Longfellow, Oakland, California

Longfellow is a neighborhood of North Oakland, California. It is bounded by Temescal Creek to the north, State Route 24 to the east, Interstate 580 to the south, and Adeline Street to the west.

Cultural history

Through the early 1900s, North Oakland was a vibrant Italian neighborhood including what is now known as the Longfellow district. Grove Street, renamed Martin Lurther King Jr. Way in 1984, was an active commercial strip including many Italian businesses. Sacred Heart Parish on the corner of MLK and 40th Street was founded in 1876 and a cornerstone of the larger Italian neighborhood.

The AAMLO's predecessor, the East Bay Negro Historical Society, was founded in 1965 by residents of the Longfellow and greater North Oakland. The society first held meetings at the Church of the Good Shepard, which still stands at 52nd and West streets. The society’s library-museum contained documentation of “the history and accomplishments of black Americans – politicians, educators, religious figures, inventors, cowboys and miners who came to California during the Gold Rush”[1] and was open to anyone, including school groups, that were interested in the contributions of African Americans to the American experience. The society moved to a storefront on Grove Street (MLK) at 37th Street in 1970, and later in 1976 to another storefront on Grove Street (MLK) just above 45th Street. The organization moved out of the neighborhood in the 1980s and currently resides on 14th Street.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Norman, Jeff (2006). Temescal Legacies: Narratives of Change from a North Oakland Neighborhood. Oakland, CA: Shared Ground. ISBN 0-9778893-0-0.
  2. ↑ Norman, Jeff (2006). Temescal Legacies: Narratives of Change from a North Oakland Neighborhood. Oakland, CA: Sacred Ground. pp. 68–128. ISBN 0-9778893-0-0.

Further reading

Coordinates: 37°49′48.69″N 122°16′20.57″W / 37.8301917°N 122.2723806°W / 37.8301917; -122.2723806

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.