Tag: civil rights

The Economy of the Absurd at Museum of Us!

A sculpture was recently installed at the Museum of Us in Balboa Park. You can see the new artwork when crossing the Cabrillo Bridge, about to enter the west archway of the California Quadrangle. Look up toward the second floor’s outdoor balcony!

The sculpture is titled The Economy of the Absurd. It was created by Marcos Ramírez ERRE, an artist from the Tijuana and San Diego region who has created large-scale public works since the 1990s. It’s part of the newly opened Museum of Us exhibition Race: Power, Resistance & Change.

The museum’s About the Exhibit page explains: The exhibition Race: Power, Resistance & Change shares stories of how the construction of race has shaped laws, institutions, and daily life in San Diego and the broader multinational region.

As a plaque on the balcony near The Economy of the Absurd explains: This sculpture is composed of hand tools, assembled into a rising form within a steel frame that resembles the local U.S. Mexico border wall.

A number of other plaques are also located on the balcony, including one featuring the poem Refund by past San Diego Poet Laureate Paola Capó-Garcia. It is all part of the overall exhibition.

When I spied the new sculpture yesterday while walking through Balboa Park, I had to go check it out!

Here I am proceeding out onto the Museum of Us balcony…

(Photographs of views from the balcony before installation of this exhibit can be found by clicking here.)

Visitors are encouraged to contribute to a digital map. The map is of cultural centers and programs across San Diego’s diverse communities. You can participate by clicking here!

Imagine my excitement when I found that one of the plaques, concerning the public mural in Lemon Grove of the “Lemon Grove Incident,” features two photographs that I took for Cool San Diego Sights and a mention of my website!

Finally, here’s the short poem Refund…

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History Center exhibit: San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods.

A new exhibition recently opened at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods takes a look at African-American communities that have been substantially altered, injured, or uprooted by practices such as redlining or urban development over the years.

San Diego’s Lost Neighborhoods is made possible with the help of the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art (SDAAMFA).

Communities from Downtown to City Heights to La Jolla . . . and even to Julian in our local mountains have painful stories to tell. These stories can be understood through many old photographs, the words of residents affected by racial discrimination, and by viewing historical maps of affected neighborhoods.

Visitors to the exhibit could and should spend a good while taking it all in.

Yes, change over time constitutes history–but change too often has been self-serving, mean-spirited or unnecessarily destructive.

May we all be kind. Hopefully we learn from the past.

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Students win statewide contest for Lemon Grove video!

During my recent visit to the Lemon Grove Historical Society’s newly renovated headquarters–the Parsonage Museum–I learned something extraordinary. Last year two high school students who attend Canyon Crest Academy, Sarah and William Gao, won a statewide contest for their outstanding video concerning the Lemon Grove Incident.

The contest had the theme Turning Points in History.

Their extremely well done documentary concerns the fight that led up to the landmark court order in 1931 that ended school segregation in Lemon Grove. View their excellent video on YouTube by clicking here.

This is such a great achievement that I thought it deserved additional recognition. Their video concerns history that everyone should know. Let’s run up the views, comments and likes on YouTube and give their video more traction!

The Lemon Grove Incident was the United States’ first successful school desegregation case. It was a pivotal event in our nation’s history. For the longest time I myself hadn’t known that.

Back in 2022 I took photographs of a mural in Lemon Grove that celebrates the Lemon Grove Incident and those who courageously fought for the victory against segregation. My first photograph above shows part of the mural. See the other photos here!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Negro Leagues baseball exhibit opens in San Diego!

An extraordinary exhibit concerning the history of baseball’s Negro Leagues officially opens tomorrow, April 15, 2025, in San Diego!

Extensive displays celebrating African-American baseball players who helped lead the way to a more integrated and tolerant society can now be enjoyed on the 8th Floor Reading Room of the Central Library. The exhibit is titled Barrier Breakers.

Visitors to the Central Library are in for a treat. The epic exhibition is brought to our city by the San Diego Padres and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

There are biographies of athletes who competed in the Negro Leagues–complete with stats, accomplishments, photographs and memories. There are stories of how trailblazing players were eventually accepted by Major League Baseball. Different eras are represented, and key moments are remembered.

