ABSTRACT
San Francisco entered the 1950s a changed city, larger and more diverse than it ever had been. Where once less than one percent of the population was African American, by 1950 there were 43,502 African Americans, 5.6% of the total population. This 800% increase in just one decade was by far the largest percentage increase in any major West Coast city. Oakland was next with a 460% increase and Portland followed with a 400% increase (Taylor; 1998, 254). With such a large and rapid increase in San Francisco’s African American population, it was nearly inevitable that there would be a corresponding increase in racial discrimination. The situation was so bad in fact that the Council for Civic Unity (CCU) claimed publicly that race relations in San Francisco, a city well-known for its race-liberal ways, were no better than anywhere else in the country (Broussard; 1993, 218). This sentiment was echoed by a UC Berkeley Extension representative who, in a letter to the local branch of the NAACP, wrote, “Because of the growing concern with the problem of race relations in California, and more particularly in the Bay Area, University of California Extension would like to clarify some of the issues involved by offering this summer, both in Berkeley and in San Francisco, a short evening course, Race and Ethnic Relations X102” (NAACP WCRF; carton 12).
