical Study, co-sponsred with the California Historical Society and the California African American Museum in Los Angeles.

This event is free but pre-registration is required.