As one might expect, Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, has a special place in the exhibit. It’s no coincidence that tomorrow, the day Breaking Barriers opens, is Jackie Robinson Day. Jackie made history by starting at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

Another display celebrates the San Diego Padres’ own trailblazer, hometown hero catcher Johnny Ritchey. He made Pacific Coast League history when he joined the team in 1948. (He had seven hits in his first eleven plate appearances!)

Anyone who is a baseball, sports or history buff needs to check out Barrier Breakers. I just happened to swing by the Central Library today, and was super fortunate to observe a special preview presentation.

If you can’t make it to San Diego’s downtown Central Library, you can view an online virtual exhibit by clicking here.

Just a few photos…

During today’s special presentation, Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, presented The Home Run for Humanity Award to worthy recipients in San Diego. Congrats to all!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Take a free Balboa Park Women’s History Tour!

There’s a special once-a-month free tour in Balboa Park that I learned about today. The Balboa Park Women’s History Tour commemorates the women who’ve contributed to Balboa Park and San Diego history.

The inspiring tour begins every 3rd Saturday by the Bea Evenson Fountain (between the San Diego Natural History Museum and Fleet Science Center) at 10 am. The walking tour lasts for one hour.

I’ll have to take this tour at some point in the future!

What I’ve found out is the Balboa Park Women’s History Tour is presented by Forever Balboa Park. The historical substance is provided by the Women’s Museum of California, which makes its home inside the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park’s Casa de Balboa.

Learn more about the tour by clicking here!

You might remember how years ago the Women’s Museum of California made its home at Liberty Station in Point Loma. Well, soon they will have their own permanent gallery inside the San Diego History Center! Their first exhibit will concern Women in STEM. Watch for it!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Fine sculptures at the Valencia Park Library.

Seven very fine sculptures, each belonging to the San Diego Civic Art Collection, are located inside the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch Library. I discovered them last weekend when I visited the library to experience a Black History Month event.

The bronze sculptures, most of them gilded and painted, were all created by Ed Dwight, an artist who resides in Denver, Colorado. The largest work, depicting Malcolm X, stands near the center of the library.

The other half dozen sculptures honor legendary American jazz musicians. They are displayed in cases inside the library’s community room. Their titles are: Eubie’s Boogie, Jazz Guitar, Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, and Miles Davis.

The artist has a remarkable and rather unexpected background! As search results from the San Diego Civic Art website explain:

Dwight was the first African American to be trained as an astronaut. Dwight began his career as an artist after many years working in various fields including the military, engineering, and real estate. His first important commission was a sculpture of Colorado’s first black Lieutenant Governor, George Brown, in 1974. Since then, he has been prolific in creating homages to the most significant contributions of black culture to American history. His work has focused on the history of jazz and its significant figures, as well as civil rights activists and African American pioneers…

It was difficult taking good photographs with reflections on the glass cases creating interference. I encourage everyone to check out the above link and see good images of all seven sculptures, or, better yet, head over to the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch Library and begin your own exploration!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Photos before San Diego’s big MLK Parade!

The 43rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade was held today in downtown San Diego. It’s one of the biggest and best MLK Day parades in the nation. Everyone comes together to celebrate unity, equality and the optimistic vision of humanity championed by civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr.

Before the parade began, there was a 5K walk and run along Harbor Drive. Meanwhile, participants assembled in front of the County Administration Building for the big parade. I spotted colorful floats with inspiring messages, school bands and drill teams, cool cars, church groups, local sports teams, politicians, law enforcement, firefighters, and diverse businesses and community organizations who believe in the message of MLK.

The annual parade is coordinated by the Zeta Sigma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the oldest African American fraternity in America.

In addition to the parade, the MLK Harmony Health Festival at nearby Waterfront Park attracted a big crowd. Helpful resources were available to all members of the community, and families were enjoying entertainment, games and a bite to eat.

I walked around before the parade began and took these photographs, as I have in past years.

The first photo you see above was taken from the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s historic ferry Berkeley, which is docked beside Harbor Drive.

