African Americans in San Francisco


in San Francisco, California, comprised less than 6% of the city's total population in the 2010 census, down from 13.4% in 1970. Among the United States' biggest 14 cities, San Francisco is near the bottom in the percentage of black residents. The neighboring city of Oakland, across the San Francisco Bay has been more traditionally associated with African-American culture than San Francisco proper, although blacks have always been a minority in Oakland as well. In the mid 20th century, the African American community in the Fillmore District earned the neighborhood the nickname the "Harlem of the West". About 9 percent of the San Francisco Police Department force was African-American in 2015.

History

African-Americans began coming to San Francisco during the California Gold Rush. During the Great Migration, San Francisco was a destination for African-Americans coming out of the South. War Manpower Commission recruited African Americans from the South to work the recently owned Naval Docks in Hunters Point of San Francisco. Word soon spread that African Americans could find work in San Francisco, thus began the great migration.

Future

In 2016, local pastor Amos C. Brown predicted that San Francisco's African American population would decrease to less than 20,000 in 2026, down from 46,000 in 2016.

Notable people

Politics