Black Sacramento: A Conversation About African Americans’ Role in Sacramento History
By Kelby McIntosh
How important is it to understand your history, and how much power does that information mean to you? It’s an understatement to say that understanding our history as black people come with highs and lows – as, throughout 2020, we battled critical race theory and the fight to erase our history from textbooks. Since then, understanding black history is more than just a celebration of a month, but the preservation of legacies for many African Americans who have sought to choose a path less travels to better ourselves as a race.
If I were to ask you, “where can I go in Sacramento to learn about black history,” what would you say? While this question can lead to various answers like The Center for Sacramento History or looking into African American Experience Project — local Sacramento Historian and Oak Park native Michael W. Benjamin II feels differently. Coming from parents who entrenched themselves deep within the Sacramento community, His father, Michael Benjamin, owned the Sacramento Repertory theaters in the 70’s up until the early 90s, and his mother was the chairwoman for founding Black Culture Day at the Sacramento County Fair.
“When you tell the history of Sacramento, you have to tell the WHOLE history.” – Michael W. Benjamin
“My Grandmother [Violate B. Hacket-Benjamin] and my aunt [Glendale Benjanmin] started the Oak Park Action Committee; they saw and lived through black people being redlined to Oak Park,” stated Michael. “Out of that is what came to my love for serving the community and being around progressive black people,” Michael said. Micheal touched on the influx of African American military to Sacramento during the Vietnam war and the Sacramento chapter of the Black Panther Party. When conversing with Michael, the Rolodex of his mind explained the history of Sacramento in ways I never imagined.
“A lot of people come here and think there aren’t any progressive black people in Sacramento, which is far from the truth,” Michael stated when asked about the formation of African Americans in Sacramento. Michael further said, “In my neighborhood, Callie Carney won a city council seat, and my father was close to Samuel C. Pannell; when it comes to talking about the history of Sacramento, you cant write it from a certain standpoint.”
“It’s more than just land development, gentrification is removing the resources that people have a connection to.” – Michael W. Benjamin
When asked about documented black people in Sacramento history, Michael mentioned, “This is more than just what you can find in a book; gentrification is erasing the history that we were even here.” Black people have had a significant impact on the fabric of Sacramento, and getting to the crust of what this city means to black people through rural sprawl to the gold rush. “There are a lot of black gold miners that were a part of the California Gold Rush between 1848 – 1860, and a majority of them came to Sacramento to do their money exchange,” Michael stated when asked about the early history of Sacramento.
“When you’re dealing with people who don’t understand that it’s more than just land development, gentrification is removing the resources that people have a connection to,” Michael stated when asked about the story narratives about black people in Sacramento. Michael further said, “When you tell the history of Sacramento, you have to tell the WHOLE history. I look for the book source and who wrote the story because there’s a history behind Oak Park and Sacramento.”