The next photo shows 5K walkers…

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Women’s History Month celebrated in Balboa Park!

It’s March, Women’s History Month!

Several walls inside the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park now feature an exhibit that chronicles the fight for women’s equality, highlighting successes by women in music, entertainment, art, and society at large. The exhibit makes use of informative displays that originally appeared in 2015 at the Women’s Museum of California.

Stories of trailblazers in the popular culture are told. In the 1960s and 70s, Helen Ready, Aretha Franklin, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Carole King and others filled the airwaves with music that related the experience of women and furthered their empowerment. In television, the advancement of women could be followed in shows like That Girl and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. With the 1968 television show Julia, Diahann Carroll become the first African-American leading actor on a sitcom.

As one sign explains: During the resurgence of the larger women’s movement in the 1960s and 70s, women artists, writers, choreographers, actors, filmmakers and playwrights sought to create a new dialogue between the viewer and their art through the inclusion of women’s perspective.

Other displays in the History Center concern the historic struggle for equal rights, including the women’s right to vote, as you can see in my photographs.

A couple years ago the Women’s Museum of California moved their archives and administrative offices from their old museum at Liberty Station into the San Diego History Center. Their presence has been online.

I’m told that in the future, a special gallery inside the History Center will be set aside for Women’s Museum of California exhibits.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Exhibition of African American history in Coronado.

An exhibition now showing at The Coronado Historical Association‘s museum concerns the history of African Americans in Coronado. An Island Looks Back: Uncovering Coronado’s Hidden African American History is open free to the public and extremely enlightening.

Numerous old photographs and historical documents tell the story of how a few African Americans pioneers first came to Coronado in the late 19th century, and how their numbers would greatly increase beginning in 1944, because of the Federal Housing Project. The island had more than twice the African American population in 1960 than Chula Vista, El Cajon, Escondido, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, La Mesa and Vista combined!

The exhibition features stories of families through many generations, telling of their struggles and triumphs.

Some of Coronado’s earliest African American pioneers migrated west looking for opportunity, following Elisha Babcock, who would develop the once-barren island and build the Hotel del Coronado. In its early years, Coronado was considered more accepting of African American residents and visitors than most San Diego neighborhoods.

Members of the segregated United States military would also settle in Coronado–Civil War veterans, Buffalo Soldiers, and veterans of the two World Wars.

The exhibition explains that many African Americans in those early years worked as maids, cooks, nurses, butlers, housekeepers, gardeners, laborers, coachmen and chauffeurs. The pay was low and life could be difficult–many residents of Coronado would persist in supporting segregation for decades. Surprisingly, Coronado’s local schools were integrated from the beginning.

Visitors to the museum will learn how African American graduates from Coronado High School during the Civil Rights Era went on to successful careers and achievements in the arts, military, private business, and government. That success in the community continues to this day.

If you ever find yourself in beautiful Coronado, head to the The Coronado Historical Association‘s free museum and experience An Island Looks Back: Uncovering Coronado’s Hidden African American History.

You will be inspired by the life stories and accomplishments of African Americans who’ve called Coronado home.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Black History Month at San Diego History Center.

Black History Month is being celebrated at the San Diego History Center throughout the month of February. Special displays honor African American artists, families, trailblazers and champions in San Diego. And there are fun educational activities for young people, too!

Did you know that Audrey “Mickey” Patterson-Tyler was the first Black woman to win an Olympic medal? And that she in her later years lived in National City? I didn’t know.

Did you know that quilts played an unexpected role in Black History? Harriet Tubman used quilts to display secret codes along the Underground Railroad, guiding slaves to freedom. Kids exploring the exhibit can color or add stickers to their own special paper Story Quilt.

As I read various signs, I was reminded how the San Diego History Center partnered with the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Arts six years ago, to feature the work of local Black artists. I blogged about that event here.

There’s so much in the exhibition to absorb: historical photographs, biographies, a display about local struggles for civil rights, and a display concerning Martin Luther King Jr. and his visit to San Diego.

Want to check it out? The San Diego History Center is located in the heart of Balboa Park, Admission is free!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!