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Guide to the Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers
MS 46
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Table of contents
Title: Tarea Hall and William Pittman papers
Dates: 1869-1992
Bulk Dates: 1917-1992
Collection number: MS 46
Creator:
Pittman, Tarea Hall.
Creator:
Pittman, William.
Collection Size:
12.25 linear feet
(29 boxes + 1 oversized box)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Abstract: The Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers includes photographs, correspondence, awards, certificates, financial and legal
records, newspaper clippings, programs, audio recordings, and ephemera documenting the life and career of William Pittman
and Tarea Hall Pittman.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.
Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.
Permission to publish from the Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library
at Oakland.
Tarea Hall and William Pittman papers, MS 46, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland,
California.
Processed by Sean Heyliger, July 2013. Revised by Sean Heyliger to incorporate additional material, December 17, 2015.Revised
by Sean Heyliger to incorporate additional material (Acc.#2016-054), August 26, 2016.
Biography / Administrative History
Tarea Hall Pittman
Noted civil rights leader, social worker, and radio personality Tarea Hall Pittman (1903-1991) was born in 1903 in Bakersfield,
California to William and Susie Hall. She was raised in Bakersfield, California and attended Union High School and was the
first African American to graduate from Bakersfield Junior College. She continued her studies at the University of California,
Berkeley enrolling in 1923 where she eventually met her husband, William Pittman, and the two married four years later in
1927. After she was forced to quit school for health-related reasons, she later attended San Francisco State College graduating
with Bachelor of Arts degree in social service in 1939 and going on to earn a Master’s Degree in social welfare from the University
of California, Berkeley in 1940.
In the 1930s, Pittman became active in civil rights organizations, serving as president of the California State Association
of Colored Women’s Clubs from 1936-1938, organizing West Coast branches of the National Negro Congress, and hosting the radio
program,
Negroes in the News, on KDIA in Oakland, California which she would continue to host for over 45 years through the 1970s. She was an active member
of the NAACP serving in various roles as an officer of the Alameda County Chapter of the NAACP, Regional Director of the West
Coast Region, and Regional Acting Secretary of the NAACP. As part of her service with the NAACP, she advocated for a number
of significant civil rights issues including organizing protests to force war industries to hire African American workers
during World War II, fighting to abolish the segregation of the Oakland Fire Department in 1952, and lobbying for the passage
of fair employment practices legislation in California, Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada.
William R. Pittman
William R. Pittman (1901-1984) was the first African American dentist to establish a practice in Berkeley, California and
husband of civil rights leader Tarea Hall Pittman. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Pittman moved to Oakland, California
as a young boy to live with his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Pittman. He was raised in East Oakland and attended
Fremont High School before enlisting in the Army and serving in World War I with the 365th Infantry with the American Expeditionary
Forces in France.
Following the war, he returned to Oakland to finish his high school education and entered the University of California at
Berkeley for pre-dental training. He enrolled at the University of California College of Dentistry in San Francisco, but after
administrators told him they would not graduate an African American student, he transferred to Meharry Dental School in Nashville,
Tennessee to finish his degree his senior year. Pittman returned to California in 1931 and established his dental practice
at 2930 Grove St. in Berkeley, California. He practiced dentistry for over 44 years before retiring in June 1975. Pittman
was a member of many professional and civic groups including the American Dental Association, California Dental Society, Alpha
Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities, NAACP, and the YMCA.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Tarea Hall and William Pittman Papers includes photographs, correspondence, awards, certificates, financial and legal
records, newspaper clippings, programs, audio recordings, and ephemera documenting the life and careers of William Pittman
and Tarea Hall Pittman. The papers are arranged into six series: Photographs, Correspondence, Awards and certificates, Financial
and legal records, and Assorted printed material. The bulk of the collection consists of 2,581 photographs related to William
and Tarea Hall Pittman’s personal and professional life, and the series is arranged into five sub-series: Hall/Pittman family,
N.A.A.C.P., Intercultural Interfaith Fellowship of the East Bay, Portraits, and Assorted. The majority of the photographs
document family events of the Hall and Pittman families, various social events held at the Pittman home and cabin, and portraits
of family and friends of the Pittmans. The N.A.A.C.P. sub-series includes photographs of various N.A.A.C.P. conferences and
promotional events during the 1950s-1960s. A photograph album of the Intercultural Interfaith Fellowship of the East Bay
includes sidewalk snapshots of speakers and members of the choir entering and leaving the fellowship service, and photographs
of members at fellowship board meetings and a potluck dinner.
The collection also includes a small amount of general correspondence, greeting cards, and postcards sent to William and Tarea
Hall Pittman, William Pittman’s academic diplomas, awards given to Tarea Hall Pittman in honor of her service to the N.A.A.C.P.
and various other civic organizations, and legal and financial records related to William Pittman’s dental practice. Printed
material includes Tarea Hall Pittman’s Kern County Union High School yearbooks,
The Oracle, from 1921 and 1923, assorted funeral and event programs attended by the Pittmans, assorted newspaper clippings, Tarea Hall
and William Pittman’s business cards, assorted ephemera, and a sketch of Franklin H. Williams by Cal Bailey for
Vanguard magazine.
Series I. Photographs
Series II. Correspondence
Series III. Awards and certificates
Series IV. Financial and legal records
Series V. Assorted printed material
Series VI. Audio recordings
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Pittman, Tarea Hall.
Pittman, William.
Wyatt, Faricita (Faricita Hall Wyatt).
Hall family.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Intercultural Interfaith Fellowship of the East Bay.
African American families--California.
Civil rights--California.
African Americans--California--East Bay--History.
Oakland (Calif.)--Social life and customs.
Hall (Marcus) Papers, African American Museum & Library at Oakland
Isaacs (Clarice) Papers, African American Museum & Library at Oakland
Pittman (Tarea H.) Papers, California State Library
Pittman (Tarea Hall) Papers, UC Berkeley::Bancroft Library
Wyatt (Faricita Hall Wyatt) Papers, African American Museum & Library at Oakland