Mariner Allen Light carried sailor protection papers dating from 1827 to maintain his status as a “freeman and citizen of the United States of America.” These papers were discovered in the walls of the Machado Chapel in Old Town in 1948.

America Newton was a formerly enslaved person who arrived from Missouri. In Julian, she made her living as a laundress for local miners.

The Colored Voters Political Club was the first Black political club in San Diego. Between 1885 and 1990, San Diego’s Black population rose dramatically, though it was still less than one percent of the population. With this increase in numbers, Black San Diegans came together to form groups in which they could share and express themselves in ways which were not permitted in a predominately white setting.

Solomon and Cordelia Johnson were instrumental in the formation of the first Black church in San Diego, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The membership of the church met in the Johnson home on the corner of F and Union Streets until funds were raised to secure a church site.

Pictured Above: Solomon Johnson c. 1920, Cordelia Johnson c. 1887

These images are likely the only known surviving historical record of these San Diegans and their time here. These studio portraits were taken between 1891and 1893 at Turner’s Elite Studio and Klimdt’s Chicago Art Gallery, both located on Fifth Avenue in downtown San Diego.

Pictured Above From Left to Right: Woman with parasol, nd, Man with derby hat, nd, Woman with dress, nd

Edward W. Anderson arrived in San Diego in the mid-1890s from Kentucky before beginning his successful laundry business in 1897 at age 25. As owner of IXL Laundry, he managed the largest steam laundry in the region with 35 employees.  The original location was at 546 Seventh Avenue, but later the business moved to 10th Avenue and Island Avenue.

Pictured Above: IXL Laundry, 1897

Acme was one of several elite social and political clubs in San Diego, established around the turn of the 20th century when Black San Diegans began to own more businesses and to make inroads into the economic mainstream.

Pictured Above: 17th birthday celebration of Acme member Gathern P. Perry, c. 1917

Located at Second Avenue and Market Street, the Douglas Hotel and Creole Palace nightclub was the only place of quality lodging and entertainment for Blacks during a period of intense segregation. As the premier Black entertainment venue on the Pacific coast, the spacious ballroom and stage featured a risqué chorus line show and jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie performances. The hotel-nightclub hosted celebrities like boxer Joe Louis, musicians Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and vocalists Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.

Pictured Above: Creole performers at the Douglas Hotel, 1934

The incident occurred in 1930 and 1931 in Lemon Grove in San Diego’s East County, where the local school board attempted to build a separate school for children of Mexican heritage. On March 30, 1931, the Superior Court of San Diego ruled that the local school board’s attempt to segregate 75 Mexican and Mexican American elementary school children was a violation of California state laws because ethnic Mexicans were considered white under the state’s Education Code.

Pictured Above: Segregated Students from Lemon Grove Grammar School

Howard “Skippy” Smith was an African American stunt pilot and entrepreneur. Smith opened his Pacific Parachute Company, which sewed and packed parachutes for the military, and earned the title of “Top Black Owned Business in the United States” in 1943 from Time magazine. Smith employed one of the few integrated workforces in San Diego, which included Filipinos, Asians, whites, Latinos, and Blacks.

Pictured Above: Howard “Skippy” Smith and his integrated workforce, 1943

It was the perseverance of Dr. Jack Kimbrough, among others, that was crucial in finally establishing a local Urban League branch in 1953. In many cities the local NAACP branch fought for civil rights, but in San Diego it was the Urban League that played the pivotal role after World War II in pushing for civil rights and full inclusion in the city’s burgeoning economy. The San Diego Urban League had an ability to unify competing interests, and work on behalf of communities of color. Among its successful programs was a vocational education program introduced to city schools in 1956. Another success was the Adopt-A-Child program, a charitable project that represented a collaborative effort between several social service agencies.

Pictured Above: First Annual Meeting of the San Diego Urban League, 1955

Members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) stage a sit-in at SDG&E’s Sixth Avenue and E Street location to protest and change discriminatory hiring practices.

King was on a speaking tour of California cities, and addressed both California Western University (now Point Loma Nazarene University) and San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) on the same day. In his speech at Cal Western, King spoke out against California’s Proposition 14. This ballot measure, which would pass that November, in effect repealed the Rumford Fair Housing Act of 1963 and allowed individuals to practice discrimination when selling or renting property. King’s address gave national context to the issues of segregation and racism prevalent in San Diego and California.

Pictured Above: Martin Luther King Jr. addresses crowd at Cal Western University, May 29, 1964

The San Diego Union School District (SDUSD) had received many complaints concerning the segregation of city schools since the early 1960s. Carlin et al v. Board of Education was a 1967 court case filed against SDUSD by a group of parents citing inequalities for students of all ethnic backgrounds.

Pictured Above: Ann Merrill speaks to the school board on behalf of a group that worked to desegregate San Diego schools, 1968

The Black Panthers were a Black power party formed in Oakland in 1966 and came to San Diego in 1968. They based their political philosophy and perspective on leftist and Marxist-oriented thinkers. Nationally, while the Panthers were known for brandishing firearms and confronting police in urban neighborhoods, the Party also had an ambitious social program. They started schools, supplied groceries to seniors, and operated a free breakfast program for children.

From the 1920s on, San Diego had seen sporadic Ku Klux Klan activity. In San Diego and other southwestern cities, Klan activity was not just directed against African Americans, but toward Mexican Americans as well. Despite losing their charter in 1946, by the 1970s the Klan groups had seen a resurgence in San Diego and Oceanside.

Out of a total county population of 2,498,016

Out of a total county population of 3,095,313