A June 20 event at the San Mateo Library will give residents the chance to learn more about Russell City, a predominately Black and Latino community in the East Bay that was demolished by Alameda County and Hayward in the 1960s.
Deborah Tolefree-Harris
Francesca Thomas
The event is part of the county’s Juneteenth celebrations and will be held in the San Mateo Main Library Oak Room at 2 p.m. It will feature three speakers in a panel format — Deborah Tolefree-Harris, a former Russell City resident; Francesca Thomas, a descendant; and Alameda County Supervisor Elisa Márquez.
All three speakers will discuss Russell City in different capacities, said Gloria Brown, African American Library Advisory Committee chair. The AALAC is sponsoring the event.
Attendees will learn how the unincorporated area of Alameda County became a refuge and cultural hub for largely Black and Latino families escaping racist redlining policies and unaffordable housing prices in the Bay Area. Speakers will also share their experiences with the community’s eventual decimation by the city of Hayward, which cited eminent domain and turned the area industrial in the 1960s, Brown said.
Elisa Márquez
In 2021, Hayward officially apologized for the mass displacement and racial discrimination that resulted in Russell City being bulldozed, and Supervisor Márquez will speak to local governments’ reparation work.
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To Brown, holding the event is so important because many people have never heard of the rich and ultimately tragic history of Russell City.
“I was born here, going on 81 years old, right here in San Mateo County, and I knew nothing about Russell City until I saw a special on KQED,” she said.
Russell City was a hub of music and culture, with a nightlife scene particularly known for its blues clubs. Despite challenging living conditions, including a lack of running water and electricity in some areas because she said the city and county would not provide it, residents created a thriving community.
Now is the time to keep Russell City alive, Brown emphasized.
“I think it’s just time for us to bring all of this to light,” she said. “It is history, and we should know about it and our younger generation should certainly know.”
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