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52-565: Historically, the area was part of the Western Addition . Long a middle-class neighborhood geographically and socially intermediate between Pacific Heights and the Lower Fillmore, the area became wealthier and more upscale with the escalation of San Francisco property values in the 1980s and 1990s, when the designation "Upper Fillmore" fell out of favor and "Lower Pacific Heights" came into increased use. The neighborhood houses

104-593: A 16-year-old Black boy suspected of stealing a car, was shot and killed by White SFPD officer Alvin Johnson. Three warning shots were fired towards the car Johnson was driving, and a fourth shot struck Matthew's back. The riots lasted for four days, and 359 arrests were made, and 51 people were injured as a result of the unrest. Riots occurred in the Bayview/Hunter's Point neighborhood, where Molotov cocktails and rocks were thrown at police and civilians, as well as

156-432: A Bayview street. In 2007, he was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to life without parole . In April 2009, two Westmob members were involved in a West Point Road shooting of a man they suspected was a snitch of a case involving Westmob members. The bullets missed the intended victim, and almost struck his 5-year-old brother. Two weeks later, the two gunmen shot the intended victim nine times in front of his home as he

208-556: A Judge of the Northern District of California and the second African American to serve as a Judge of the Ninth Circuit. Terry Francois became the first African American on San Francisco's Board of Supervisor's in 1964. The 41st Mayor of San Francisco , Willie Brown , a Texas native who came to San Francisco to attend San Francisco State University , served two terms from January 8, 1996, to January 8, 2004, being

260-794: A better life. Slavery was forbidden in California, when it entered the Union as a free state in 1850, but Black residents still faced discriminatory laws in education and employment and did not have the right to vote or testify against whites. In response, they created political organizations like the SF. Executive Committee and the Franchise League. Until the Fugitive Slave Act expired in 1855, they also risked being captured and sold into slavery unless they could prove they had lived in

312-487: A consequence of opportune housing supply due to the internment of Japanese Americans . Since then, urban renewal schemes and San Francisco's changing demographics have led to major changes in the economic and ethnic makeup of the neighborhood, as the Fillmore District suffered from crime and poverty while many other districts underwent significant gentrification . The Central Freeway used to run through

364-400: A female California State Lottery employee, and then stole a vehicle owned by the lottery company. Samayoa, who had ended his job with the department, was charged with manslaughter and assault by a police officer and with a semi-automatic firearm in connection with the case. O'Neal was allegedly unarmed during the incident, and was walking away from Samayoa. This is the second time in 2020 that

416-523: A higher proportion of officer-involved fatalities in the Bay Area, which African Americans making up 27% of the 110 deaths from January 2015 to July 2018. This is roughly four times higher than the Bay Area's 7-8% Black community. On September 27, 1966, a riot broke out in the proximity of the housing projects of Griffith and Oakdale Avenue in the Hunters Point neighborhood when Matthew Johnson,

468-455: A large amount of racial tensions. Many African Americans were forced to live in certain neighborhoods of the city and were denied employment by various businesses. San Francisco's housing discrimination against its Black residents received media attention when San Francisco Giants ' baseball legend Willie Mays ' attempt to buy a home in St. Francis Wood in 1957 was refused because of his race. In

520-862: A large number of wartime jobs into the city. The third was that many African Americans left the south in the Great Migration in order to escape the Jim Crow laws which existed there. After the war, the African American population contributed significantly to the growing jazz culture in the Fillmore, with clubs, such as Jimbo's Bop City and the New Orleans Swing Club (ca 1950–1965), flourishing there. Billie Holiday , Dizzy Gillespie , Miles Davis , Kenny Dorham , and Dexter Gordon were entertainers who performed in

572-659: A large presence in Bayview-Hunters Point , SoMa , Fillmore District, and Visitacion Valley ; and a decreased presence in Oceanview , and Potrero Hill . People of African descent first appeared in California from Mexico due to the Spanish Conquest . Influential people of African ancestry were among the earliest California settlers and landowners. Juana Briones de Miranda was a Californio business woman of mixed race with African ancestry, she

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624-487: A police officer in the San Francisco Bay Area was charged with an on-duty death; on April 18, 2020, San Leandro Police Officer Jason Fletcher Tasered 32-year-old African American Steven DeMarco Taylor twice in a San Leandro Walmart , and then shot him once in the chest while a backup officer had just arrived several seconds prior to the shot being fired. The incident was caught on body cameras ; Taylor

676-450: A suspect in a stabbing and wounding of a man, was confronted by officers on a sidewalk and was armed with a kitchen knife. The shooting, recorded by at least two bystanders, showed Woods being shot with a beanbag gun four times in the chest and hips, and then slowly approaching an officer who stepped into Woods' path before Woods is fired upon. The shooting led to protests in the city. An autopsy indicated that Woods had 20 gunshot wounds, in

