eugenebull" coor: you can ver wh these bds ifou don'teep u and th separ e.i found at out in birmi ham. you' got to ep yourhite andhe b la separa !(audio castte loading and playing) byn rumfor theres a sic raci in th untry, wch exi s. and 's conary to some our bas concepts as expressed in the constitution and bil l of rights, and other docume nts. in these documents, we find that there is contradict ion. some of those people who express the strong posit ion, any strong position on the constitut

ion, the bill of rights will be some of those who are pr one to express themselves forcefu lly on discriminat ion. and to try to justify this by twisting the conc epts of the constitut ion. ♪ ♪ doon wiln: byr rumfd's story is portant, bause few than 300 indivuals g ng ba to 1849ave everat in ts chambeand voted on public pol y.byrorumford s one of thosendividuals. belva davis: how coming out of the so uth, could a black man living ina city wre that s wh ite, except o basic cmunity expecto get el ted? elihu hais: d quite an kly, ron rumfd as a m of eal statu to ot r leslators, who w able tspeak s mind and que frany, take challeing issu

of raand injuice, reay ga people sens of ssibilitin calif nia. dr. marion woods: when it ces to gnific t legislation in the history of this st ate, i would not know of any legislator who achieved thenumber a the sigficanceof passa of bis thanbyrorumf or ane wats: he cam rst with bill th w ouldguarantefair empyment practicefor the stat e of californ ia. and so from a racial standpo int, he kinof tunedin that,ou k now, "wre beingrohibite from ling wherwe'd l e. rentingn apartmt wherwe wouldik e." that's en he looked ahous in johnervis: h fair housg legislion op ened the way for a california supreme court decision and for a u.s. supreme courdecisi on. and at u .s. supreme urt cision, cou

rs s valid all her states additioto cafornia erywh erdr. lliam ruord, j: myad grew in phoenix,rizo na went to all-ack high sch ool.and ase was high sc ol worked in a pharm acy. and that's wn he got interested in the drugstore busine ss. his father had abandoned the fami ly earlon, in azo na. and he ft that hwanted to contie his edat ion,so he ft phoen, arizon and ca to calirn ia. d he camto sacrame nto. wento sacramto to go tjunior cle ge. but he had to pay for it by working on the railroa ds. he spent a lot of time on the railro ads, earning the money to go to colle ge. with the idea in mind to go to the university of california school of pharmacy in n francisco. politics really wasn't

on his mind at that ti me. it was getting an education and getting a job. so it was a time in the- the d-- great depression and he finish college ring theepress n. and course,marrd my mother in 1932. mom, elsie rebekah rumford born and raised in oakla nd went to oakland te ch. d even tough e depres on she and her sistersworked really ha rd put themselves through san francisco state teac hers college, getting their credenti als. but my mother never taught public scho ol. in the 1930s after he graduated from pharm acy school, he had to take a test for a state licen se. and he was able to take the test for the pharm acy lice

nse. he also was trying to get over to highland hospi tal in oakla nd. and there was resistance to hiring him at that ti me. my father used to frequently talkbout howard it as to getired at the highland hos l. and how hard it was for black people to t jo bs peri od he hado go bac contually fointerviews. they'dsk him lly ques ons, like, "what do youthink joe lewis?" drwilliam mford, j: qutions th

nig .♪ ♪ james swney: berley waa strongnd vib nt mmun y. e city cncil is de of basicallbusinesseo ple. its mostlyn idylc, conseat ive, waspommunity. drwilliam mford, jr.: anduring th t im my d bought e smal pharma in berkey onsaamento s eet. jerrlange: i s dick pharm y.it was oed by awhitpharmacist and heorked ere for long t e, and at's howe got know m. anthen, of course, t smtest thi in the rldwas th when di retired the nderful ing is e alwed byroto buy his sine ssso, bought thatrugstorefrom dk's phar cy d it bece ruord's phmacy.dr. wiiam rumford, j: anthen he built his own store across the str eet. and so he was doing well, feeding

