BLACK SAN DIEGO HISTORY IS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF FAMILIES LIKE MINE
Black San Diego History is no longer an enigma. It’s vital, and it’s happening now.
When we talk about Black History in San Diego, much of the conversation can be about the visits of personalities such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. But Black San Diego History is also about the local Black leaders who have supported this community as it has evolved into the eighth-largest city in the nation.
For me — a San Diego native — Black San Diego History is about Helen Dillon, my Black kindergarten teacher at Knox Elementary, who provided me with the unique experience of having a teacher early in my education who ... looked ... like ... me.
Black San Diego History is about my Uncle Charles, Charles Reid, a longtime San Diego Community College district trustee who taught me that public service is a privilege and should be a priority.
Black San Diego History is about me being an Alpha Kappa Alpha debutante and seeing examples of exemplary Black women purposefully investing in the lives of Black San Diego youth through a unique rite of passage.
Black San Diego History is about a White teacher/ co-conspirator who confronted my high school counselor and demanded he change my class schedule from the typing course he insisted I take to the yearbook class that would eventually lead me to be the first Black editor in chief of the Mount Miguel High School yearbook.
Black San Diego History is about me working at the San Diego Museum of Art during the Faberge Egg exhibition/Soviet Arts Festival and having Russians in town for the citywide celebration literally walk up to me and ask to touch my brown face and textured hair because they had so very little interaction with Black people in Russia that I was a physical aberration to them.
Black San Diego History is about me watching the Gordon family home at the corner of 28th Street and Imperial Avenue burn to the ground one Sunday afternoon but being met at the scene by a family member who was also one of only a few Black San Diego city firefighters.
Black San Diego History is about me attending a ceremony where my mother was recognized by the
African American Association of Black Educators for her advocacy for Black students and being the first Black teacher in the Lemon Grove School District.
Black San Diego History is about me seeing my 19-year-old goddaughter, Brenna Blaylock, share with a group at the San Diego History Center her experience of winning a global writing competition and becoming the published author of a book about a young Black woman learning to survive at a predominately White college.
This year in particular — as we go into year three of the pandemic and life as we knew it has forever changed — I’ve concluded Black San Diego History is no longer an enigma — something you think only exists in cities like Atlanta, Detroit or Chicago that are known to be centers of the Black experience. I’ve concluded that if we all really think about our individual journeys living in San Diego, we too can identify events, people, experiences, lessons, allies, art, tragedies and victories where a Black San Diegan has substantively impacted our lives.
Yes, we will always remember Dr. King and Rosa Parks and how their star power shined — for a few moments — so bright in San Diego. But we will also acknowledge our neighbors dedicated to improving the lives of their neighbors. We will acknowledge the teachers and organizations dedicated to showing us what we could be and supporting our dreams. We will acknowledge the co-conspirators who spoke up for us when others wanted us to remain silent, invisible and unable to access opportunities. We will acknowledge those who have used their gifts to achieve so much yet have never forgotten their San Diego roots. We will acknowledge the trailblazers and glass ceiling breakers who made a way for other San Diegans to be lifted and held up. We will acknowledge multiple generations of Black San Diegans as we continue to build upon the foundations they’ve built and the progress they helped us achieve while also channeling their bravery in calling out the detractors and those who continue to scheme to take from us.
Black San Diego History is three-dimensional with tremendous scope and depth. It is vital to us today, even as we marvel at those who have come before us as well as those who are just getting started.
Gordon is the marketing manager for the San Diego History Center, and an anti-racism educator who lives in Lemon Grove.