728-602: Is a district in San Francisco , California , United States . The Western Addition is located between Van Ness Avenue , the Richmond District , the Haight-Ashbury and Lower Haight neighborhoods, and Pacific Heights . Today, the term Western Addition is generally used in two ways: to denote either the development's original geographic area or the eastern portion of the neighborhood (also called

780-507: Is considered the "Founding Mother of San Francisco", as an early settler of Yerba Buena (now San Francisco). William Alexander Leidesdorff , helped establish the city of San Francisco. During the 1849–1855 California Gold Rush , African Americans came to the San Francisco-area along with others from all over the world. Some came as enslaved people and worked the gold mines, others came as free entrepreneurs seeking to create

832-658: Is roughly synonymous with the Fillmore and Cathedral Hill neighborhoods. Historically, the Western Addition was first platted during the 1850s as a result of the Van Ness Ordinance . This large tract encompassed some 500 blocks running west from Larkin Street (the city's previous western boundary) to Divisadero Street , (hence the name "Western Addition") creating Jefferson Square, Hamilton Square, Alamo Square , Alta Plaza , and Lafayette Square. The area

884-527: The Fillmore District ) that was redeveloped in the 1950s. Those who use the term in the former sense generally consider its boundaries to be Van Ness Avenue on the east, Masonic on the west, California Street on the north, and Fell or Oak Street on the south. From there, it is usually divided into smaller neighborhoods such as Lower Pacific Heights , Cathedral Hill , Japantown , the Fillmore , Hayes Valley , Alamo Square , Anza Vista , and North Panhandle . The San Francisco Association of Realtors defines

936-656: The Madame C.J. Walker Home for Girls and Women building (a San Francisco Designated Landmark ), which from 1921 to 1972 it housed a charitable, community and social services organization for single African American woman new to San Francisco, who were not eligible to use the YWCA. This San Francisco -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Western Addition 37°46′57″N 122°25′42″W  /  37.78250°N 122.42833°W  / 37.78250; -122.42833 The Western Addition

988-564: The Third Baptist Church , a city-designated landmark on McAllister Street. Other African American churches founded in 1852 in San Francisco included Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Bethel AME Church), and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion Church). Despite discrimination in employment, by 1862, African-Americans in San Francisco owned $ 300,000 in assets, mostly real estate. $ 100,000 of this

1040-528: The YWCA . Around the 1920s during the end of the Barbary Coast-era , Terrific Street was an entertainment district in San Francisco and it was home to numerous black and tan clubs (interracial clubs that highlighted African American culture), where Black musicians and entrepreneurs contributed to San Francisco's rollicking nightlife scene. Former- Pullman Porters , Lew Purccell and Sam King owned

1092-581: The Zebra Killings caused police to treat every black man in San Francisco as a suspect, issuing a "Z-card" to anyone who was "cleared" of being a suspect. The murders were eventually determined to have been committed by members of a splinter group of the Nation of Islam. On December 2, 2015, five SFPD officers shot and killed 26-year-old African American Mario Woods on Keith Street in Bayview. Woods,

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1144-494: The 1970s, San Francisco's Black population has dwindled for a variety of reasons, including the city's high cost of living, urban renewal which tore down black neighborhoods, gentrification , redlining , and Black exodus from high crime areas to the suburbs. The city's African American community has had a mixed-opinion relationship with the San Francisco Police Department and law enforcement in

1196-564: The 21st century that have focused on San Francisco's Black community include The Last Black Man in San Francisco , and Straight Outta Hunter's Point . The Museum of the African Diaspora , which opened in 2005 at Yerba Buena Gardens , documents the history, art and culture of the African Diaspora. The African American Art and Culture Complex on Fulton Street in the Fillmore District hosts workshops, art events and

1248-704: The Bay Area. Instances of race riots , police brutality and mass incarceration have been a concern for many African-American leaders, pastors, and civilians. In 2013, a San Francisco Chronicle article's statistics showed that 56% of the San Francisco County Jail 's inmates are Black, which is 9-10 times higher than the city's African American residence percentage, which was 6-7% during this time period. Those who were considered to be in need of specialized mental health help, rose from 56% in 2008, to 71% in 2013, which accounted for inmates of all races. People who were Black and Hispanic American made up

1300-505: The Fillmore District, and Mission High School . After reports of gunfire from the Bayview Community Center, police fired into the center, where several hundred adults and children had gathered, resulting in seven injuries. The National Guard and California Highway Patrol were deployed by Governor Pat Brown during the violence until October 1, when the riots became less destructive. On October 20, 1966, Alvin Johnson

