ABSTRACT
Major cities throughout the United States retooled their economies following the Second World War. In 1959, as a consequence of their higher rates of unemployment, African Americans only earned 52% of what white Americans earned. By 1960, the employment problem had become a major crisis for several predominantly black communities in the Bay Area. One of the greatest challenges of the 1950s and 1960s that confronted those African Americans who depended upon public housing was the fiasco of urban renewal. African Americans’ inferior position in Bay Area society was also illustrated by the segregated schools found throughout the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco. Community leaders began to demand investigations into cases of apparent police brutality, and by the end of the decade, many African Americans were skeptical about the behavior and motivations of the men who were supposedly there to serve and protect ordinary citizens.
