San Francisco's ties to the Underground Railroad
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With cultural heritage tourism on the rise, scholars say it's an opportunity to revisit some of San Francisco's lesser-known Black history moments.
Why it matters: Plazas where enslaved people were once bought and sold and spots for key civil rights marches have become sought-out destinations for visitors amid a rise in Black heritage tourism.
State of play: For years, many sites linked to crucial moments in Black history sat largely abandoned.
- The National Park Service lists more than 80 sites from Indiana to New Jersey connected to the traditional Underground Railroad.
- Sites connected to enslavement and abolition have also been transformed into parks — like the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
- "You can almost imagine going back in time and see what it would have really looked like," tourism consultant Kelly McCoy told Axios. "You can talk to the ancestors."
Zoom in: The Bay Area serves as the final resting place for several people who played key roles in the movement for freedom.
Mary Ellen Pleasant, often referred to as the "mother of civil rights in California," worked as a rescuer in Ohio and Louisiana. She moved to San Francisco in 1852 but continued to covertly aid efforts to free enslaved people.
- As an important figure in the "Western terminus" of the Underground Railroad, Pleasant purchased land to establish a slave refuge and financially supported abolitionist John Brown for the raid at Harpers Ferry.
- After becoming California's first Black millionaire, she used her money to buy up properties and bolster Black employment.
- Pleasant, who is buried in Napa, later sued a streetcar company for denying service to Black citizens. The case led the California Supreme Court to prohibit segregation on streetcars.
Samuel D. Burris, who is buried in Colma's Cypress Lawn Cemetery, was an Underground Railroad operative who worked out of Delaware from 1845 to 1847.
- He assisted several cohorts of freedom seekers but was later imprisoned for his involvement, which led to charges brought by an enslaver.
- The state of Delaware sold him into slavery following his convictions, but the Pennsylvania Abolition Society raised $500 to purchase him at auction.
- After he moved to California, he raised money to help free enslaved people and promote educational opportunities for African Americans.
What they're saying: "A lot of people think that African Americans weren't really around the Bay Area prior to World War II, but there was a small population ... from the beginning," Shawna Sherman, manager of the San Francisco Public Library's African American Center, told Axios.
- There's a lot of talk about "hidden or forgotten history," but the information is out there, Sherman added — you just have to know how to find it.
The big picture: Cultural heritage tourism — which the National Trust for Historic Preservation defines as "traveling to experience the places, artifacts, and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present" — is one of the fastest-growing segments in travel.
Go deeper: What's next for reparations in San Francisco