1352-538: The Fillmore District, earning it the title of "Harlem of the West." A small, but existent community of African Americans were present in the Fillmore District after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake , but it wasn't until World War II when the Fillmore District and San Francisco as a whole began to have a large African-American population. Between the years of 1940 and 1950 the African American population of San Francisco grew from 4,836 to 43,460. going from 0.5% to 4.5% of

1404-553: The Fillmore during its heyday. In addition, the trend of African American migration to the city and the district continued at a fast pace until it reached a peak of about 13 percent in the 1970s. The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples was opened in 1948 by Howard Thurman, becoming the first racially integrated interfaith church in the United States. The influx of African Americans during and after WWII created

1456-496: The United States was created at San Francisco State University in 1968, following a student strike. The St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church , founded in 1971, continues to hold services in the Fillmore District. The Lorraine Hansberry Theater , founded in 1981, produces classics of African American theater as well as new plays. Pomo Afro Homos was a theater group created in the 1990s to give voice to Black Gay Male voices. Radio station KPOO , started in 1973, became

1508-642: The War Manpower Commission recruited African Americans from the South to work the recently acquired Naval Docks in Hunters Point of San Francisco. Word soon spread that African Americans could find work in San Francisco, with many of them moving to the newly constructed war housing in Hunter's Point. By the end of World War II, the center for Black life, music and entertainment had moved to

1560-619: The black and tan "So Different Club" and "Purcell's", where pianist Sid Pirotti played in a ragtime ensemble. Jelly Roll Morton opened the Jupiter club on Columbus Avenue in 1917, also a black and tan club. During the Second Great Migration of the 20th century, the San Francisco Bay Area was a destination for African Americans coming out of the South . The city's Black population rose considerably during World War II , when

1612-562: The city's cultural life in literature, art, education, theater and media. Marcus Books 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. The first university Black studies department in

Lower Pacific Heights, San Francisco - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-469: The city's first Black chief of police. The Peoples Temple in San Francisco , founded by Jim Jones , was headquartered in San Francisco during the early to mid-1970s. The temple, which would later be involved in a mass suicide and murder in Guyana in 1977, recruited and appealed to many working-class African-Americans throughout the U.S. Also during the 1970s, a series of black-on-white murders labeled

1716-547: The city's population, most of them middle class. The San Francisco Athenaeum and Literary Society, established in 1853, which included a saloon and an 800 book library, was a gathering place for African-Americans at that time. The new community established the first black Baptist church west of the Rockies in 1852, originally called the First Colored Baptist Church of San Francisco, and now known as

1768-616: The city's total population as of 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, down from 13.4% in 1970. There are about 55,000 people of full or partial black ancestry living within the city. The community began with workers and entrepreneurs of the California Gold Rush in the 19th century, and in the early-to-mid 20th century, grew to include migrant workers with origins in the Southern United States , who worked as railroad workers or service people at shipyards. In

1820-464: The city's total population. A vast majority of these African Americans went on to occupy the Fillmore District. This large migration of African Americans was due to three major factors. The first was that the Japanese internment in 1942 left a large number of unoccupied homes and businesses within the Fillmore. The second was that the shipbuilding industry and wartime economy created by WWII brought

1872-558: The decades. The gang Westmob , associated with Oakdale Mob and Sunnydale housing project gangs from the southeast area of the city, was involved in a gang war with Hunters Point-based Big Block from 1999 to the 2000s. Its current status of activity is unknown. and is linked to rap and drugs. They claim territory from West Point to Middle Point in San Francisco's notoriously dangerous Hunters Point projects. In 2004, Westmob member David Hill, then 21, fatally shot SFPD Officer Isaac Espinoza, 29, and wounded his partner with an AK-47 , on

1924-411: The early 1960s, blacks and whites demonstrated against discriminatory hiring practices at San Francisco's department stores, hotels, drive-ins, grocery stores, banks and car dealerships. The Civil Rights Movement succeeded in making significant legal gains for African Americans and many other ethnic groups. However, there are still significant social tensions which exist today. From its high point in

1976-451: The first Black person to hold that office. After the death of Ed Lee , the city's first Asian American mayor, on December 12, 2017, San Francisco-born London Breed took his place as the city's acting mayor. She was officially sworn as an official mayor on July 11, 2018, being San Francisco's first female African-American mayor. Aside from their extensive contributions to San Francisco's musical history, African Americans have also added to

2028-615: The head, back, abdomen, buttocks, legs and hands, and was under the influence of meth and marijuana . Mario Woods Day was declared an unofficial holiday in the city on July 22, Woods' birthday. On November 23, 2020, for the first time in San Francisco history, a police officer was charged with an on-duty killing. Chris Samayoa, who was on the force for four days at the time of the incident, shot and killed Keita O'Neal, 42, an assault and car theft suspect, in Bayview-Hunters Point, on December 1, 2017. O'Neal allegedly assaulted