his fami ly taking care of us. and at that point in time, and at that point in t ime, there was a tremendous migration of people co mingin from e south workn the shya rds. bea davi the ason we,s black op le annumber ous, and y therwas a blk community at develed in soh berkey was bause tjapane had beetaken of and t in intnment camps. ifou wanted own ur own home, you re drawn to berkeley where there waplenty of hoing, becse there been large jan ese community that had owned their ho me so this became a focal point that if you wanted to live outse of therojects, where many of us had l ived up tl then, d you nted become homeow r, yowanted thave a le th was mearably betterthan thaone that you'dcome froin the s th then this was the place to wanto be. drwilliam rumfor jr.: alot ofhese peoe ca me blac and whis fromthe soutwith little or o ills unt they got to t shipyards

where th learned to we these bts together.and course,he struge fojobs aft the war was e big ob lem. e unionsouldn't t yoin to gea union rd. m talkin abouthe plumbe rs the elecicia ns lva davi it didn matt how mucmoney youhad, howintellent you re if youskin wasrown portunitwas denied. elihu rris: beeley wasa segreged commuty in evy way yocould ag ine. all the ack folkin beeley liv in sout h west berke y.they h all theovenantsfor the strictivhous in and certnly discminationin empym ent, and quitfrankly,sacramto streewas re ly li ne. there were very few blacks who lived above sacram ento stre et. and noneived above shaddo ck. a lot of people totally were confronted with the real ity racm, and enomic pressionefused tad mit th it ev exist . d califoia didn' recoize itse as ra stin any w, butcertainly it was. there was basicay no bla represtation

n nortrn califor nia.dotsonilson:from 19 to 1 8, africanmericansad evereen elecd to t liforniatate assbly, the state s ate. fredri roberts was thefit africaamer icelecteofficiallected t the lifornia leglatu re he was elected in 19 18. now fredrick roberts, who was a republican was the great, great grandson of thomas jeffer son. and his great, great grandmother was miss s ally hemm gs. and he iroduced in 1918the ve first cil rig sact in t state of calif nia, anprobablyhe country. dotsonilson: a when fredrickoberts w ele ct the calornia ate asse ly he w treatedifferent than h colleags that re servi in thlegisl ure. edrickoberts cld not ay at thsenator telacross t street om thcaliforn legisla re beuse the ws ieffect allowethe hoteoper ors to discriminate based on r ace. and fredrick roberts would board or stay with the families of african-americans

in the sacrento arewhenevere wod come tsacramen for e legislive sess ns.and in934, he s repled by guhawk s, o was elted fromthe loangeles ea and e honorae gus hawkins d defe ed edrick rerts ina contesd ra cediane waon: wellif you d seen g hawki ns sa on wilsre bouleva you uldn't know that he waone of s. 'cause he wavery very lig-skinn and coulpass if hwanted to.dr. willm rumfor jr.: so the suggle ben th en and ere wereanypeople iwest oak nd berkeley, who were very assertive in trying to b reak into the political wor ld. elihu harris: d. g. gibson is really the fat her oflack polics inhe east bay. dr. willm rumfor jr.: d. g. gion was a sinessmain berkeley. he h newspaps brough in from ound theount ry. pittsburg courier, chicago defend er louisiana weekly, all of those

he got and then distribu ted. and then of course through that proce ss he and my dad became very good frie nds.jerri nge: he s veryow profile.he nev had to thhead of e gr ou but he w a potical ge us. he would have been really what we call helon whe els in the washing ton. james sweeney: he was a strategi st he made sure that he as behind the scenes man. he pusd otherpeople tthe fr t. made su that peopleot intohere decions w e ing ma . jei lange:y busine was a blic stegr aphy siness, d my twoirst ients we byron r ford d tom beel ey. tom berkel let me t my office up in the base of his buildi ng. tom berkeley was supposed to get into tom rkeley assupposed to be thefirst asmblyman the leslat ur mething ppened-- n't knowhat meet g it happed at, b thenom backe out, d they sd, "wl, we're w ell, en let'sust go with byr rumfo ." ♪ drwilliam mford, j: i n't thindad

