More than 60 years after officials in Hayward—a city in California’s San Francisco Bay Area—used eminent domain to forcibly remove and demolish the unincorporated community of Russell City, local leaders have approved a $1 million reparations fund for displaced families, renewing long-standing calls for recognition of erased Black history.

That village was destroyed in 1963 when the predominantly white city of Hayward used eminent domain to force 205 families from their homes. The city offered low payments for their properties before burning every building to make room for an industrial park. The Guardian recently spoke with survivors about their journey to reconciliation. 

“We lost everything. Our community was erased. My parents, they lost their dignity,” Gloria Moore told the outlet. “Our dreams were shattered and we were forced to scatter.”

Decades ago, Moore’s parents moved from Arkansas to the West Coast, seeking job opportunities and relief from poverty and Jim Crow laws. After working in Portland’s shipbuilding industry, they settled in Russell City, a small unincorporated community in California’s East Bay. There, they purchased land, built a home, and raised their children in what Moore remembers as a close-knit and vibrant neighborhood. When it was destroyed, it decimated generations. 

Russell City’s destruction is part of a broader pattern of displacement across the Bay Area, from West Oakland to Bayview-Hunter’s Point. These stories, long overlooked, are being revisited through the efforts of a state reparations task force and local initiatives. Last week, Hayward and Alameda County pledged $1 million in reparations for former Russell City residents, per local reports. 

The Oakland Museum of California is currently hosting Black Spaces: Reclaim and Remain, an exhibition exploring Black displacement through history, art, and architecture. Museum director Lori Fogarty emphasized its broader importance to The Guardian: “This is a very local story, but it’s also a national story.”

California has taken some steps to acknowledge these injustices. A state reparations task force was formed in 2020, and in 2024 Governor Gavin Newsom allocated $12 million toward racial justice initiatives. San Francisco’s own reparations committee recommended $5 million payments to eligible residents in 2023.

Hayward, which formally apologized in 2021, and Alameda County approved $1 million in reparations last week—$750,000 from the county and $250,000 from the city. Still, many say this is not enough. “It is pennies on the dollar for the value of the land that you took,” said Marian Johnson, whose family was also displaced. “That’s just a slap in the face.”