2080-673: The idea of community policing based on San Francisco districts. In 1968, the Officers for Justice association was formed, spearheaded by Black police officer Prentice Earl Sanders . In 1973 the group filed a class-action discrimination lawsuit in federal court against the San Francisco Police Department, the city, and County of San Francisco, and the Civil Service Commission for their failure to recruit and hire minorities. Sanders later became

2132-621: The late 19th century, compounded by increased immigration from Europe and Asia, made it harder for black residents to find jobs. In 1885, the Palace Hotel replaced their entire black staff with white union workers. From 1921 until 1972, the Madame C.J. Walker Home for Girls and Women was in operation in Upper Fillmore (Lower Pacific Heights), a charitable, community and social services organization for single African American woman new to San Francisco, who were not eligible to use

Lower Pacific Heights, San Francisco - Misplaced Pages Continue

2184-468: The mid-20th century, the African American community in the Fillmore District earned the neighborhood the nickname the " Harlem of the West," referring to New York City 's Harlem neighborhood, which is associated with African American culture. Among the United States' biggest 14 cities, San Francisco is near the bottom in the percentage of Black residents, along with San Jose , which is about four percent Black. The Black population of San Francisco has

2236-542: The neighborhood to Turk Street, but that section of the freeway was closed immediately after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and later demolished. Since the early 1990s, the Western Addition has undergone significant gentrification . The San Francisco Police Department Northern Station serves the Western Addition. African Americans in San Francisco African Americans in San Francisco , California, composed just under 6% of

2288-487: 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. In the 1990s, the radio station KMEL was also influential in broadcasting the new sounds of San Francisco and Oakland Hip Hop artists. The ongoing San Francisco Black Film Festival was created in 1998 to share the work of local as well as global filmmakers. Films of

2340-640: The state since before 1849. The third of three statewide Colored Conventions was held in San Francisco in 1857, which resulted in the creation of California's first Black newspaper, the Mirror of the Times . Other post Gold Rush black newspapers included the Pacific Appeal and the Elevator , edited by Phillip Alexander Bell . By 1860, there were 1,176 African-Americans living in San Francisco, or 2% of

2392-492: The suspect was charged with gang enhancements. He had alleged ties with the Black Guerilla Family . In 2019, although African Americans only made up 5% of San Francisco's population, 22% of aggravated assault victims, and 17% of sexual assault victims were Black. Cecil F. Poole in 1961 became the first African American to serve as a United States Attorney. He was also the first African American to serve as

2444-404: The term more closely to the latter sense, treating it as "District 6D" (not to be confused with Board of Supervisors districts; much of the Western Addition is in supervisors District 5), bounded by Geary Boulevard in the north, McAllister and Fulton streets, and Golden Gate Avenue on the south, Van Ness Avenue in the east, and Divisadero Street on the west. By this definition, the Western Addition

2496-531: Was cutting his younger brother's hair. He survived. In 2013, both gunmen, who were 23 and 25 during this year, were convicted of two counts of attempted murder, and were facing life sentences. In January 2015, four young Black men (ages 19 to 22) were shot to death while sitting in a car at Laguna and Page Street in the area of Fillmore District/ Hayes Valley . An arrest of a 27-year-old man was made in July 2016. The motive remains to be debated or undetermined, although

2548-571: Was declared by the San Francisco County District Attorney's office to have committed a justifiable homicide , and did not face charges as a result. The Black Panthers started two months afterwards, in Oakland in 1966. They also had a presence in San Francisco, with an office in the Fillmore District and community programs throughout black neighborhoods of the city. They advocated open carry armed citizen patrols to protect against police brutality and put forth

2600-531: Was initially used for small-scale farming; but, following the invention of the cable car during the 1870s, the Western Addition developed as a Victorian streetcar suburb . It survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with its Victorian-style buildings largely intact. After the Second World War , the Western Addition — particularly the Fillmore District — became a population base and a cultural center for San Francisco's African-American community,

2652-578: Was owned by two people: Mary Ellen Pleasant ($ 30,000) and a partner of hers, Richard Barber ($ 70,000). George Washington Dennis was the city's wealthiest African American man; he was a former slave, turned entrepreneur , real estate developer, and advocate for Black rights. By the 1870s, the Gold Rush boom was over; 60% of African-American men and 97% of women were working in the service industry, as waiters, draymen, porters, maids, ship cooks, stewards. The rise of discriminatory white labor unions in

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2704-487: Was suspected of stealing items in the store or causing a disturbance, and started swinging or handling a metal baseball bat. Taylor was still armed with the bat, but did not advance towards Fletcher as he was being Tasered and then shot. On September 2, 2020, Fletcher was charged with voluntary manslaughter and was arraigned on September 15. San Francisco and the general Bay Area's Black community has dealt with street and prison gangs, drug-related crime and other crimes over

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