Bay Curious Presents: Berkeley's Rainbow Sign

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2022

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Located at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Derby streets in Berkeley, The Rainbow Sign was a Black-centered space that was open to all — as a performance venue, a political organizing nexus and a legendary cafe. It saw dozens of high-profile Black luminaries walk through its doors, including James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou and Shirley Chisholm. The Rainbow Sign opened its doors in 1971, but was forced to shut down just six years later. Despite its short existence, the venue left an indelible mark on many young people in the community, including Vice President Kamala Harris. Bay Curious is presenting this episode from The California Report Magazine, a KQED radio program and podcast. Subscribe to their podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for more stories from around California. Additional Reading: Remembering The Rainbow Sign: The Short But Powerful Reign of Berkeley's 1970s Black Cultural Center Archive material from The Rainbow Sign curated by students at UC Berkeley Reported by Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos. The California Report Magazine is made by Victoria Mauleon, Sasha Khokha, Suzie Racho and Brendan Willard. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Kyana Moghadam, Jessica Placzek, Natalia Aldana, Carly Severn, Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Ethan Toven-Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	At the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Derby Street in Berkeley is a pretty unremarkable one-story building. It's got an
0:15.5	Adobe-tile roof and curved windows that make it look like it might have once been a
0:20.3	community church or a post office. These days most of what you hear outside the
0:24.9	building is traffic but if you had stood here 50 years ago you may have heard some
0:30.1	very different sounds drifting out of the doors of this building.
0:34.0	What is Africa to me?
0:40.0	One three centuries removed from the lands my father's love. The
0:47.0	spicy grove, cinnamon tree. What is Africa to me? When you're young, lifting back, your soul in light, your soul in fact.
1:10.6	This was the home of Rainbow Sign, a black cultural center that hosted dozens of high-profile black
1:16.3	luminaries, like Maya Angelou, Nina Simone, an influential folk musician Odetta, all of whom you just heard.
1:23.8	Today on Bay Curious, we're presenting an episode about the Rainbow Sign,
1:27.9	what it was, who walked through its doors,
1:30.5	and what very influential political figure considers it a formative place in her
1:35.5	upbringing. I'm Olivia Allen Price. We'll get to it right after this.
1:41.1	You know me.
1:43.0	me.
1:44.0	It me.
1:45.0	You know me.
1:47.0	It you know me.
1:48.0	You know me.
1:50.0	Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated, and argued over.
	...

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