The East Bay Negro Historical Society Records include meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, program flyers and brochures,
financial ledgers, and scrapbooks documenting the activities of the society between 1965-2001.
The East Bay Negro Historical Society (EBNHS) was organized on July 2, 1965 in the home of Marcella Ford. In attendance at
the first meeting were the seven founding members of the society: Marcella Ford, Jesse Ford, Eugene Lasartemay, Ruth Lasartemay,
E. Harold Mason, Morrie Turner, and Madison Harvey Jr. The society’s mission was to “collect, preserve, record, and disseminate
information related to the history, culture and experience, of persons of Black American and African descent, especially those
in the East Bay, the State of California and throughout the West.” The EBNHS consisted of members, officers, and an executive
board and included library, museum, publications and publicity, program, membership, finance, and nomination committees which
met on the third Saturday of every month. Initially, the society operated as a unit of the Oakland Unified School District
Volunteer Program, with members giving lectures on black history to students that would visit the library and museum.