The Pinkney, Ritchardson, and Berry Families in San Francisco

 

This is one of our most cherished family photos. It was taken on the 1400 block of Geary Street in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood in the early 1920s. I love it because it connects many  branches of my maternal family tree: Pinkney, Berry, and Ritchardson. The smallest girl at the bottom of the steps is my grandmother. My mother and grandmother put together a guide naming all the individuals in this photo, and I'm so grateful they did!

Here is a numbered guide to the photo:

   And here are the names that correspond with the numbers: 

     I recently looked up this particular block of Geary Street on Google Maps to see what was there. Sadly it appears that this home was one of many torn down in the name of "urban renewal" in the 1960s. Geary Boulevard was expanded from a a two lane street to a major four lane thoroughfare, cutting right through the heart of San Francisco's Black community. Many families lost their homes to this project and were forced to relocate. KQED has created a wonderfully informative timeline on the history of the Fillmore/Western Addition for further reading.  

Fortunately the Western Addition house my great grandparents lived in at 2970 Pine Street is still standing! I visit it sometimes when I'm in the city. Here's a photo from my last visit:

   And here's my mom (on the right) and one of her friends in front of the house when she was a little girl:

   San Francisco has changed so much from the city my grandmother and mother grew up in, and even from the city I knew and loved as a college student. All three of us are alums of San Francisco State. After I graduated college and was ready to move out of my tiny studio apartment in the Haight, I found myself priced out. I wasn't ready to leave San Francisco, I was forced to. Sadly this is the case for a lot of folks. San Francisco is one of the only major cities in America with a steadily declining Black population, and it has been that way for many years. This fact and my family's history within the city is one of the reasons Jimmie Fails' magnificent film The Last Black Man in San Francisco had me in my feels. Like sitting in the back of the theater crying into my popcorn type of feels. It tells the Black story of love, loss, and longing for our City by the Bay so beautifully.