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, Axios' Steph Solis and Russell Contreras report.

• Sites connected to enslavement and abolition have also been transformed into parks — like the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Zoom in: The Bay Area serves as the final resting place for several people who played key roles in the freedom movement.

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 assisted several cohorts of freedom seekers from 1845 to 1847.

• He 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.

Go deeper

Notable Black women in San Francisco's history include those who were integral during the days of the Underground Railroad, fought for equal rights and climbed the political ladder.

As Black History Month comes to a close and Women's History Month begins, here's a quick look at some of these changemakers.

Three more

San Francisco police have the highest rate of recorded collisions from vehicle pursuits among major law enforcement agencies in California, a new analysis shows. (SF Standard)

🔍 San Francisco will provide new training for people involved in counting the city's unhoused population after reports of a disorganized count this year. (SF Standard)

Around 200 UC Berkeley students protesting an Israeli speaker event broke through a campus building door and forced police to evacuate the speaker, according to university administrators. (Berkeleyside)

🏠 Steph and Ayesha Curry's former penthouse in Oakland has been listed for sale at $1.7 million. (SF Chronicle)

👋🏾 Megan here with a digest on the latest news about San Francisco's major sports teams: the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants and the upcoming WNBA team.

Dubs look to make final push

The Golden State Warriors are slowly climbing up in the Western Conference standings, sitting at 10th place with a record of 30-27.

What to watch: The Warriors have just 25 regular season games left and are hoping to reach at least the sixth seed, guaranteeing them a spot in the playoffs.

All eyes on Jung Hoo Lee

The San Francisco Giants are still looking for their first win in spring training, where they've lost three times and tied twice.

Zoom in: Jung Hoo Lee, who signed a six-year, $113 million deal with the Giants to be the ballclub's starting center fielder and leadoff hitter, made his highly anticipated debut at Tuesday's game against the Seattle Mariners.

• He went 1 for 3 and scored one run in four innings.

Everything we know about the WNBA team

We're more than a year away from San Francisco's WNBA team hitting the hardwood, but the yet-to-be-named club has already begun building its locker rooms, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

What we know: The team's inaugural season begins in May 2025.

• It will play at the Chase Center in San Francisco and practice in Oakland.
• The team will begin building its roster during the 2024-25 offseason and participate in the WNBA draft in April 2025.

What's up with the Niners

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We have an extra day in 2024: Today is Feb. 29, also known as leap day, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum and Erin Davis report.

Why it matters: If we didn't have leap days, the months and the seasons would stop lining up the same way every year.

• "The days of our years would start slipping and … our winters would become summers and our summers would become winters and everything would get messed up," planetary geologist Bob Craddock tells Axios.

How it works: We have a leap year with an extra leap day to "catch up" to the length of time the Earth takes to orbit the sun, Craddock says.

• It doesn't take exactly 365 days for the Earth to complete an orbit — it takes almost six hours more than that.

Between the lines: Calling a year with 366 days a "leap" year may seem counterintuitive, but Craddock says there is a jump with days of the week.

• If your birthday was on a Monday one year and the next year is a leap year, it'll move to a Wednesday the following year. It "leaps" over Tuesday.

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