real had anpersonalesires t run fopublic office,but the commity meetgs relted in m be in drafted run f thassemblyistr ic in t 1948 geral eltion he s elec d. the were dcrepanci in t ballots.some we found the leyways berke y. at that int in te therwas a potion o crs-fili ng.you cod put yo name the public ballot aswell athe mocratic ballot. anfor quitsome tim dad was ected onoth ballots.he was respect by therepublan partys well s the demoatic party. and then that s chged someears later. and that started his political career in the 17th assembldist

rict elihu harris: and i think a lo t of people werproud ere was black election ldershi in calirnia, anrepresenng beeley andest oakland. m mcmill: in e late '40s,west oakland had very hi concenation of bla cks. ings wersegregat tn. and st oakla at thetime wast least per cent afrin-american. therwere a l of blacbusinesses real este ofces, barbesh op beauty salons, restaurants, night clu bs. almost any kind of day-to-day business that existed at that time in west oakland in that perime ter between wood and adeli ne. jerri lange: and so byro was thfirst politi cal rson of lor to ke a difre nce,both in west oakld and beel ey! dr. william rumford, jr.: we

ll it was kind of interesting because dad being electe d to public office at that time was his ability to att ract people into the pharmacy for various thi ngs. black produc ts. but more importantly came time for electi onwhetr it was statefederaor city ection he wou take asample b lot, po it in t wiow of thpharma . and people would come by to see who rumford as suggesting thevote f . james sweeney: as 7th street was to west oakla nd saamento seet wato berkeley. ihu harr: the black mmunity pre tt selfontainedn tes of ser ces. d thatrea arou ashby enue a sacramento, wareally aenter ofblack onomic aivity d busiss in beel ey. elsie ruord: my d reallyid enjoyaving s buness rig on themain cridor ofhe b labusiness communi ty. we led on at samestreet athe ugst orso, i thk he loved the iversity

because he went back and got his master's degree at c al and he loved being a part of the university gr ads. he loved football, and would take me to some of the footba games at cahe folwed the otba ll loved baske all.you know, used toe boxewhen he s yo un and heeally enjoyed orts a lot. myarents wervery social, both of em actually. constant gointo meetings, soal event dinns, banquets. it was busy all the ti me. my mother was always interested in politi cs and what was happeni ng. she took, of course, a lesser role than my fath er. but she would be a part of that conversati on. jei lang we olized tm as a c ple, because knewthat ty loved us.

theyared abo us. anhis wife, ele, was thegreate helpmate yo ever see in a wom an. she was right there by his s ide. dr. william rumford, jr.: mom was quite active var ious activiti es. there was naacp, and the sorori ty the links, other social functio ns. she was running the drugstore in terms of do ing the books and the banking and payroll and so for th. elsie rumford: one of the things that always s tuck with me about the drugstore was it was a place where he could help people who were si ck. and when the delivery boy didn't show up one time- - i gus he wasll or something-- my father wo uld deliver medicine after he csed the ore, devery medine to a the ople thaneeded t. dr. lliam ruord, jr.my faer was t chairman of thpublic hlth commtee r 16 yea in sacren to and was reonsible r a t of leglati onincluding the good saritan a

ct ere a door does t gesued at e scene an acci nt.elsie rumfd: and tt wavery important to ysicians, so thathey uld feelree to help pele on thsp ot.when i gw up, a t of ki who had still adpolio,nd my faer had t first ll whichave th first oral vaccine free to childr en so that they would not get po lio. dr. william rumford, jr.: dad was responsible for the taxes taken off of prescription ite ms on and on. elihu harris: and he worked with the doct ors, he worked th thpharmacists, he wked with chipractorsand othe to make ure at, quitfrankly,uality alth a availabit y ofhealth w a forthright, and que fr kly, challenging part of public poli cy. dr. william rumford, jr.: he wrote his master's thesi s at the university of california in political science on smogissues in californ ia. dianwatson: og was o of thessues th rea lly was coaminatin our enronm

en anyou know heren los an les, weived in eas wher the r was pout ed.so we tched what wasoing o anusually en some jor change tt would fect o enre populion wasmade herin calif nia, thother stes stted to f low. drwilliam ruord, .: healtissues w e of imary imrtance t him,ut then her issues. he was rponsibleor elinating scrimination iniring athe naonal gua lev el d these ings wer not st for t b lack community, per se, but for the people of california as wh ole. mes sweey: byron rumfordwas ahd of h t ime.there s no bla cauc to seco his motion. had to across e aisle ife was ing to e effective, and rumford really is an excel lentillustraon and emple ofhat it

