Although I was born and raised in Sacramento, I had no idea that there was so much Black history within the city. In early February, I got an in-depth look at that history when I had the pleasure of visiting the Black History Exhibit located at Florin Square, which is a marketplace for Black-owned businesses.
The center is also the home of the SoJourner Truth Art Museum, an African Marketplace that is held twice a month, and Digital Cafe & Lounge.
Through the exhibit, which ran from Feb. 9 to Feb. 15, I learned of an abundant amount of Black men and women who have had a hand in building our communities. Here are four men and women that have helped shape the history of Sacramento, where their impact is still felt today:
Callie Carney was Sacramento’s first Black councilwoman. Born July 12, 1935, she moved to Sacramento at the age of 13. She married James Leo Carney on Feb. 17, 1951. The two shared 10 children together.
Carney was appointed to the Sacramento City Council to represent Oak Park and District 5 from 1975 to 1977. She was also a part of the Oak Park Neighborhood Council, Women’s Civic Improvement Center (where she was the executive director from 1981 to 1996), the Greater Sacramento Urban League, the National Council of Negro Women and the Greater Sacramento NAACP. She died in 2023.
Vincent Thompson became Sacramento’s first licensed mortician. He was born July 1, 1919 in Newark, New Jersey. After college, he decided that being a pharmacist was not for him, so he enrolled in a mortuary sciences college. He graduated from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science. Thompson’s Funeral Home was established in 1948 on 7th Street in downtown Sacramento. The doors of the current facility opened in 1957 in Oak Park.
Thompson went on to become a founding member of the Oak Park Community Council. In 1982, Mr. Thompson was elected as the first Black president of the California Funeral Director’s Association. Not only was Thompson a mortician, he also was an accomplished and sought-after saxophone player. He played the saxophone with the Hiz Honors Judge Band at the 1981 Jazz Jubilee in Old Sacramento.
Bonnie Pannell was born Jan. 10, 1949. She was elected to the Sacramento City Council in 1998. She has been remembered as being a fighter for her community. Pannell was responsible for obtaining final funding for the Pannell Community Center, which was named after her and her husband, located in the Meadowview neighborhood of Sacramento. She was a huge advocate for extending light rail services to Meadowview, developing an all-abilities sports field and community library. She passed away at age 68 in 2017 from primary progressive aphasia, which is a variation of Parkinson’s Disease.
Dr. David Covin was born Oct. 3, 1940 in Evanston, Illinois. He moved to Sacramento in the 1970s. He was a professor emeritus of government and ethnic studies at Sacramento State University, an author and activist. As a student, he founded the Black Student Union and Black studies program at Washington State University. His accolades expand from the Sacramento State campus to local and national levels. Upon the many awards, titles and accomplishments, Dr. Covin is listed in Who’s Who in the West, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in Black America. Marquis Who’s Who is a biographical dictionary founded in 1899 that highlights professionals in science, business, law, education and arts.
Highlighting only these four individuals was a challenge because there is an abundance of individuals that have had an impact on our community. Visiting Florin Square’s Black History Exhibit has expanded my knowledge and opened my eyes to what my people have sacrificed and built in order to shape Sacramento as we know it today.
