East Bay Yesterday - East Bay Yesterday

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“What about the underdog?”: Dorothea Lange never stopped fighting for freedom May 11, 2017

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Dorothea Lange is one of the most famous photographers of all time, but the local work she did during her many decades as an East Bay resident is often overlooked. This episode explores how she went from taking portraits of the Bay Area’s wealthiest families to documenting the poor and working class. Dorothea’s goddaughter, Elizabeth Partridge, and Drew Johnson, curator of the Oakland Museum’s new Dorothea Lange exhibition, share insights on what makes her photographs so iconic—and why they’re still so relevant. “Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing” is showing at the Oakland Museum of California from May 13 through August 13, 2017. For details, visit: http://museumca.org/exhibit/dorothea-lange-politics-seeing

Before the A’s: The East Bay’s earliest baseball teams Apr 19, 2017

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Long before the Athletics moved to Oakland, teams like the Colonels, the Larks and the Aztec Stars played baseball in the East Bay. Special guest contributor Cyrus Farivar digs into the roots of our national pastime—and even visits “vintage” game. Did you know that Oakland’s first black mayor was a pitcher in the West Coast Negro League? This is just one of the many stories explored in today’s episode. Play ball!

“They knew it was a lie”: Exposing the cover-up behind Japanese-American mass incarceration Apr 03, 2017

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Four decades after the U.S. government incarcerated nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans, long-hidden evidence revealed that the reason behind the mass imprisonment was a lie. This episode explores how the discovery a “smoking gun” report led to Oakland native Fred Korematsu re-opening his World War II-era Supreme Court case. Korematu’s lawyer, Dale Minami, shares how lessons learned from this “civil rights disaster” can help prevent another injustice of this magnitude—or worse.

“Where are those ancestors now?”: How battles over sacred sites have revived Ohlone culture Mar 23, 2017

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Have you ever wondered what the East Bay was like before colonization? In this episode, Corrina Gould of Indian People Organizing for Change shares knowledge of how her ancestors, the Ohlone people, maintained a relatively peaceful culture here for thousands of years. Although this history was nearly wiped out, struggles to protect sacred shellmound sites—some of them older than the Egyptian pyramids—have sparked a movement to honor this region’s original inhabitants and reclaim “lost” languages, crafts and practices. [Episode art from "The Ohlone Way" by Malcolm Margolin / Heyday Books]

Bruce Lee’s Oakland years: From a legendary fight to a new philosophy Mar 14, 2017

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Bruce Lee’s time in the East Bay affected him profoundly. This episode explores how a legendary fight sparked an evolution that changed martial arts forever. Charles Russo, author of “Striking Distance,” and Gary Cagaanan, an Oakland native who trained in one of Bruce Lee’s schools, share insights into this hard-hitting history.

America’s first sanctuary city: The missing chapter in a story of resistance Feb 28, 2017

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Although rarely credited, Berkeley became America’s first sanctuary city on November 8, 1971. This episode explores how an ancient idea was revived in protest of the Vietnam War and again to support Central American refugees during the 1980s. With sanctuary cities under attack by the Trump administration, learn how the sanctuary movement started—and triumphed over previous crackdowns by the U.S. government. Featuring interviews with: Jose Artiga, Sister Maureen Duignan, Bennett Falk and Prof. Jennifer Ridgley.

The East Bay punk explosion: How a scene rose from the ashes to create a music mecca Jan 25, 2017

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In the mid-1990s, the East Bay was the center of the punk rock universe. Lookout Records co-founder Larry Livermore shares his thoughts on the surprising origins of the scene that produced the biggest-selling punk band of all time and countless other influential (and occasionally notorious) groups. He also reflects on how letting his little record label grow beyond his bedroom into a multi-million dollar company sowed the seeds of its downfall. “It was far beyond the wildest dreams of the young assembly line steel mill worker that I started out as...”

The rise and fall of the Oakland Ku Klux Klan Jan 10, 2017

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The East Bay’s KKK started by burning crosses in the hills, and they quickly captured power in City Hall. This movement didn’t last long—their rise and fall all happened around the time of the 1920s. But they did make an impact that changed Oakland forever. The kind of impact that Trump could have on America. This episode features an interview with Professor Chris Rhomberg, author of “No There There: Race, Class, and Political Community in Oakland” [Also available on iTunes and Stitcher]

California’s only black whaling captain: William Shorey’s journey from sailor to celebrity Jan 03, 2017

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“Black Ahab’s” adventures made him an Oakland hero and one of the most powerful men of color in California—but there’s a dark side to his story that’s rarely discussed. This episode weaves together histories of slavery, whaling and a flood of African American seamen into 19th century Bay Area to explore William Shorey’s rise to the top of a bloody, brutal industry. [Also available on iTunes & Stitcher]

10,000 years of Oakland, 1 piece of land Dec 20, 2016

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When Brock Winstead bought a house in the Golden Gate district, he decided to research the history of his property and find out the identity of every single person who had ever owned that plot of land. What he discovered reveals much about the patterns of land use and displacement that continue to shape Oakland today. From colonization to redlining to rebranding, this episode explores the powerful forces that have shaped the East Bay’s development. [Subscribe to this program on iTunes or Stitcher]

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