Doug Harris Media
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The first African Americans began residing in Richmond, California in the early 1900s during the early years of the Standard Oil Company refinery and the Pullman Company that constructed rail cars for transportation along the transcontinental railroad lines. By the early 1940s, a mass migration of blacks moved to the Bay Area from the South and other parts of the country during the WWII era to work at Richmond's Kaiser Shipyards.
Due to the heavily enforced restrictive covenants in property deeds around the Bay Area, blacks were relegated to live in the unincorporated community of North Richmond which was originally zoned industrial and agriculture. The segregated community is where they would make their home all the way up until the current wave of gentrification.
Map of street boundries of North Richmond city and county (circa 1969)
North Richmond house with broken fence and back yard windmill (circa 1943)
Unidentified family posing in the rural area of North Richmond (circa 1940)
Residents at their brick tar paper siding homes in North Richmond (circa 1945)
North Richmond's rural country atmosphere with dirt streets (circa 1945)
Unidentified man posing on side of stylish Cadilac coupe (circa 1953)
Unidentified men posing on street in North Richmond (circa 1953)
People hanging out at corner store on Kelsey Street in North Richmond (circa 2011)
Down home atmosphere still exists in parts of North Richmond (circa 2011)
Infamous auto wrecking yard along Gertrude Street in North Richmond (circa 2011)
Old mattress factory near railroad tracks in North Richmond (circa 2011)
People relaxing in the sun on lawn at the park in North Richmond (circa 2011)
