| African American Museum & Library at Oakland |
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Mission
The African American Museum and Library at Oakland is dedicated to discover, preserve, interpret and share the historical and cultural experiences of African Americans in California and the West for present and future generations.
Archives
AAMLO's archival collection is a unique resource on the history of African Americans in Northern California and the Bay Area. The over 160 collections in the archives contain the diaries of prominent families, pioneers, churches, social and political organizations. Freedom's Journal, the Liberator, California Voice, Sun Reporter, Muhammed Speaks, and the Black Panther newspapers are available on microfilm. Using AAMLO's oral history collection researchers can listen to interviews with local civil rights activists, educators, writers, and musicians. AAMLO is home to the Eternal Voices video library containing more than 80 years of African American East Bay history and Susheel Bibb's Meet Mary Pleasant DVD (scholarly interviews, key issues and documents). The microfilm collection includes primary research information on African American enslavement, military service, California census records 1910-1930, Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association, W.E.B. Dubois, Benjamin Banneker, Mary Church Terrell, Paul Robeson and others. The archives department is open from 12-4. To make an appointment call (510) 637-0198. Click here for more detailed information about AAMLO's archival collections.
Reference Library
AAMLO is a non-circulating reference library. Its collection consists of approximately 12,000 volumes by or about African Americans. There are collections on the military, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, Africa, genealogy, and California history. Patrons can access on-line and via CD-ROM bibliographic databases such as Ancestry Plus, Black Studies, African American History & Culture and Encarta Africana or thumb through James de Abadjian's Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources. The reference library also offers access to six computers with word processing, Internet access, local and out of state newspapers and scholarly journals. For more information about the reference department please call (510) 637-0201.
Museum
The second floor museum regularly hosts traveling and original exhibitions that highlight the art, history and culture of African Americans. Click here for information about current and upcoming exhibits.
Please note that the second floor museum is currently closed for renovation until late Spring 2008. This project is funded by a grant from the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation issued under the 2002 Resources Bond Act, Historical and Cultural Resources Preservation, Opportunity Grant program.
Computers
10 (ten) computers with Internet access are available for public use. Please call branch at (510) 637-0200 for more information.
Meeting Room Information
AAMLO Meeting Room 1: Private conference room, seats 12, table, dry erase board.
AAMLO Meeting Room 2: Semi-private conference room, seats 8, conference table
For information about policies and rental fees, click here.
Volunteer @ AAMLO
AAMLO welcomes volunteers for library and museum services. Please call us at (510) 637-0199 for more information.
AAMLO History
In 1946 Eugene and Ruth Lasartemay and Jessie and Dr. Marcella Ford began collecting the oral histories and artifacts that documented the activities of African Americans in and around Oakland, the Bay Area and California. The materials, first stored in their home closets, basements and garages, soon outgrew these spaces. The Lasartemays and Fords relocated the collection to a storefront on Grove Street. The storefront was open two days a week, three to five hours a day. Visitors could find on file and pasted on the windows local and national newspaper reports on events of interest to African Americans. As interest in the storefront grew and its operating finances improved, so did the number of hours the center could remain open.
By 1960 the space on Grove Street had served its purpose. The collections' new home became the Golden Gate branch of the Oakland Public Library at 6505 San Pablo Avenue, making it the first Oakland city library with a predominantly African American focused collection. The assistance of Mayor Lionel Wilson, Assemblyman Elihu Harris, and others helped the organization establish a solid foundation in their new home. The collection continued to expand.
Cataloging methods improved and the membership roll increased. In 1964 the organization officially became the East Bay Negro Historical Society, Inc. It later changed its name to the Northern California Center for Afro-American History & Life, reflecting its emerging importance as a regional historical center.
In 1994, the City of Oakland and the Center merged to create the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO). This unique public/private partnership entered a historic juncture with the opening of AAMLO to the public in February 2002. Located at 659 14th Street, AAMLO is housed in the former Charles A. Greene library. From 1902 until 1951 the Greene library served as Oakland's Public Library's second Main Library.
Directions & Public Transit Information
AAMLO is located on the Southwest corner of 14th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland, California.
By Car:
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From the Oakland Airport and the south, take 880 north to the Broadway/Downtown exit. Turn right on Broadway, then left on 12th Street. Stay on 12th Street to Martin Luther Jr. Way, turn right on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, passing Preservation Park on the left. AAMLO is on the left at the end of that block.
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Driving from San Francisco, cross the Bay Bridge and follow signs to 580 East. (Do not take the first Oakland 880 exit.) From 580 take 980 West to downtown Oakland. Exit at the 14th and 18th Street ramp, making sure you are in the middle lane. At the second light (14th Street) turn left. Once over the bridge, AAMLO is at the end of the block on your right.
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From Contra Costa County, take Highway 24 to 980 West to downtown Oakland. Exit at the 14th and 18th Street ramp, making sure you are in the middle lane. At the second light (14th Street) turn left. Once over the bridge, AAMLO is at the end of the block on your right.
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From Marin County, take the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, (580 East) to the 80 South merger. Continue past Berkeley exits to the 580 East fork (Hayward/Stockton). Exit at 980 West (downtown Oakland). Take 980 west to downtown Oakland. Exit at the 14th and 18th Street ramp, making sure you are in the middle lane. At the second light (14th Street) turn left. Once over the bridge, AAMLO is at the end of the block on your right.
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Parking:
On Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 12th Street, City Center Garage West is one block south of AAMLO. On 14th Street, City Center Garage (with higher parking fees) is two blocks east of AAMLO, across from City Hall. Metered street parking is also available, but can be difficult to find.
By BART:
By Bus or By BART:
Click here to plan a trip to AAMLO.
