Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, U.S. Representative Lateefah Simon, former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington, and other local leaders as well as historians led a program on February 28, 2026, at Mountain View Cemetery to recognize 26 Black pioneers buried there. Special new markers were added to several of the burial sites, more clearly identifying them and the achievements of the individuals. The event was part of the commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the national observance of Black History Month.
The recognized pioneers included, in part: Ida Louise Jackson, California’s first Black public school teacher; Bobby Hutton of the Black Panther Party; Marcus Foster, former Oakland Unified School District Superintendent; pioneering attorney Washington Oglesby; Jenny Prentiss, beloved nanny to author Jack London; Glenn Burke, trailblazing LGBTQ+ Major League Baseball player; and Mildred Parish Massey, the mother of Mayor Lee, who was a courageous civil rights leader and one of the NAACP plaintiffs who helped integrate the University of Texas at El Paso.
Although Massey was from El Paso, she and her three daughters later moved to San Fernando, California, and then, in 1975, to Oakland. The family’s roots in the East Bay city clearly run deep, and friends of both Massey and Lee attended the February 28 event. (Simon also has deep local roots. Like Mayor Lee, she earned her B.A. at Mills College in Oakland. Her late husband, journalist and activist Kevin Weston, is interred at the Chapel of the Chimes, which is next door to Mountain View.)
A guided docent tour followed the program, allowing guests to walk on the grounds where the stories of the mentioned past Black leaders and other luminaries are preserved, and to honor their legacy, restore history, and reflect on the responsibilities we carry forward. The beautiful and expansive cemetery offers regular docent tours, many with themed history subjects. For more information: https://bit.ly/4s5cI1u
And to hear a rare interview with Burke, the first out MLB player, go to: https://bit.ly/4lf5ODX
Oakland Inclusivity
Published on March 12, 2026
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