One of the images on display at Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain: Michelle Vignes, Kenny Playing Sax at the De Luxe Inn in Oakland, 1983. Credit: Collection of the Oakland Museum of California. Michelle Vignes photograph archive, © The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.
What could Oakland look like 1,000 years from now?
In a new exhibit opening today at the Oakland Museum of California, architect June Grant challenges people to think about the future of The Town — not just within our lifetimes, but for many generations to come.
“I try not to be shackled by the weight of history, but to use history as a launch pad to fly above,” Grant said in introducing the exhibit. “You will see a vision for the year 3000 and my challenge to all of us is to look at the year 3000 and design and plan our cities for that. I challenge us to always think about not 10 years, not 15, but 1,000 or 10,000 years out … because I saw a billboard that said there are Black people in the future.”
Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain, which opened today, showcases stories of Black displacement, resistance, and community in the East Bay. Featuring artifacts taken from the museum’s permanent collection along with artifacts from the Oakland History Center, the African American Museum and Library, and other historical collections, the exhibit takes viewers through decades of the Black experience. The exhibit highlights how, despite urban renewal, the aggressive use of eminent domain, and other discriminatory practices, Black East Bay residents have been able to create communities and thrive.
