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Fleeing the Jim Crow South
Betty Charbonnet, later known as Betty Reid Soskin, was born in Detroit in 1921. Her family, part of the Cajun-Creole African American community, relocated to New Orleans and eventually Oakland following the devastating Great Flood of 1927.
This migration mirrored the path of countless Black families moving west to escape the systemic oppression of the Jim Crow South and seek new opportunities.
She remembered ferry boats crossing the San Francisco Bay before the bridges existed, Oakland’s airport as little more than two hangars, Amelia Earhart’s final flight, and the Port Chicago explosion of 1944, a catastrophic munitions accident that killed 320 sailors, many of them African American.
Soskin’s life was a living testament to the arc of history, and she carried those experiences into her work, ensuring future generations could learn from them.
During World War II, Soskin worked as a file clerk in a segregated union hall—a microcosm of the broader inequities Black Americans faced.
In 1945, she and her husband founded Reid’s Records, one of the first Black-owned music stores in the country.
The store became a cultural landmark in the community, remaining operational for more than 70 years. Soskin’s dedication to public service never wavered.
She went on to work in local and state government, serving as a staff member to a Berkeley city council member and later as a field representative for California legislators.
Throughout these roles, she advocated tirelessly for equity, inclusion, and truth.
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