Black Liberation Walking Tour: Oakland Stands Up

Description

The West Oakland Cultural Action Network (WOCAN) STANDS UP for greater cultural, social, economic and political justice in the Hoover-Foster, Clawson, and McClymonds neighborhoods of West Oakland. The newly arrived Oakland Ballers, homed in West Oakland at historic Raimondi Field, are aligned and supportive of Oakland's deep and rich history of reistance and activism in the pursuit of Liberation.

In honor of Oakland’s rich history of STANDING UP for justice in service of community, and in partnership with the Black Panther Party Alumni Legacy Network, West Oakland Mural Project, WOCAN, and HipHop TV, the Oakland Ballers will host a day of justice on Saturday, August 3, 2024, 4:35 pm at Raimondi Park.

The event will begin with the Ballers joining WOCAN's Black Liberation Walking Tour (BLWT) at St Andrew's Missionary Baptist Church at 2624 West St (corner of 27th and West) for a special edition of the BLWT, starting at 12 pm. This abbreviated tour will last 2 hours and will end at Brockhurst Street, where tour attendees will stop for food and drinks.

The tour group will head to Raimondi Park at 3:45 to continue the festivites at the ballpark.

About the Black Liberation Walking Tour (BLWT)

When most people think of Black history in the United States, they typically imagine the history of the American South, New York City’s Harlem, and Washington, D.C. This guided walking tour in Oakland, California, shares over 100 years of Black history in the American West, from the West Coast’s Civil Rights Movement and the Great Migration, to present-day stories of Oakland residents.

The Black Liberation Walking Tour (BLWT) is a community-led cultural asset map celebrating Hoover-Foster’s multi-generational Black history and culture. A project of the West Oakland Cultural Action Network (WOCAN), the BLWT captures oral histories to document the lives, art, and the culture of long-time residents, historical figures, and rapidly disappearing former Black cultural spaces.

Highlights

Tour stops include the former site of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, which was the spiritual home of the local Black Panther Party; a former home of Delilah Beasley, the first Black syndicated columnist in the U.S, and the former home of C.L. Dellums, vice-president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and a central figure of the West Coast Civil Rights Movement.

This walking experience is guided by local native David Peters, founder of the West Oakland Cultural Action Network, and Gene Anderson, author of Legendary Locals of Oakland, an Oakland historian whose family has historical roots in West Oakland. Peters and Anderson are passionate story tellers sharing the history of this area with historical stories and proclaiming its Black Heritage.

What you'll do

This walking tour starts at the former site of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church and ends at the augmented reality enabled BLWT mural. The entire tour is 1.25 miles and takes 2 hours to complete.

BOOK YOUR EXPERIENCE TODAY!

**Group booking available. Please email directly to: [email protected]

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Host or Publisher David Peters