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San Diego's Black Heritage and Historic Places
By Alana Coons and Ann Jarmusch
July/August 2020
The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.
- Frederick Douglass
The history of historic preservation is similar to most professional fields in this country: It began with a focus on White culture, the founding fathers, etc. Its preponderance of powerful White historical narratives has radically skewed most Americans' views of history. In recent decades, however, there has been markedly greater interest for learning the fuller, more diverse, and more compelling history of our communities and places.
 Courtesy Coons collection |
The unrest, rage, and grief unleashed by the tragic murder by police of George Floyd and many other Black men and women compels SOHO to examine our work and commitment to Black history and its role in the mosaic of San Diego's heritage. The preservation and interpretation of the buildings and places that represent Black life in San Diego and throughout America and the world are essential to understanding the complete scope of our history.
The first Black settlers arrived with the Portolá Expedition, as soldiers, in 1769. The earliest sites owned by Black settlers that still remain can be found in Old Town State Historic Park, Palomar, Julian, Otay, and in downtown San Diego. The city lost many of its oldest Black historic sites during the middle of the 20th century, and again as recently as the 1980s.
SOHO has long been at the forefront of efforts to save San Diego's Black historic sites often with the guidance and support of the Black Historical Society of San Diego. In 2002, Karen Huff-Willis, then president of the Black Historical Society and a SOHO board member, wrote about the fight to save the Creole Palace, a popular venue for jazz musicians at the center of the downtown African American community. That battle was lost, but in the same year, the Clermont/Coast Hotel received historical designation after the society refuted a city-funded study that said the once Blacks-only hotel claimed no particular place in history. Today, a section of it houses a cultural center that includes the Black Historical Society archives, research, genealogy rooms, and exhibition gallery.
More recently, in the last few years, SOHO has been in discussions with the family of the last Black-owned 19th-century farm and home in the Otay Valley as its probable stewards. Together, we're envisioning the best ways to preserve its story and to conserve it for future generations.
Historic buildings and places can be powerful tools to increase and amplify the voices of the underrepresented. SOHO resolves to continue to do all we can to save and protect the remaining Black heritage sites and to elevate the voices of our Black neighbors and fellow citizens wherever and whenever we can.
Learn more about San Diego Black history and Black historic sites:
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