20 significant moments in Sonoma County Black History

From an iconic 1962 sit-in at a Santa Rosa bar that refused to serve Black patrons to the 2022 selection of the first Black woman to serve as mayor of the city of Santa Rosa, here are 18 key moments in Sonoma County history shaped by Black residents:

1855: George Miller represented Sonoma County in the state’s first Convention of Colored Citizens on Nov. 20-22 in Sacramento. There, he was working to end the state’s “restrictions” on Black people’s right to vote. He had a barbershop, the Humboldt Shaving and Hair Dressing Salon on Main Street in Petaluma, for white clientele.

1953: Santa Rosa residents Platt Williams and Gilbert and Alice Gray co-found the local chapter of the NAACP amid the national civil rights movement.

1956: The Community Baptist Church, which served as a community hub for several Black residents in Sonoma County, is built in Santa Rosa’s South Park neighborhood.

1962: A group of Black men walked into Santa Rosa’s Silver Dollar Saloon, now Jackson’s Bar and Oven, after hearing the owner refused to serve Black patrons. The group was not served and they filed a lawsuit, which was eventually settled out of court.

1963: The Rev. James E. Coffee begins what would eventually be a nearly 50-year tenure at Community Baptist Church.

1968: Franklin Armstrong was born on July 31, 1968, and appeared alongside Charlie Brown, where the two met on the beach. Charles M. Schulz’s Franklin character became the first Black character in the history of the “Peanuts” comic strip.

1971: Eddie Mae Sloan is named the executive director of Sonoma County People for Economic opportunity, a federally funded program with a mission to help Sonoma County’s poor. Sloan would go on to serve in that post for 18 years.

1977: Petaluma Blacks for Community Development, the brainchild of Petaluma resident Gloria Robinson, holds its first meeting under the name Black Caucus. The group changed to its current name two years later.

1981: Civil rights activists Carole Ellis, Mary Moore and the Rev. Coffee organize Sonoma County’s first birthday celebration honoring slain civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

1983: Oralee Anderson-Francois is fired from her job as postmistress in Villa Grande near Monte Rio. She is accused by post officials of falsifying records and misappropriating funds. An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission examiner found she was fired because of race and age discrimination a year later. She was rehired and awarded back pay.

1985: Community Baptist Church burns down. It moves to a new location on Sonoma Avenue in Santa Rosa.

1985: The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors votes to limit county investments with companies associated with South Africa, which practiced apartheid.

2010: The Rev. James E. Coffee, longtime leader of Community Baptist Church, dies at age 76. The church reports 500 active members, up from about 15 at the time Coffee first joined the church.

2011: Ann Gray Byrd, the daughter of Sonoma County’s NAACP founders Alice and Gilbert Gray, self publishes her book, “Glimpses: A History of African Americans in Santa Rosa.”

2011: Healdsburg winemaker Chris Christensen and owner of Bodkin Wines created America’s first sparkling sauvignon blanc in 2012.

2014: Platt Williams, the Sonoma County NAACP co-founder and one of the men who organized a sit-in at the Silver Dollar Saloon, dies on New Year’s Eve in his Santa Rosa home. He was 85.

2020: Natalie Rogers and Jackie Elward become the first Black women elected to City Council in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park, respectively.

2021: Democratic Republic of Congo native Elward becomes the first Black woman to serve as mayor of the city of Rohnert Park. Seven years prior, Amy Ahanotu, a Nigerian immigrant, was the first Black man sworn into the post.

2022: Natalie Rogers becomes the first Black woman to serve as mayor of Santa Rosa.

2022: Eddie Engram is the first Black person to fill the seat of Sonoma County and the he is first Black elected county official in local history. He claimed victory, with 50.34% of the 125,806 votes in the three-way race, was historic.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.