If you’ve ever driven down Sacramento Street in South Berkeley, you’ve probably seen the statue of William Byron Rumford Sr. prominently displayed on the median off Ashby Ave. Rumford was a civil rights advocate who became the Bay Area’s first African American elected to the California Legislature in 1948. He also owned the pharmacy across the street from the site of the statue. Both are stops on the South Berkeley Legacy Project’s Black History walking tour.
The tour is led by local historian and lifelong South Berkeley resident, Tina Jones Williams. The tour highlights cultural pillars in Berkeley’s Black community amid displacement and rapid change.
Guests: Corey Antonio Rose, producer Its Been a Minute and Bria Suggs, a journalist at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.