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We are proudly based in West Oakland, California, a neighborhood with a rich history and proud residents. The Black Panther Party was formed here in 1966. The Black Panther Party's free breakfast program was started here. Their headquarters were in West Oakland at one point. In addition, DeFremery Park, which is known as Lil' Bobby Hutton Memorial Park, after the Panthers' treasurer and first member, was an important location for the BPP. There is so much history in West Oakland specifically and Oakland generally that it's hard to condense onto one page. So: use this page as a starting point, then pick a topic that interests you and dive in! You'll be a stronger, more supportive tutor and citizen of the East Bay the more you know about its history.
"When you see a rose growing in the concrete, you don't question it's damaged petals-- of course it has damaged petals, it's growing in concrete! Instead you celebrate its tenacity and its will to reach the Sun!"
This video is a TED Talk from Oakland educator Jeff Duncan- Andrade who has a led the development of an exceptional education program with unprecedented success in promoting and graduating Oakland youths to college.
Duncan-Andrade's program is premised on revisiting Maslow's hierarchy of needs and focusing on the basics of safety, love and belonging, and esteem.
This video from KQED highlights some of the history of West Oakland, including its World War 2 boom, during which many African Americans migrated from the South to West Oakland for work. There was also a vibrant jazz scene on 7th Street. It was so bustling it earned the neighborhood the nickname "The Harlem of the West." Today outside the West Oakland Bart station, you'll find a Jazz Walk of Fame honoring many of the great musicians who played on 7th Street, including Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, BB King, Louis Jordan, Etta James, and Ike and Tina Turner.
This video also touches on another huge issue in West Oakland and the greater Bay Area -- gentrification. Pressure from the San Francisco Bay Area tech boom has caused home prices in West Oakland to soar, displacing many longtime residents. The African American population in West Oakland has dropped by at least one-third with these changes.
This second video from KQED News explores the rapid changes taking place in West Oakland due to gentrification by focusing on three community organizations: Mandela Foods Cooperative, Town Park Skate Park, and Bottoms Up Community Garden. All three of these community orgs are near Lafayette Elementary, where Boost! West Oakland takes place.
One of the owners/workers at Mandela Foods Cooperative talks about wanting to serve the longtime residents of Oakland while also being welcoming of the newcomers and the money they bring to keep businesses open. A big takeaway from this video and these residents of West Oakland is to show respect. Have conversations with the established community. Contribute. Be respectful of the culture that is already here.
This image, of the then-mural-in-progress of the Black Panthers, is on the corner of 14th and Peralta Streets in West Oakland. The man on the left is Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the BPP and Minister of Defense. The couple on the right holds paper grocery bags, a visual reminder of the Panther's free breakfast program.
Artists Refa Senay and Batsh Lo created the mural. This mural is historic in that it's the first Black Panther Party mural in Oakland to be painted by Black people, according to this article in the East Bay Express. The East Bay Express article interviews the artists who created the mural and is worth reading for more history about the neighborhood. For more on historic landmarks of the BPP, see Further Reading, above.
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