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Berkeley,
California (Friday, May 25, 2005)
The City of
Berkeley’s Public Art Program has funded a project to create an
interpretive plaque in San Pablo Park’s Frances Albrier
Community Center celebrating Albrier’s contributions to
the City, the region and the state.
The granddaughter of a former slave, Frances Albrier moved from Alabama
to California as a young woman in 1920 and began nearly six
decades of civil rights activism from her Berkeley home.
The permanent plaque will combine historical
photographs and text to communicate the power of Albrier’s work
as a leader in numerous political and civil rights campaigns from
the 1930s-1970s.
Although
Albrier was active in state and national political issues, she was
deeply rooted in South Berkeley. “Albrier lived just a few blocks from San Pablo Park,”
says Donna Graves, project originator, “so it is fitting that
she be recognized at our community center.
Her story of life-long passionate activism is worth
remembering and teaching our children.”
Graves, an historian and arts administrator, had brought
her own children to the park and Albrier Community Center for many
years. While serving
as project director for the City of Richmond’s Rosie the Riveter
Memorial, Graves became aware of Albrier’s efforts to break down
race and gender barriers as a welder at Richmond’s Kaiser
Shipyards.
“As
I discovered more about Albrier’s life, I was struck by her
life-long commitment to challenging stereotypes about what women
and people of color could do,” says Graves. During the
Depression, Albrier led a “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work”
campaign against employment discrimination in neighborhood stores
and was a major force behind the hiring of Berkeley’s first
African American teacher at nearby Longfellow School. The first African American to run for Berkeley City Council
in 1939, Albrier was not elected, but went on to serve for many
years as a leader in the California Democratic party.
In
addition to a permanent interpretive plaque, the project will
include a community memory-gathering event at the Albrier
Community Center in Fall 2005 and an educational program with the
Berkeley Public Schools.
“Frances
Albrier is a wonderful part of our civic history.
The Civic Arts Public Art Program is happy to sponsor a
project that will share her remarkable legacy with Berkeley
residents at the Community Center that bears her name,” Jos
Sances, Chair of the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission.
Funding
for this project comes from the 1.5% for art from eligible Capital
projects. The funding for the Public Art Program was approved by
the Berkeley City Council in 1999. Public Art can be fine art,
functional art or historical markers and memorials and are
selected through a public process. To view this process please
refer to the Public Art Program of the Civic Arts web page http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/civicarts/publicart.html
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