150th anniversary of black exodus from California
Within a week, the first of what would eventually be 800 persons, 20 percent of California's total black population, left for Victoria, British Columbia, where they prospered financially and took prominent roles in the local and provincial government.
A 150th anniversary commemoration of that exodus, led by Mifflin W. Gibbs and other Underground Railroad operatives, takes place in San Francico April 20-25 with a memorial service, a ceremonial launching from Fisherman's Wharf and a scholar's forum.
It occurs against the backdrop of another large outmigration of African-Americans from the Golden State --this time 216,000 leaving California in the past six years.