June 15th and 16th – On Fillmore Ave, San Francisco, CA. Book Sales and Signing

May 15th – Live Taping Guest Appearance on segment “Historical Black San Francisco”

Mufflin Wistar Gibbs, born in Philadelphia April 12, 1823, worked with Frederick Douglass as an abolitionist lecturer throughout the East Coast. In 1849, Gibbs came to San Francisco and worked as boot-blacker (shoe shine stand business). In the1850s, Gibbs started a clothing business in the San Francisco with Peter Lester a fellow Philadelphian. In 1855, Gibbs was co-founder of San Francisco’s first black newspaper: the Mirror of the Times. This newspaper lasted from 1855-1857. The Mirror of the Times spurned two successful newspapers that followed five years later and lasted through the end of the century. In 1858, Mifflin Gibbs left San Francisco because of the growing racial prejudice towards African Americans. He lead the migration of 200 other black families from San Francisco to Victoria BC. In Victoria BC, Gibbs became a very successful and wealthy coal shipper. Later, he returned to the United States and lived in Little Rock Arkansas where he became a judge and a US Consul to Madagascar. He retired in Little Rock and lived there until July 11, 1915 (Lapp). (“California Historical Society,...

In 1849, George W. Dennis came to California as a slave to his white father’s company of gamblers who desired to profit from gold miners. After three months, George Dennis, who had a mind for business was able to buy his freedom from his father with the money he had earned as a porter at the El Dorado Hotel located at Washington and Kearney Street. Dennis saved his earnings, and from the sweepings from the gambling table, he bought his freedom for $1000 and started a business. George Dennis later owned several properties in San Francisco, as well as, the largest horse livery business in the city. In 1858, Dennis helped finance the Archie Lee defense team. In 1855, Dennis married Margaret Brown, the sister of Charlotte Brown, and raised eleven children who eventually raised their children in San Francisco. The Dennis family members were outstanding leaders in San Francisco. The Dennis children became teachers, lawyers, and businessmen/women in San Francisco. The desire for business and to achieve in leadership lasted throughout many generations of the Dennis family (Beasley120-121). (“California Historical Society, de Young Collection, FN-19961/CHA20111.513.tif...

In 1858, the Kearney Street Hall of Justice was home for Archy Lee, fugitive slave, until he became a free man. At eighteen, Archy Lee was brought to California in1857 by Mississippian Charles Stovall to work in the gold mines. When Stovall decided to send Archy back, Archy resisted and hid in, black owned, Hackett Hotel. When found, Archy was tried under the California Fugitive Slave Law and won his case and declared a free man. But a State Supreme Court Justice reversed the decision under a dead state slave law. When Stovall moved Archy to San Francisco to board a vessel traveling to Mississippi, black leaders George W. Dennis, Mifflin Gibbs, and Peter Lester hired a team of white lawyers to appeal Archy’s case. Archy won his case, but a U.S. Marshall rearrested him in the courtroom under the 1850 National Fugitive Slave Law. Soon, riots broke out in front of the courthouse on Kearney Street and Archy’s case was retried. After winning his case, Archy joined San Francisco’s black families who resettled in Victoria, British Columbia (Lapp 148-152). (Courtesy “California Historical Society,...