History of Oakland

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     I am from Oakland, California. Oakland is an extremely diverse city located in the highly populated San Francisco Bay Area. Oakland was founded in 1852 as a port city after the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills.[1] Prior to the founding of Oakland, the area was inhabited by Native Americans and Spanish settlers.[8] The California gold rush brought people from all over the world to Oakland and marked the beginning of the cities diversity of cultures and people.[8]

trains & boats in Oakland

A woodcut from 1878 of the docks in Oakland

http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/cypress/finalreport/cypressdetail2.htm

      Since its creation Oakland has had a significant role in California history. In the late 1800’s Oakland was the end of the Transcontinental Railroad which brought people from all over the country to the city.[1] During the 1920’s, Oakland experienced an economic and population boom in which a majority of the housing and infrastructure was built.[1] But Oakland’s prosperity was short lived. After World War II, the city of Oakland became increasingly impoverished and segregated as those with means moved to surrounding cities in a phenomenon known as white flight.[1] In response to the extreme poverty and segregation in Oakland, in 1966 Huey Newton and Bobby Seale created the Black Panther Party in downtown Oakland.[1] Poverty and segregation worsened throughout Oakland the 1980’s and 1990’s and caused crime and gang violence to expand in the city. The increasing poverty affected minorities the hardest.

African Americans - Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California, in 1966 to protect black neighborhoods from police brutality. Their radical philosophy quickly made them a lightning rod for police harassment. The Panthers advocated exemption from the draft and reparations for slavery. The group also demanded the release of all black prisoners and encouraged African Americans to carry guns. At its peak, the Black Panther Party had two thousand members and several chapters. Gun battles with police in California, New York, and Chicago led to the arrest of several prominent members, including Huey Newton. This picture was taken on the second day of Newton's trial in San Francisco in July 1968.

Picture from July 1968 of Black Panthers outside Huey Newton's Trial

http://www.africanamericans.com/BlackPantherPartyPlatform.htm

        Currently, the city of Oakland is trying to rebuild and reduce crime throughout the city. Despite these attempts to improve the city, 2006 had one of the most homicides in decades, with 148. This was an increase of 54 murders from 2005.[2] Also the education system in Oakland has continued to be abysmal and is currently one of the worst in the country. Poor education and high crime rates have divided the city between the rich and the poor. In general, those with money live in the large houses with Bay views in the hills above the city and those without money live in the flat lands closer to the Bay. The differences between these two parts of the city are drastic. The racial and economic situation in Oakland has had a large effect on the AIDS epidemic in throughout the city.