Arts and Culture

Día de los Muertos Festivities in Oakland Bring in Crowds of Celebrants

On Oct. 22, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) held its annual celebration at 10th and Fallon streets while the Unity Council held a street festival on International Boulevard and Fruitvale Avenue last Sunday. Coinciding with Halloween, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, dates back to traditions established by the indigenous peoples of America that fused, over time, with the Catholic beliefs brought by Spanish conquistadors.

Published

3 years ago

November 7, 2023

Magaly Muñoz

A community altar including framed photos of the deceased among marigolds and candles at the Oakland Museum on Oct. 22, 2023. Photo by Eva Ortega

By Eva Ortega and
Magaly Muñoz,
Post Staff

In a haze of incense smoke, flickering candles and bright orange marigolds, Oakland outdid itself with two weekends of Día de los Muertos observances that were both solemn and festive.

On Oct. 22, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) held its annual celebration at 10^th and Fallon streets while the Unity Council held a street festival on International Boulevard and Fruitvale Avenue last Sunday.

Coinciding with Halloween, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, dates back to traditions established by the indigenous peoples of America that fused, over time, with the Catholic beliefs brought by Spanish conquistadors.

Though it has primarily Mexican roots, it is also celebrated in parts of Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and other countries.

Its components are also recognized as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations.

As they performed the ancient dance of the dead, the fragrant smoke of copal wafted over the Ollin Anahuac Traditional Aztec Dance group who were the stars of the opening ceremony at the Oakland Museum’s 29^th Annual Día de los Muertos Community Celebration.

Despite wind and light rain, a sizeable crowd came out to view altars created by local groups, including students from Bret Harte Middle School, Richmond High School and Black Girls Excellence from Montera Middle School.

A vintage car becomes the site for an ofrenda at “Blooming Resistance,” the Unity Council’s 28th Día de los Muertos Festival on Oct. 29, 2023. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

A variety of performances also took place throughout the day, including by award-winning artist Gabriela Sepúlveda and notable poets Tino V. H., Jr., Briana Victoria Leung and Camila Elizabet Aguirre Aguilar.

Aguilar captivated listeners with an emotional performance dedicated to Vanessa Guillen, the 20-year-old army soldier whose 2020 murder sparked protests across the country.

“Oral storytelling is in our blood, and we’ve practiced this for hundreds, thousands of years,” Aguilar said. “When we have youth murdered that are indigenous to this content…women, it is important that we call attention to the powers and structures that cause [violence] and that we continue with the traditions of resistance and honoring the dead.”

While rain had depressed the numbers at the Oakland Museum celebration, the sun was bright on Sunday in the Fruitvale for “Blooming Resistance,” the 28^th such Día de los Muertos Festival.

The street was covered with brightly colored streamers and flowers and lined with vendors and informational booths.

Altares with photos and ofrendas could be seen at every corner of the festival. Many had personal notes from family, favorite foods of the deceased loved one and symbols that represent them.

Iliana Vasquez, who was hired by The Unity Council to help organize the event, expected a larger crowd than previous years and hoped to attract more than the usual 100,000 attendees.

“For me, the community is my main focus. I hope they’re there to have a good time with their families,” Vasquez said.

Food vendors crowded the streets, selling tacos, fruit, aguas frescas and most notably pan de muerto or ‘bread of the dead.’ This sweet bread is meant to resemble bones and is a vital part in the offerings used for the altars. It is used to lure souls to visit their loved ones.

Another staple in Día de los Muertos is the cempazúchitl, or marigold flowers that adorn the altars.

Rocio Plate was one of the many vendors who sold the marigolds, but instead of just selling them as a simple bouquet, she fashioned them into crosses and crowns and bunched them up into vases.

Resident Robert Berger says cultural events such as the one at OMCA are what brought him to Oakland almost a decade ago. He and his partner also attend the festival in Fruitvale every year.

“It’s what creates hope for the future amidst a lot of turmoil and it’s really what brought us to Oakland in the first place, being so eclectic, diverse and enriching,” Berger said. “If you don’t participate in them, you’re really missing out on a lot.”

Those who have missed both of Oakland’s Día de los Muertos events can still view OMCA’s “In Remembrance of Our Ancestors” installation that showcases how Día de los Muertos emerged as the holiday many recognize today. It will run until Nov. 26.

Eva Ortega is part of the Community Media journalism class at San Francisco State University.

Magaly Muñoz

A graduate of Sacramento State University, Magaly Muñoz’s journalism experience includes working for the State Hornet, the university’s student-run newspaper and conducting research and producing projects for “All Things Considered” at National Public Radio. She also was a community reporter for El Timpano, serving Latino and Mayan communities, and contributed to the Sacramento Observer, the area’s African American newspaper.

Muñoz is one of 40 early career journalists who are part of the California Local News Fellowship program, a state-funded initiative designed to strengthen local news reporting in California, with a focus on underserved communities.

