These posters are based on research conducted by youth and professional historians on 20th century Latino History in Oakland and Hayward. Each of the eight posters is 18" x 24" and folds out to 36" x 24". Intended for classroom and community use, they include photographs, historical information and quotes from interviews with East Bay elders.

Purchase an individual poster or the series of eight.

Below is an excerpt from the poster based on an interview from the project.

Una Historia Reconocida: Latinos and the East Bay

A Closer Look

Born in 1931, Natividad Ramos grew up in the heart of West Oakland, where Spanish-speaking people of diverse backgrounds were then concentrated. Natividad Ramos' mother came from Jalisco, Mexico, a widow with three children when she arrived in Los Angeles in 1928, where she met and then married Adriano Velasquez, a native of Puerto Rico (a borinqueño in vernacular form). When the Depression hit, they decided to go north but ran out of money in Oakland. They were unable to afford the ferry to take them across the Bay, their intended destination. Fortunately, a stranger helped the stranded family find a place to stay and then some work.

Several years later, her mother bought a small grocery store on the corner of 5th and Brush and named it La Borinqueña (inspired by Natividad's father). She began it as a tienda mexicana (a store specializing in Mexican goods) in 1944, later adding a bakery and food service. The business moved from its original site to its present location on 7th and Jefferson, reflecting the changing tides of the East Bay's Latino community. Now into its third generation of family ownership, La Borinqueña stands as a historic beacon to the elderly and the young, the newcomer and the old-timer—still a light to the past, present and future of the Latino communities of the East Bay.