Picture This

Artifiacts in this featured collection are part of the OMCA's Picture This website. More about the context and history of each of these artifacts is available at Picture This

About Picture This: California's Perspectives on American History is a resource for teachers and students to learn about the experiences of diverse peoples of California by using primary source images from the Oakland Museum of California's collections. Organized into eleven time periods spanning from pre-1769 to the present, more than 300 photographs, drawings, posters, and prints tell stories from the perspectives of different ethnic groups. Historical contexts are provided to offer a framework of California's role in relation to American history.

The National Archives state that primary sources, "fascinate students because they are real and they are personal: history is humanized through them." Picture This invites students to examine the historical record, encouraging them to connect history with real people and explore how images tell stories and convey historical evidence about the human experience. History becomes more than just a series of facts, dates, and events.

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07/21/68

One of two courtroom drawings in the case against Huey P. Newton, a Black Panther. This drawing shows Huey Newton on the stand, legs crossed, hands clasped, wearing a black turtleneck and...

1963

From back of photograph: "Chinese Band" A female Chinese band parades through the middle of a crowd. The members of the band are dressed in traditional Chinese costumes. They appear to be part...

07/04/68

A man straddles the stoplight at the corner of Haste and Telegraph in Berkeley, holding a dark-colored flag while a crowd looks on below.

07/04/68

A young man smoking a cigarette sits atop the stoplights at the intersection of Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.

04/12/66

Protesters sit down in front of the Berkeley City Hall, awaiting a speech. Some demonstrators carry effigies labelled, "Famine," "Death," "Pestilence," and "War."

05/20/69

A National Guard helicopter flies by the Campanile on the U.C. Berkeley campus spraying tear gas on demonstrators in Sproul Plaza. The National Guard had been ordered by Governor Ronald Reagan to...

05/22/69

Depiction: Student protestors walk in front of National Guardsmen who are forcing them down a Berkeley street and into an empty lot where they will be arrested. There are also many Berkeley...

05/21/69

Depiction: A pretty, well dressed blonde woman made her way past armed National Guardsmen and rushing toward one, embraced him. The soldiers wear riot gear and gas masks. Behind them is a very...

10/24/72

Photo shows the Oakland A's celebration parade in downtown Oakland after the A's won the World Series in 1972. A large crowd of people including a cameraman with a movie camera are crowding...

1964

From back of photograph: "Core picket - St. Francis" A line of protestors pickets outside of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco during the presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater. The...

Jan-78

A large crowd of protesting farm workers fills the front steps of the Capitol building in Washington. Many carry signs or banners, some of which read, "100% Parity; no less," and "If you like to...

29-Oct-24

Photo of four Boy Scouts holding up various projects, including a plaque, and a board of knots. They are from left to right--Lincoln Chan, Cyrus Cooper, George Sanford, and Phillip Muller (names...

7-Dec-42

Clipping on the back, "Dec. 7, 1942-Registration for defense classes is one of the many services of the AWVS. Shown here as she greets a registrant for sheet metal work, Mrs. Astrid Wallace (...

4-Jun-66

Copy of photo in Black History Month Exhibit. Photo shows an African-American soldier sitting down with his weapon across his lap and taking a drink from his canteen. A sign in the ground next...

11-Jan-45

Front of photo: (C Prin47-2-85-SGA) (Lt. Wong)(Rast)

Back of photo: Second Lieut. Arthur Wong Jr., 877 McKinley Avenue, Oakland. Arthur Wong Jr. 1st thursday 1/2 col heroes----- 5.

...
24-May-69

Depiction: A young girl with long brown hair, maybe 5 years old, stands in the sun and holds a sign which reads "Soldiers scare me." She is part of a protest march in Berkeley. Photo is a close...

Sep-43

Handwritten on negative envelope: "Shipyard End of Day Shift at Yard 1 Sept, 1943"

Untitled (Eliza Jane Steen-Johnson)

This portrait was probably taken of Eliza Steen-Johnson shortly after her arrival in California. "Eliza Johns was a spirited person. At age nineteen, in 1843, she eloped from her parents...

1934

From "Hamilton, William J. Alameda County Supervisor Died 11-6-38" folder. From back of photograph: "Wm. J. Hamilton - Thomas E. Caldecott at tunnel ground breaking." Two well dressed men...

c.1945

Black and white photograph of an assembly of shipyard workers with heads bowed in prayer (?). There is an African-American gentleman to the far right in the foreground and four women just behind...

04/06/42
CA. 1943
1933

Lange Problem #4. This is evidently Lange's personal copy negative. The original negative is 67.137.7511.

1979-1992

15 drawings on tan paper in ink and colored pencil from a series on ceremonial dances of the Chico Maidu by Harry Fonseca. In 1979 Harry Fonseca, working with Craig Bates, started on a series of...

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