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ARTICLE
SOURCE & DATE
Historian releases new book on Vallejo's black heritage
Vallejo’s African-American community existed back to the Civil War, but it was the great migration from the South between the 1920s and World War II that created the community that exists today, according to a new book by Vallejo author Sharon McGriff-Payne... Read full article here
Daily Republic
by Ian Thompson
12-16-2012
Vallejo author uncovers the story of Bear Flag Revolt hero John Grider
John Grider arrived in California as a slave, but he died a free hero of the Bear Flag Revolt. "We have this idea that California was a free state ... (but) a lot of people came here enslaved," said Sharon McGriff-Payne of Vallejo... Read full article here
Times-Herald
by Chris Riley
Times-Herald Writer
9-18-2009
Napa Valley's African American Pioneers
An obscure and nearly forgotten part of our local cultural heritage is the history of blacks in Napa County.
From the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, Napa County was home to African-Americans whose influence is still felt today. Read full article here
Napa Valley Register
by Rebecca Yerger
Register Correspondent
3-1-2009
Local revelations Vallejo woman documents slavery, early black pioneers
Sharon McGriff-Payne of Vallejo is passionate about her latest project: the recorded history of African-Americans in Solano County. She has been so successful in her quest that she unearthed unknown manumission papers in the Solano County Archives for Adam Willis, a slave who lived in Benicia.
Read full article here
Historical Articles of Solano County Online Database
by Nancy Dingler
2-24-2007
Slavery in Gold Rush Days
Adam Willis was brought to California as a slave in 1846, gained his freedom nine years later, then searched the country using newspaper ads to find his family and build a home for them in Solano County. Read full article here
San Francisco Chronicle
by Jason B. Johnson
Chronicle Staff Writer
1-27-2007
