Alameda County Set to Approve Reparations Fund for Displaced Russell City Residents

Aisha Knowles’ father grew up in a place that no longer exists: Russell City, a 12-block unincorporated area within Alameda County.

The predominantly Black and Latino community was bulldozed by the county and the city of Hayward in the early 1960s, forcibly displacing more than 1,000 people.

Today, Knowles and her father, James Knowles, work to keep the memory of the once close-knit community alive. James Knowles serves on Alameda County’s Reparations Commission, and Aisha Knowles volunteers for Hayward’s committee focused on Russell City.

“As the daughter of someone who lived in Russell City, I didn’t start this fight,” Knowles said. “But I feel like … it is part of my responsibility in living and paying things forward.”

Now, decades later, Knowles’ father and other former residents of Russell City may receive a form of payment from Alameda County and Hayward to make amends.

When she heard the news last week, Knowles said her emotions ranged from surprised to grateful to “a little bit cautious.”

“It’s a positive start,” she said.

What was Russell City?

Due to widespread racist policies like redlining, Russell City was one of the rare places where Black and Latino people could own homes in the Bay Area after World War II. It was a thriving community with schools, clubs, a church and businesses.

It was also known as a vibrant culture hub for blues music, with legendary performers like Etta James and Ray Charles taking the stage there.

But because Russell City was unincorporated, it lacked basic city services such as sewage or plumbing. Residents repeatedly petitioned the county and the city of Hayward for assistance, but were denied. Instead, officials declared the community a “blight,” seized property through eminent domain and made plans to redevelop it into an industrial park. In 1963, officials cleared out the entire community.

Roughly 1,400 people were forcibly dislocated, including Knowles’ family. She said many former residents struggled to recover, including her grandfather, who lost the auto shop he owned.

“It was very difficult for him to recover from not being able to have a business,” she said. “He died at the age of 48 …There are a lot of memories, harm, and trauma that many families have experienced.”

After the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, cities across the country, including in the Bay Area, began taking steps to acknowledge their discriminatory and racist histories. In 2021, Hayward issued a public apology to former residents of Russell City. The following year, the city launched the Russell City Reparative Justice Project, which presented recommendations to the city council in 2024.

“People were in support and happy when we did the apology, but it did feel like it wasn’t enough. Those are just words. It wasn’t anything tangible,” said Alameda County Supervisor Elisa Márquez.

In early July, Hayward, Márquez and fellow Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley announced a $900,000 fund dedicated to the former residents of Russell City.

“This is our commitment to say, ‘We meant what we said publicly with apology,’” Márquez said. “By no means is it meant to cover the cost of what they lost because that’s insurmountable. But we do want to publicly tell them, ‘We care about you. We care about the pain.”

“This could be just the beginning as well. There might be other ways that we can get at redressing the harm for Russell City,” added Miley.

According to Márquez, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote to approve the funding for the Russell City fund on Tuesday.

“It’s just really important that we act as quickly as possible,” Márquez said. “It is really painful to learn every year that another elder has passed away.”

How much money is in the fund?

There is $900,000 in the redress fund:

• $250,000 will come from the city of Hayward
• $400,000 from Márquez’s office
• $250,000 from Miley’s office

Márquez added she is hoping the fund can reach a million dollars, and that “we’re all gonna work collectively — really hard — engaging in philanthropy as well as local businesses and anyone interested in contributing to the redress fund.”

Knowles pointed out that there have been other government agencies in the area who could also contribute to the redress fund since they “had a role in what happened in Russell City.”

“[The fund is] a good start. It also is a sign to these other agencies to look at the history within their own organizations,” Knowles said.

Márquez said she is also working with the city of Hayward to find a local foundation that can administer the funds.

Who is eligible?

Márquez said her priority is for the funds to go to former residents and elders who are still living. They may consider expanding that criteria depending on how much money is ultimately raised.

To identify past residents and collect their information, Márquez said the city did a survey with close to 400 respondents and held two town halls.

“That data is being compiled, and that’s what we’ll have to look at, in terms of who do we know that actually lived there,” she said. “Now that the issue has been elevated, [it] is very likely that we’ll learn of more former residents.”

How much does a former resident get?

It depends on how much the fund raises, Márquez said. She said the county is aiming to launch a website containing details in the next few weeks.

When will people see the compensation?

Márquez said her “ideal” timeline would be 60 to 90 days to get the fund running.

What is the precedent for this?

“I do feel it’s historic,” said Márquez. “This is a blueprint of what you could do at the local level.”

Kamilah Moore, an attorney who chaired California’s Reparations Task Force, said some local governments and states created funds or programs to address past harms. In 2019, Evanston, Illinois, established a fund for Black residents using the city’s 3% sales tax on marijuana. In the 1990s, Florida passed a law allowing descendants of a Black majority town that suffered a massacre in 1923 to attend college tuition-free.

“This fund in Russell City seems to be unique,” she said.

In her studies of international law and reparations, Moore said a key component of making amends is providing payments to survivors.

“When we talk about recommendations, at the end of the day, we’ve got to make sure it includes compensation,” she said.

From her perspective, conversation about reparations has stagnated on the state level, even as California officials discuss how to disperse the $12 million allocated toward reparative legislation. But she sees the Russell City fund as an example of momentum building locally.

“Localities are still doing what they need to do to make sure that they’re rectifying harms,” she said.

Knowles — who produced a documentary about Russell City called The Apology — said it is important for communities across California to research past discrimination and violence, ensure harm is repaired and “prevent it from happening in the future.”

“As an adult, it seems like there were efforts made to erase the history of Russell City,” she said, her voice breaking as she held back tears. “I feel like my grandparents and my relatives who are no longer here are proud of me.”

“My grandmother had faith all the time. She was not an angry woman,” she added. “She believed that there would always be something greater, even if she didn’t get to see it.

“With the creation of the redress fund, there is a little bit of peace that I received, in understanding maybe this is what she knew that this would happen one day.”

What other questions do you have?

At KQED News, we aim to publish guides and explainers that dispel confusion and answer pressing questions.

If you have more inquiries about reparations or racial justice in California, please let us know, and we’ll do our best to answer. It will make our reporting stronger and will help us decide what to cover.

KQED’s Spencer Whitney and Katrina Schwartz contributed to this report.