Copyright 1996 Phil Reader. Reproduced with the permission of the author. Photograph courtesy of the Northern California Center for Afro American History and Life.
This photo of the Salz Tannery lunchroom was taken sometime during the mid-1950's. According to Jeremy Lezin, Salz was one of the very few companies in the 50's and early 60's that hired African Americans. As a point of interest, Helen Salz, Ansley's wife, co-founded the ACLU in San Francisco. In the 1950's the Salz workforce numbered about 60. In the 70's that grew to as many as 350. At the end in 2001, there were approximately 100 employees.
This photograph was taken by Vester Dick and is the property of the Lezin Family. It is displayed here with the permission of the Lezin Family and Covello and Covello.
A portrait of Dan Rodgers. In 1861, he and his sons-in-law Robert Johnson and John Derrick began a 20 year struggle to break the color line in Watsonville Schools.
Ida B. Wells, one of the founders of the NAACP. When her family moved to Santa Cruz, about 1892-1894, she was already famous as a writer and lecturer on the subject of lynching. She died in 1931.
A portrait of Mary Logan, who, with her husband, Albert, ran a boarding house on South Branciforte. She continued to operate the boarding house after her husband died in 1922.