African American Citywide Historic Context Statement

LOCATION: San Francisco, California
CLIENT: City and County of San Francisco
DATE COMPLETED: 2015

San Francisco has one of the oldest and most firmly established African American communities in the West. Though the city's black population has shrunk in recent decades and remains smaller than African American communities in Los Angeles or Oakland, its cultural legacy is disproportionate in relationship to its numbers. Unfortunately, there are very few local landmarks that recognize the African American contributions to San Francisco's cultural mix.

In partnership with Tim Kelley Consulting and the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society, VerPlanck Historic Preservation Consulting prepared a thoroughly researched and comprehensive historic context statement that documents the evolution of San Francisco's African American community from pre-Gold Rush days to the present. In addition to summarizing this largely unknown history, the African American Citywide Historic Context Statement identifies properties, districts, and sites that are important for their association with important events, as well as African American individuals and businesses in San Francisco. The draft African American Citywide Historic Context Statement was submitted to the San Francisco Planning Department in mid-2015.

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