Society of California Pioneers — Attraction in San Francisco

“We Are Not Strangers Here” at the Society of California Pioneers in the Presidio. Though the displays were interesting there was an apparent whitewashing of the history of Black farmers in California – a very Pollyanna view.

There was no reference to the most critical factor Black farmers experienced in farming, not only in California, but throughout the country - the fact that Black farmers have been excluded from farm programs for decades by the US Department of Agriculture. And when the American Rescue Plan was passed to try and remedy this situation in 2021, White farmers rose to block all funding to Black farmers.

In 1920 Blacks were 925,708 - 14 percent of all farmers.

At midcentury, there were 560,000 black farmers or 10 percent of all farmers.

Today, just 1.4 percent of farmers identify as Black or mixed race.

This type of whitewashing history is extremely detrimental to our understanding of what has happened in our world. It’s also dangerous. We need to understand this history to dismantle it. This exhibit simply propagates our misunderstanding of what and how our history is...

Unfriendly people work here. My friend and I walk in the Presidio regularly and sometimes take a short break on the porch of this building, near the historic bell. As we were chatting and enjoying ourselves around 9am on a Saturday morning, we were approached by a man who works in the office there. He suggested that we find another spot to rest because he could hear us through his window and our conversation was disturbing him. He then told us we "have a whole park" so we don't need to sit there. We never thought anyone would be bothered by our visits, and we were surprised that someone working there on a weekend would expect absolute silence in a busy public park. The incident made us really feel unwelcome and in my opinion reflects very poorly on this...

This is a quaint museum with a well-thought-out array of exhibits specific to Northern California art and history. Today's exhibit was titled "Golden Gate Park in The Gilded Age", featuring poignant photographs of Golden Gate Park, the Cliff House, and Ocean Beach. Also on display was a collection of exquisite walking sticks dating to the 1850s.

I visit this museum regularly and do highly...