Description:
Africans arrived in California with the Spanish Explorers and continue to contribute to our County. Africans came as both as freemen as seamen and as placer mining labor during the Gold Rush. It was a hard-earned freedom. Yet, African-Americans acquired real estate in Contra Costa County. Mary Ellen (“Mammy”) Pleasant invested in the Black Diamond Mines and owned a cook house at the mines. In Antioch, a free African American man from New York City made a livelihood and a home as a dockworker in Antioch. Occasional African Americans worked and resided in labor camps in East County. The Defense industry attracted African-Americans to jobs and opportunity in West County during America’s “Second Great Migration” during WWII.
Registration Cutoff Date:
Dates & Times:
2/19/2025 1:00PM - 3:00PM
LMC Brentwood Center Room 306
