The California Room's Black History Month Exhibit is now on display.
The exhibit features photographs and biographical information from local and historic Black figures from our California Room collections.
Featured Collections
Edmonia Lewis
With 2026 under way, the Year of Edmonia continues! Her sculpture, Asleep 1871, is back home at the California Room just in time for Black History Month. After the "Edmonia Lewis: Indelible Impressions" exhibit at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Asleep 1781, returned home meanwhile our other sculptures, Awake 1872 and Lincoln 1871, continue on tour to join more of Lewis' sculpted works at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
Charles Alexander Collection
Charles (Chuck) Alexander was a trailblazer in Black athletics at San Jose State University. Arriving on campus in 1955 on an athletic scholarship, Chuck played varsity football and helped found SJSU’s Kappa Alpha Psi -Delta Rho fraternity chapter.
In the 1950s, San Jose State did not offer housing to students of color. To remedy this, Chuck helped found the Good Brothers House at 5th and St. John streets in San Jose. The house would become a haven for a generation of Black athletes and activists.
Chuck married Saphrona Williams in 1959 and graduated from SJSU in 1962 with a degree in Leisure studies. He went on to work for the the Santa Clara County Probation Department as a counselor, and later served as the head of Juvenile Hall before retiring in 1985.
During Chuck’s time in San Jose he chronicled local events through photography, with a focus on the social, political and spiritual lives of the African American community.
He continued to serve and document his community until his death in January 2023.
Joyce Ellington
Joyce Ellington was a pillar of the San Jose Northside Neighborhood and the first African American woman to head the city's library commission. Joyce Ellington advocated for the former site of Grant School to be a new public library. She lived and grew up only a block away from what became Empire Branch Library, that eventually would be renamed Joyce Ellington Branch Library' in 2002.¹
Iola Williams
Iola Williams was the first African American to serve on San Jose City Council. "She and her family were active members of the Antioch Baptist Church on Julian Street in downtown San Jose, an incubator of emerging black leaders. She played the piano and helped with the choir and became active in her children's school before being elected as the first African American on the Franklin-McKinley board, where she was a strong advocate for the large Latino community."²
Henry Rountree Jr. Collection
Reverend Henry Rountree aka 'SuperTurtle.' Baptist Reverend by day... and still Baptist Reverend by night, but instead of finding his help in a church, Rountree would walk the city streets offering support to those in need.
All who come to visit the Black History Month Exhibit at the California Room, I especially recommend checking out our section on Henry Rountree.
Where: California Room, King Library, Fifth Floor
When: February 1st to March 7th
Further Reading
African Americans of San Jose and Santa Clara County
References
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BARNACLE, BETTY. "JOYCE ELLINGTON, 74, CIVIC ACTIVIST - PUSHED TO HAVE NORTH SIDE LIBRARY BUILT." San Jose Mercury News (CA), August 5, 2005: 19A. NewsBank: Mercury News – Historical and Current. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.sjezp01.sjlibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&docref=news/10BD1EF14CBAB678.
- Sulek, Julia Prodis. "SAN JOSE'S FIRST BLACK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, TRAILBLAZER, DIES AT 83." Mercury News, The (San Jose, CA), April 9, 2019: 1B. NewsBank: Mercury News – Historical and Current. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.sjezp01.sjlibrary.org/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&docref=news/172BAF5FA91CBFF0.
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