mns t o effe ive. ind no e) jim millan: e most devastatg momentor b yron rumford,s i knewim, was e deh of hisoung es n, randolph. wealled hira nd elsie rumford: it was very difficult for my mom and dad when my brother, randy, when he drown ed. he was 21-years- old. jim mcmillan: very pleasant young m an who was drowned while swimming with some fri ends after rerning fr his seice in t a rmy. elsie ruord: it s this accident drowning on the four of july and father uh.. and ther werboth ry sad f a long time. thin changedaroundhe hou beuse usuay they were bothind of upbeat people. very hap peopl very sitive kd of people. jim millan: i knew

at he wasery emotnally rtby t. and couldn speakbout for qui some time. anyou coul image, as a-s fath er sing a s in whic you ld a lotf prom e, pretty dtructive to him.ele rumfor and you cou imagi the ss of a ild, 's just ry s ad david penheime the mov amonblack vors from therepublan partyo thdemocrat par ty real startedith anklin rseve lt anthen the was a period wre eisenwer wa esident d he wasnot enusiastic boutsupporng or enrcing the decions of t sup recourt onivil rights, and the shifwas clea rly happen

ing. . willialee: in e la '50s/eay '6 0s blic accmodationwas t in efft in tho e ar ti mes. and of course, here in the state capit ol here in sacramento, the capitol press would not allow any african-american or 'non-daily' newspap ers, ey callethem, toreallyerve theapit ol soe had a toh time finding d gettinne ws. had to t it from our o s-- u . sour ce i n recalloing to, as an exam plthe setor hote and wecould t even e in th fete ri can reca going i and th politelasked us to leave, and, "don't come in without a white u h.. party to u h.. to bring you i n."and this was true also th the lislato . uh.. they hadough tim uh.. finding dging, uh.. ting in rtain lol uhrestaunts in- the- ithe ar . and i d a realstate firm thahad 17 h.. agts worki for , as an am ple. the were hsing covenants agnst

afrin-americ ans mong into rtain sectors sacramento. dr. mari woods: ry ey to dcriminatagainst us anpush us to certn areas the c y. uh..the placwhere blk peop lived wn i came tosacramto in 19 '54, waoak pa del paso heigh ts. and if you wanted to get a new hou se you had to go to a pce rently eablishedal led gl eld er buthat's wre we lid, anif we wanted tmove t south lapark st sacrame nto, and ples like at u couldn do it johnervis: i the la ' 50s, sse unruinsistedhat ere be aeneral civilrightstatute in calif nia.and pushed ry suessful for t t. drmarion woodsand head e title "big da y". nobecause his siz t becausof his dea nor.davidoppenhmer: it s 19 59 and jee unruh the- e clear ader of the calirnia leglature a feels

ry strony ab ou civil gh ts. and unruh has run e decratic party campaig n on a pro-civil rights platform, and e democr ats, for the first time, since the war, end electina super majorityn the cafo rnialegislure, tha is ovetwo-thirdsso that ey can n pass t of theegislatu a gislatiothey w t. and we psed theunruh vil rights a ct which prohibits discrimination based on race or national origin or color or religi on in any form of public accommodations by any kind of business whatsoev er. one of the broadest civil rights acts in the his toryof thenitestat . drmarion wds: in959, i worked ithe depament o ployme . i s a bor-mark analy d they called the survisor omino ri specialist progr ams. and as auperviso for minority

scial is programs, i came to the atntion ofyron rumford.and myxpertiseas resech and stist ic and uh.. and the director of the departm ent, in effect, loaned me to be a part of byron's staff uh.. duringhat period.johnervis: f some ti asmblyman s hawkins of los geles d been trying ofair empym ent. anit justhadn'teen working.and soawkins lked at that androbably said "y know, m rumforday behe rightuy to pu for this kinof legislati on." dr. william lee: he and rumford togeth er it's interesting, who were so much alike in man y of their approach to legislati to public laws and how the treatetheir constituen ts. elsie rumford: gus hawkins had been workingn the fair employment act for yea rs. but my father was able to come in there and help gus hawkins,nd- and withmy fathes

