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Guide to the Paula Beal Papers
MS 221
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Title: Paula Beal papers
Dates: 2003-2017
Collection number: MS 221
Creator:
Beal, Paula
Collection Size:
2 linear feet
(2 boxes + 1 oversized box)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Abstract: The Paula Beal Papers consist of notebooks, subject files, reports, correspondence, flyers, and periodicals documenting her
activities with housing activist and food justice groups in Oakland, California in the 2010s.
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 Paula Beal Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.
Paula Beal papers, MS 221, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.
The Paula Beal Papers donated to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland by Molly McClure on May 4, 2018.
Processed by Sean Heyliger, May 10, 2018.
Biography / Administrative History
Housing and food activist Paul Beal (1953-2016) was born on January 31, 1953 in Alton, Illinois to Charles Jones, Sr. and
Pearline Jones. After attending Alton High School and Claremont McKenna College in Cicero, Illinois, she moved to Richmond,
California where she met and married Willie Clyde Beal Sr. The couple were early pioneers in the medical marijuana in the
East Bay and Paula Beal began her work as a housing activist after working at the Oakland Independent Support Center, a non-profit
serving the homeless and individuals with substance abuse issues. She was later active with a number of housing activist groups
including Causa Justa:: Just Cause, Oakland Renters Union, and Oakland United Coalition following the wave of displacement
and gentrification in Oakland, California in the early 2010s.
She also helped to initiate the movement to pass the Renters Upgrade Measure JJ, a campaign to strengthen renter's protections
against wrongful evictions by landlords, and was a leading critic of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for not taking greater steps
to curb the housing crisis in Oakland. She was also active in advocating for access to healthy food in disadvantaged neighborhoods
in Oakland. She was a member of the HOPE (Health for Oakland’s People and Environment) Collaborative, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to improving the health and well being of low income families in West and East Oakland. She spearheaded the Healthy
Corner Store Project which worked to increase availability of nutritious, affordable food at neighborhood corner stores in
food deserts. She was also active in efforts to bring a grocery store to West Oakland and the People's Grocery, a collaborative
project to foster community economic development and to provide low cost healthful foods to West Oakland communities. Following
years of advocating for others, Beal herself became homeless after her landlord increased the rent in her 10-unit building
from $850 to $1,080 per month in March 2016, a 27% increase which forced her, her son, and grandchildren to stay at a homeless
shelter in Santa Rosa, California. She was the focus of a number of articles in
The Guardian and
The EastBay Times on gentrification and the homeless crisis in Oakland in 2016. Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2016, a GoFundMe campaign
was started to help raise funds for her food, housing, and medical costs prior to her death in December 2016.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Paula Beal Papers consist of notebooks, subject files, reports, correspondence, flyers, and periodicals documenting her
activities with housing activist and food justice groups in Oakland, California in the 2010s. The papers are organized into
six series: I. Notebooks, II. Speeches, III.Causa Justa :: Just Cause, IV. Hope Collaborative, V. Subject files, VI. Publications.
The bulk of the materials document her work with Causa Justa :: Just Cause, The People's Grocery, and Hope Collaborative reflecting
her struggle to fight displacement and gentrification and her efforts to establish better access to healthy food for disadvantaged
citizens in Oakland, California.
Series I. Notebooks
Series II. Speeches
Series III. Causa Justa :: Just Cause
Series IV. Hope Collaborative
Series V. Subject files
Series VI. Publications
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Causa Justa :: Just Cause
Gentrification--California
Homelessness--California
Minorities--Nutrition--Social aspects--United States
Oakland (Calif.) Social conditions
Social justice--United States