The fellowship program places journalism fellows throughout the state in two-year, full-time reporting positions.

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Magaly Muñoz

A graduate of Sacramento State University, Magaly Muñoz’s journalism experience includes working for the State Hornet, the university’s student-run newspaper and conducting research and producing projects for “All Things Considered” at National Public Radio. She also was a community reporter for El Timpano, serving Latino and Mayan communities, and contributed to the Sacramento Observer, the area’s African American newspaper. Muñoz is one of 40 early career journalists who are part of the California Local News Fellowship program, a state-funded initiative designed to strengthen local news reporting in California, with a focus on underserved communities. The fellowship program places journalism fellows throughout the state in two-year, full-time reporting positions.

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Arts and Culture

Prescott Circus Theatre Presents Free Summer Performance Series

Now in its 41st year, the Prescott Circus Theatre is a nationally recognized performing arts education program for Oakland youth. The circus offers safe environments that challenge Oakland youth, through circus arts training, to develop the skills and confidence to thrive on stage, in school, and in life.

Published

1 week ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Prescott Circus showcase pathways pyramid. Photo courtesy of Prescott Circus.

By Post Staff

The Prescott Circus, Oakland’s longest-running youth circus, is returning this summer with its free shows. Join the Prescott Circus’s young stars as they share their joys and talents through stilt-dancing, tumbling, juggling, and more.

At the heart of this one-hour show, which demonstrates teamwork, pride, and joy, are Oakland Unified School District students ages 8 – 17 from more than 10 different schools

This is accomplished through no-cost school and community programs for more than 300 Oakland youth each year. Performing company members from Prescott, where the program began, perform and make appearances at as many as 40 Bay Area events each year.

The summer program is funded in part by Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, California Arts Council, Port of Oakland, and the West Davis & Bergard Foundation.

Performances will be held Tuesday, July 14, 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (ASL interpreted) and Wednesday, July 15, 11 a.m., at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. For free reservations go to

https://PrescottCircusSummerShows.eventbrite.com

For group reservations for camps, childcare centers, senior centers, go to www.prescottcircus.org

A community show will be held Saturday, July 18, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., at DeFremery Park,1651 Adeline St., Oakland.

Oakland Post

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Activism

50 Years Later, ‘Wake Up Everybody!’ Still Resonates During Black Music

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

Published

1 week ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

iStockphoto.

By Hazel Trice Edney, Special to The Post

Hazel Trice Edney

“Wake up, everybody, No more sleepin’ in bed

No more backward thinkin’. Time for thinkin’ ahead

The world has changed so very much from what it used to be.

There is so much hatred, war, and poverty.

“The world won’t get no better If we just let it be.

Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw.

The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah– just you and me.”

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

In a rare, nearly somber moment, the group’s celebrated lead singer, Teddy Pendergrass, introduced the song on Soul Train, the weekly dance and live performance TV show that aired roughly between 1971 and 2006. Pendergrass told the attentive live audience and thousands watching by television that Wake Up Everybody, the title tune of their most recent album, was intended to inspire people to take action with a goal to change America for the better.

“I’m sure that you will all agree that there are things that need to be done in this country today,” he said. “So, what I’d like for you to do is listen very carefully to see what you can do to lend a hand.”

The song’s appeal worked.

“I played that song over and over and over again because it was a constant warning to keep ourselves prepared for the society that we were living in,” says A. Peter Bailey, then a 37-year-old former aide to Malcolm X.

When “Wake Up Everybody” hit the airwaves, Bailey was working as an associate editor of Ebony Magazine. “It was a call to be aware of what we were dealing with in the country that we lived in, the world we lived in, the neighborhood we lived in, the cities that we lived in,” Bailey said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire.

He concluded that during Black Music Month 2026, such songs should be recalled and celebrated as a key to changes for the good across America; especially because such songs successfully encouraged people to deal with the issues that might otherwise denigrate the promises of America, including the promise that “All men are created equal,”as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

“The rhythms and blues expressed our joys, our sorrows and our fears,” Bailey recalls. “It was those songs and the singing of those songs by our people that attracted us to the campaigns for justice.”

With his life inspired by that song and others, Bailey, now 88, went on to establish and teach a Black Press class at Virginia Commonwealth University. Also, he has since written three books, including a memoir, “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher,” in which he expounded upon successful principles of social justice, some of which are reflected in “Wake Up Everybody.”

Long before the term “woke” became associated with campaigns for justice, Pendergrass led the song that reverberated across America and still holds deep meaning.

The ‘wake up’ call exhorts teachers to ‘teach a new way,’ doctors to heal elders, and builders to ‘build a new land… we can do it if we all lend a hand.”

The song concludes:

“The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw. The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah – just you and me.”

Hazel Trice Edney wrote this story as part of a four-part series powered by AARP in commemoration of Black Music Month, June 2026.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

1 week ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”