Some S.F. African American history landmarks

San Francisco's rich African American history extends throughout the city, from Nob Hill to the Ingleside Terrace neighborhood. To celebrate Black History Month, we asked local historian John William Templeton to give us a guide to some of the city's most interesting sites. Some are still standing; others are commemorated with plaques or monuments.

Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples

Address: 2041 Larkin St.

Built: 1907

History: Opened at this site in 1944, this church had the first integrated and interfaith congregation in the country. It was led by Howard Thurman, who came to San Francisco from Howard University, and the Rev. Alfred Fisk. Many of its members were African Americans who came from Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas for jobs in the defense industry. Thurman, also an author and educator, wrote his seminal book, "Jesus and the Disinherited," while living in San Francisco. Published in 1949, it influenced many in the civil rights movement, and Martin Luther King Jr. is said to have carried a copy with him at all times.

Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church

Address: 2135 Sutter St.

Built: 1905

History: Run by the Rev. George Bedford, this church was a political center for the African American community's growth in the Western Addition. Bedford was instrumental in getting ministers involved in demonstrations to demand jobs on Fillmore Street in the 1940s and '50s. In the 1960s, he supported the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sit-ins and backed the demonstrations on Van Ness Avenue's Auto Row. Numerous protests at a Cadillac dealership resulted in the hiring of the first black salesman. In 1968, his church hosted Jim Jones in an interracial worship after King's assassination. By 1972, Bedford was opposing Jones, accusing him of stealing members from his and other Western Addition churches.

Pullman Hotel

Address: 236 Townsend St.

Built: 1909

History: Now converted into an office park, the hotel was near the Southern Pacific Railroad and housed many African Americans who were restricted to jobs as porters. From the 1880s to the 1940s, all the porters on the passenger cars were black and the hotel was one of the few that allowed African Americans. After numerous demonstrations, San Francisco's hotels integrated in 1964.

Home of Cecil Poole

Address: 90 Cedro St.

Built: 1911

History: Attorney Cecil Poole and his family were the first African Americans to move into the Ingleside Terrace neighborhood in the 1950s. In 1958, the San Francisco assistant district attorney's home was the site of a cross burning. Poole was not intimidated and went on to become the first African American U.S. attorney in San Francisco - and the continental United States - and later the first African American federal judge in Northern California.

California Savings and Land Association

Address: 465 California St.

Built: 1857

History: The bank, in what is now the Merchants Exchange Building, was the first African American-owned bank in the country. Its president, Henry Collins, was one of California's wealthiest black leaders and owned land in San Francisco. He was also part of the movement to help runaway slaves gain freedom.

First A.M.E. Zion Church

Address: 2163 Golden Gate Ave.

Built: 1852

History: The church, originally on Stockton Street, is where black businessmen Mifflin Gibbs and Peter Lester hosted a meeting in 1858 to discuss the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, which declared that all runaway slaves must return to their masters. Faced with intense discrimination in California, more than 800 black people decided at that meeting to leave San Francisco and seek a better life in Vancouver, British Columbia. The church was destroyed during the earthquake of 1906 and opened again on Geary Street in 1915. Then, redevelopment took that building and First A.M.E. opened in its current location in 1960 under L. Roy Bennett, a pastor who relocated from Alabama, where he was president of the Montgomery Improvement Association before King took the helm.

Leidesdorff Street

Address: Parallel to and between Montgomery and Sansome streets, from Pine to Clay streets.

History: The short street is named after black pioneer William Alexander Leidesdorff. Originally from the Virgin Islands, he sailed into San Francisco in 1841, became a prominent businessman and built the city's first hotel. He was on the first San Francisco City Council, was the city's first treasurer, and was a leader in changing the name of San Francisco from Yerba Buena.

Madame C.J. Walker Home for Girls

Address: 2066 Pine St.

Built: 1878

History: The home was opened in 1921 by Irene Bell Ruggles, president of the California Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and named after a cosmetics entrepreneur who was the first female African American millionaire. Black women were not allowed access to the YWCA at that time, so the home offered lodging and job referrals. There was also a social hall and kitchen for community events. The home provided a community for black women and children until 1972, when it was relocated to Hayes Street.

Tribute to Mary Ellen Pleasant

Address: Tribute on the southwest corner of Bush and Octavia streets.

Arrived: April 1852

History: Pleasant was a former slave who became a successful abolitionist and businesswoman, as well as a link in the Underground Railroad. She helped bring the movement to California during the Gold Rush era. Known as mother of human rights in California, she fought many court battles. After being kicked off a city streetcar in 1866, she argued against laws prohibited black people from riding them. The Pleasant vs. North Beach and Mission Railroad Co. case led to the outlaw of segregation on public transit.

Purcell's So Diff'rent Nightclub

Address: 550 Pacific St.

Built: 1906

History: Purcell's was the Barbary Coast's most famous black dance hall. It was one of the many jazz clubs frequented by African Americans along the waterfront area because they offered integrated audiences and performers. There were eight clubs owned and operated by black entrepreneurs that still stand. It was one of the first buildings erected after the earthquake and fire. It was owned by Lew Purcell and drew many musicians from New Orleans. It is said to be where Al Jolson first learned to dance the Texas Tommy.