Tarnel Abbott (born 1953) is a free speech advocate, activist, and librarian from Richmond, California. She is the great-granddaughter of Jack London.[1][2] Abbott is also a prominent fixture in local politics and council meetings especially on conservation.
Abbott (right) at the Jack London Oak Tree (background) Dedication in January 2017 at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Tarnel Abbott is a social activist and the retired former reference librarian of the Richmond, California Library and has used her position to advocate for free speech. In 2006 the California Library Association awarded her the Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award[3] for her community activism, a collaborative film series with the ACLU, banned books displays.[1] She was also applauded for lobbying for a counter PATRIOT Act resolution from the city council to prevent government snooping into library records.[1] Abbott has also participated in delegations to Richmond's sister city of Regla, Cuba and received a display of over 100 paintings which display the history of that largely Afro-Cuban and similarly industrial and refinery-laden city.[1] Abbott frequently protests with community groups at Chevron USA's corporate headquarters in nearby San Ramon. She is an opponent of casino developments and supports transforming the city into a green economy.
Tarnel Abbott is an accomplished artist, making various displays, paintings, and dioramas depicting everyday life in Richmond—particularly industrial pollution and the Tent Cities Movement, which have earned her praise.[5]
Abbott's husband is palm tree farmer Robert Fowler.[1] She is a fan and historian of her great-grandfather, although she does not embellish.[7] She attended the University of California, Berkeley, as did her ancestor Jack London.
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a city council. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area's East Bay region, Richmond borders San Pablo, Albany, El Cerrito and Pinole in addition to the unincorporated communities of North Richmond, Hasford Heights, Kensington, El Sobrante, Bayview-Montalvin Manor, Tara Hills, and East Richmond Heights, and for a short distance San Francisco on Red Rock Island in the San Francisco Bay.
Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state.
The Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) is a community/political group in Richmond, western Contra Costa County, California, United States. Its mission is to unite the left regardless of political party and was founded by Gayle McLaughlin and Marilyn Langlois.
Merritt College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Merritt, like the other three campuses of the Peralta Community College District, is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The college enrolls approximately 6,000 students.
Joan London was an American writer and the older of two daughters born to Jack London and his first wife, Elizabeth "Bess" Maddern London.
Judy Yung was professor emerita in American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specialized in oral history, women's history, and Asian American history. She died on December 14, 2020 in San Francisco, where she had returned in retirement.
Jim Rogers is an American politician. He served on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in the 1990s, and was a city council member for the city of Richmond, California for three terms. He was first elected to the city council in 2002, and his final term expired in January 2015. He is a Democrat, considered a moderate, and has also been referred to as a progressive. He was called the San Francisco Bay Area's most famous lawyer because of television ads in which he dubbed himself as "The People's Lawyer".
The Richmond City Council is the governing body for the city of Richmond, California. The council consists of the Mayor of Richmond and six other city council members, one designated Vice Mayor. The council members are all elected from the whole city; no members are elected by district or ward. The council members are elected to four-year terms, as opposed to the previous six-year terms. They are not all elected at once. The council members meet every first and third Tuesday of the month and, if necessary, hold special meetings on the remaining Tuesdays. Presently the entire city council is Democratic.
Campus Bay is an 87-acre (350,000 m2) property in the city of Richmond, California located off Interstate 580 (California), and situated between the San Francisco Bay, the Richmond Annex, and Point Isabel neighborhoods. The area receives its name from its proximity to the UC Berkeley Richmond Field Station.
John E. Márquez is an American politician and activist who has held various positions in Richmond, California city government. For eighteen years, Márquez served as a city councilman. He was the first Latino to serve on the Richmond City Council. Originally he was an appointee to the council in 1985 and won an election to that seat in 1987; he subsequently lost his second bid in 1991. He was elected again in 1993 and twice more in 1997 and 2004. In 1990 and 1998, he served as vice mayor. Márquez was defeated for re-election in 2008, and lost a mayoral bid in 2001 to Gayle McLaughlin. In addition to his elected offices in the city of Richmond, he has held various other positions in Contra Costa County, California on various commissions.
Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States. It is located roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lake Merritt on the east.
The Richmond Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle path in Richmond, California.
Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) is a United States environmental organization that focuses on the acquisition and preservation of parkland in the San Francisco Bay Area. CESP works to protect open space along the East Bay shoreline for natural habitat and recreational purposes through a combination of advocacy, education, and outreach. Since its founding in 1985, CESP has worked to secure approximately 1,800 acres (730 ha) of public land, primarily through the creation of the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) long Eastshore State Park in 2002.
Zoia Markovna Horn, born in Ukraine, became in 1972 the first United States librarian to be jailed for refusing to share information as a matter of conscience. Horn, an outspoken member of the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, worked at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in the early 1970s. Horn was jailed for nearly three weeks for contempt of court after refusing to testify for the prosecution in the 1972 conspiracy trial of the "Harrisburg Seven" anti-war activists.
Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot is a decommissioned United States Navy fueling station on the western shore of Richmond, California on San Francisco Bay. It has undergone years of litigation and debate as to its redevelopment with proposals ranging from a billion dollar casino project, parkland, housing, and other mixed uses.
Susan Duhan Felix was an American ceramic artist who lived in Berkeley, California. Felix is well known for creating ceramics using the technique of pit firing. Her art is heavily influenced by spiritual traditions, especially Judaism. J-Weekly reported that Felix “has works in the collections of some highly regarded Jewish institutions: the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow.”
Regina Ursula Minudri was an American librarian best known as an outspoken proponent for public libraries and library services to young people. She served as president of the American Library Association from 1986 to 1987.
Patricia "Patty" Wong is the city librarian of Santa Clara, California. Wong was the president of the American Library Association (ALA) for the 2021-2022 term and is the first Asian American president of the ALA. She has been on the faculty at the San Jose State University iSchool since 2006, teaching subjects such as equitable access to library services, library management, and library services to young people.
Summer Brenner is a writer and an activist. Brenner's works include short stories, novellas, noir crime, youth social justice novels and poetry.
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