The Fruitvale Community: The Legacy of the Chicano Movement in Oakland

Panelists from the Fruitvale History Project will discuss how Chicano activists, beginning in the late 1960's, helped to develop this thriving community.

About the Presenters:

Regina Contreras Chavarin: Regina Contreras Chavarin is a native of Oakland who was recruited to UC Berkeley in 1969. There she joined Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and served as vice-president. She was a member of the Brown Berets and became active in the anti-war and civil rights movement. Regina has worked at many community service agencies including the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation, Centro Legal de La Raza, the Oakland Community Partnership for Community Health, and the Narcotics Education League (NEL) where she served as Executive Director for 10 years. She also served as Liaison and Youth Advocate at Lazear Elementary, Roosevelt and Hamilton/Calvin Simmons Middle Schools. Her extensive volunteer work includes membership in the East Bay United Farmworkers Committee, Oakland’s Coalition on Alcohol Outlet Issues (CAOI), Trabajadoras Unidas, and Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation. She is a co-founder of the Santa Rita Land Trust, a non-profit formed to protect an acre of open space in the Fruitvale area called Jungle Hill. She has been a member of the Fruitvale History Project since 2013.

Andres Alegria: Andres Alegria is a producer of documentary films and a television editor. He began his career as a producer of news, documentary and cultural radio programming. He produced and hosted programming for 10 years for public radio including KPFA in Berkeley, Pacifica Radio and NPR, focusing on Chicano and Latin American affairs. He worked with the Comunicacion Aztlan collective to produce some of the first English/Spanish bilingual programming in the country. He co-founded the Third World News Bureau in 1976 in the Fruitvale District of Oakland. Producing news feeds, daily broadcasts and documentaries about the struggles for justice by people of color. Since then, Andres has been a television editor and producer for over 40 years with credits that include national and local news, documentaries and nationally syndicated programs for all the major networks both commercial and public. Most recently he edited and co-produced A Song for Cesar, a feature length documentary that aired last year on PBS's American Masters and has had screenings across the country. He has co-produced three internationally distributed independent documentaries with the Freedom Archives. Andres has worked with the Fruitvale History Project for 10 years filming over 40 interviews with Fruitvale activists.

Connie Jubb: Connie Jubb has lived and worked in the Bay Area since 1973 after graduating from Stanford with a Masters in Early Childhood Education. She immediately began teaching at Centro Infantil de la Raza Children’s Center in Oakland when it opened its doors in February of 1973. Thanks to pressure from Fruitvale’s Latinx community, Centro Infantil was one of the first bilingual - bicultural schools in Oakland. Together with her colleagues, Centro Infantil parents, and community members, she participated in forging a dynamic and unique curriculum based on Chicanx, Mexicanx, and Latinx history and culture that also focused on local, national and international struggles for freedom and social justice.  At that time she was also a member of Fruitvale’s Comité del Barrio, which promoted a yearly event in the park celebrating community achievements via music, dance, and information booths. She left Centro Infantil to work as a translator in Cuba. When she returned to Oakland four years later, she worked as a bilingual teacher in Berkeley public schools, where she infused her curriculum with her Centro Infantil experience and perspective. She is retired now, volunteering in a Berkeley elementary school and doing immigrant rights work. She has been a member of the Fruitvale History Project since 2013.

Mariano Contreras: Mariano Contreras has been an Oakland resident since 1975. He was active in the anti-war & civil rights movement. During the 1970’s he was a member of the Center for Autonomous Social Action (CASA) which promoted worker and immigrant rights; worked with the Barlow Benavidez Committee Against Police Crimes; and the Comite Del Barrio which brought Latino culture and politics together for a day of celebration in the park. He is currently a member of the Latino Task Force, the African American Latino Action Alliance, and the Coalition for Police Accountability. He also volunteers at the Spanish Speaking Citizens' Foundation & helps to organize the annual 5K Aztec Run at Lake Merritt.