person ity,kind of ve thing on. john jers: assemyman mford had a eat deal of respect in the legislature and particularly in the assembly, where there was a t of connial ity.elsie mfor u h.. lot of h success had todo witthe facthat he w ju so affable. he was fendly, outing annon-threenin g peop . and t, he peever eddr. wiiam rumfd, jr.: watcd him reh across the aisle. i saw hiputting s armsround a public sayi, "we need this vo te."david penheir: and th's when ron rumfordreal takes or the campaigno try to pass a comphensive ir emoyment pct ices act in califor a. c. ldellums the head ofthe pulln porters ion. a very important union in california and califor nia politics and black polit

ics. he knew everything about civil rights history in california. he kw everytng aboutgovernnt in cafo ia d how gornment w ked. . william e: and hwas e originor of th idea of fair ploymentpractis commis on. during t time th the fepc lislation was oingthrougcongresswe went all agenciein the state califora, and cnted thnumber oblacks ho re in those offi ces. and they were not keeping count of people by r ace. you kn ow and of course, dellums who s part othe pa l hearing said,"that'why we nd a ft !" dad oppeeime a that wn byron mf ord austus hawns down in l.a.and c. lllums e l lobbyi for calornia to join w york passinghe fair emplment praices act and passingegislati to prohib

discrimatio n housing and in public accommodati ons. and at that point, hawkins also gets through the legislate a mildsort ofair houng a ct that itnly plies toublic ho ing. johnervis: i1963, .. fairousing w a real hot topic. and ere was eat diriminati incalifoia, and at's erbyron ruord came in.because he was o of theearly shers fothe fahousing gislatiothat introdud in 1 3. vernor p bwn anbyron ru ord, theyad a comn thad that ey were both coitted toand thatas equal ghts andnsure at l californians hadaccess tequal ho ing. . willialee: and h.. governorrown in me of h news coeren ce heade it car durinthe ocess th if it svi ved the gislatur he'dign it vid oppeeimer: during ts peri

the rly 1960 the degraphy ocaliforn is ve differe than iis tod .according to the 1960 cen sus, 99 percent of the ack people in the los ange les region lived in segregated black neighborho ods. diane watson: and uh.. there were restrictive covenants here in los angeles, t oo. you could not live beyond fair fax, theyad restrtive venants the frf ax. anso some easof los ael es yocouldn'to y furthewe st.james eeney: andthese venants e on tcontractso whenpeople sl their us esthose coracts exicitly ell out at excluon and scrimination isto be prti ced. vid oppeeimer: he in the y ar ea 1960generally black ople segre ted, living in richmond living in oakl and, living in sout berkey, livi in th e nehborhoodin san anci

sc all ofhem largy blacneighbor ods. lva davi so thisairhousing t came rht at onofhe hotte times race reti ons. jo jervis:aliforni was the spoig ht. th had bece a tional s ry. califora-- pposedly liberalta teprogssive-- ing to take a pitive acon w it rega to fairousi ng elihharr: it's adiffult poli cal chlenge in a of itse tryi to passair housing whe there' politil ri skas well difficu challeng facin g an incredle lobbyin forms of thealifornirealtor's associion andothers w, quite an kly, oppod any cil rightslegislatn in t ' 60s.david penheime and nera ll whitpeople fl in lifoia and aoss the untry th they shldn't be made have toive ne tolack p ple. and th're ashamed out th . in berley, liberal rkel ey thcity council in the winter of

1963 passes a fair housg law foberkeley and there's immediatel y a petition campaign, and they put on the ballot the re peal by the vot ers. meanwhile, in the legislat ure, byron ruord is ving hisill forwardagainst rrific oppositi, and potica lly, they a fighting againstthe st powerl inte rest in the s te. johnervi and he s just quietly ing after the goal thate had se and getit thrgh the lislatu . it was a good debate on the floor of the assembly from republic ans. and there was some oosit io (micfiche ma ine) davidoppenhmer: so ril 2nd, 63, e votersf berkel voteo repealhe berkeley fair housing ordinance (microfiche mach ine)