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Latest & Featured News

View the latest and featured news stories about the Russell City community and the Russell City Reparative Justice Project. 

Please note: In most instances where articles are behind paywalls, the City has provided a PDF copy of the article. 
A print by Keith Dennison of a Sherman tank preparing to destroy homes, from 1960. Photograph: Oakland Museum of California/Collection of the Oakland Museum of California, Ernestine Nettles (left) and Marian Johnson at the opening of Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain at the Oakland Museum of California, Children playing volleyball on a dirt playground at Russell school. Photograph: Courtesy of the Hayward Area Historical Society

‘Our dreams were shattered’: the Black Californians forced from the city they built

July 28, 2025, The Guardian, by Robin Buller

Former residents of Russell City recall a once-thriving Black and Latino community that was destroyed in the 1960s through eminent domain.

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Andrew Johnson and members of the Russell City communityMaking Amends to Russell City Denizens

July 15, 2025, The Mercury News, by Chase Hunter

Officials have proposed a Redress Fund to provide reparations to former residents of Russell City—a historically Black and Latino community demolished in the 1960s through eminent domain.

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Nate Miley, president of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and author of the resolution that created its Reparations Commission, speaks during a California Reparations Listening Session at the California Ballroom in Oakland on May 28, 2022. The California Reparations Task Force sponsors the listening session and hosted by the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC). (Beth LaBerge/KQED)Reparations Efforts in Alameda County Stumble and Try to Pick Themselves Up

June 7, 2024, KQED, by Annelise Finney

Updates on reparations efforts in Alameda County.

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Location of Russell CityRussell City: Bay Area's lost city

April 25, 2024, NBC Bay Area, by Christine Ni, Jodi Hernandez, and Michael Horn

Remebering the history and fighting for reparations

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How a demolished community became the epicenter of the Bay Area reparations debateHow a demolished community became the epicenter of the Bay Area reparations debate

July 30, 2023, The Mercury News, by Will McCarthy

Alameda County apologizes for the annexation, destruction of Russell City.

 

 

California Panel Sizes Up Reparations for Black Citizens

Updated June 20, 2023, New York Times by Kurtis Lee

The state is undertaking the nation’s most ambitious effort so far to compensate for the economic legacy of slavery and racism.

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How one city's apology to Black and Latino residents sparked a backlashHow one city's apology to Black and Latino residents sparked a backlash:

June 19, 2023, NBCNews by Lindsey Davis, Allison Lau, Ron Allen

A California city apologized for its role in destroying a Black and Latino community 60 years ago. But some locals say the apology was not warranted.

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These Black and Latino citizens had land taken from them. Now, they want reparations

These Black and Latino citizens had land taken from them. Now, they want reparations

February 06, 2023, Good Morning America by Steve Osunsami

In the late 1950s, Russell City was home to many people of color. That is, until they were forced to leave. ABC News' Steve Osunsami sat down with the families now fighting for reparations.

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A Bay Area town was erased. Nearly 60 years later, its neighbor is atoning

September 11, 2022, San Francisco Chronicle by Justin Phillips

A search for “Russell City” on Google Maps brings up a street within the city of Hayward. That’s because the East Bay town no longer exists.

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Reconciling the destruction of a cultural haven in Hayward once known as Russell City

November 28, 2021, The Mercury News by Joseph Geha

City apologizes for bulldozing place where Black and Latino residents thrived 50 years ago

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