Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park

We had a fantastic experience at the Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park in Richmond with our neighbors Diane and Karl.  The monument at first glance did not seem like much but is really wonderful.  And the museum at the foot of a historic Ford Assembly Plant was one of the best experienced we have had in a long time.  The 2pm ranger talk was lead by Betty Reid Saskin.  I have pasted a wiki article about her below.  She is the older park ranger in the country.  Go when she speaks and get their early as the word is out about her talk.  Better yet sign up for her 2 hour Richmond Bus Tour which is booked a month in advance - we did not get to see that but want to go back.  Lets just say that her grandma and mom both lived to be over 100 and thus the three generations (she is 92) span from slavery to the present time and she has one story to tell.  Not often have we been so moved with a speaker.

The park really is a hidden gem.  the movies are wonderful.  Great exhibits, great views.

Afterwards we went to Point Richmond and had a wonderful lunch.  Point Richmond is a wonderful place to visit.  Go through the tunnel and get one of the finest views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate.

The link to all the pictures is found below:
Pictures

Betty Reid Soskin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Betty Reid Soskin

Betty Reid Soskin (born Betty Charbonnet; September 22, 1921) is a Park ranger with the National Park Service, assigned to the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California.[1][2] As of 2014, she is the oldest National Park Ranger in the United States.[3]

Life and career[edit]

She was born in Detroit to Dorson Louis Charbonnet and Lottie Allen, both natives of Louisiana. Her father came from a Creolebackground and her mother from a Cajun background. She spent her early childhood living in New Orleans until a hurricane and flood destroyed her family's home and business in 1927. Her family then relocated to Oakland, California.

During World War II she worked as a clerk for Boilermakers Union A-36, a Jim Crow all-black union auxiliary. In June, 1945 she and her husband, Mel Reid, founded Reid's Records in Berkeley, California, a small Black business specializing in Gospel music. They moved to Walnut Creek, California in the 1950s, where their children attended better public schools but the family encountered considerable racism. She became active in the local Unitarian Universalist congregation and the Black Caucus of the Unitarian Universalist Association. During the 1960s she wrote and performed songs, many dealing with civil rights and peace.

In 1972 she divorced Mel Reid and married William Soskin, a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1978 Mel Reid's health and finances had declined, and she took over management of the music store, which led to her becoming a prominent community activist.[4] Reid's Records is still in business in 2014.

She served as field representative for State Assemblywomen Dion Aroner and Loni Hancock, and through that position became involved in the development of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park. She is currently employed as a park ranger for the National Park Service working as tour guide and interpreter. There, she "has been a tireless voice for making sure the African-American wartime experience — both the positive steps toward integration and the presence of discrimination — has a prominent place in the park's history".[5]

Honors[edit]

• California Woman of the Year, California Legislature, 1995.
• Builders of Communities and Dreams, National Women’s History Project, 2006.
• Attended President Obama's Inauguration as a guest of Rep. George Miller.
• Proclamation by Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin on behalf of Richmond City Council, 2009
• Received honorary doctorate at California College of the Arts at Spring Commencement of 2010.
• Reveived the WAVE award as one of 3 "Women of Achievement" by Girl Source of San Francisco 2010.
• Cited in "Wherever there's a fight - the history of the ACLU in California" - Elaine Elinson & Stan Yogi, 2007