Dorothy Lathan, a 90-year-old 80-out-80 San Francisco resident, keeps the city’s black history alive.

SAN FRANCISCO (CGO) — Dorothy Lathan has lived in her home right on Ocean Beach in San Francisco since 1960.

It’s understandable why she knows a lot of people. She radiates kindness and joy. Over the years, she met Senator Diana Feinstein and met visionaries such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Lathan made the San Francisco 80/80 list. She contributed to the city in many ways. However, you probably have no idea unless you sit down to chat. So, ABC7 News anchor Jobina Fortson spent a few hours with Lathan to hear her story.

Dorothy Lathan was born in Forrest City, Arkansas in 1932.

“I should always tell people that Forrest City, Arkansas was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was the first Great Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan,” Lathan said. “My city reflected everything he wanted to. He was very, very racist, very tightly insulated.”

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It was so bad that Lathan’s birth was never documented. Her family was too poor for a camera, so she has no photographs of her early childhood. Lathan did not receive a birth certificate until she was 20. Her family left Arkansas in hopes of a better life in St. Louis. Despite the fact that she had little money and opportunities, she went to college at Lincoln University. At school, she met the love of her life.

“I met Arthur Lathan,” she continued. “He was a big man on campus, very respected. He was a very good guy.”

Dorothy and Arthur Lathan were married from 1953 until his death last year. The military moved them to San Francisco in 1954. While Dorothy was fighting abroad during the Korean War, he began to build a life in the city. Much has remained the same.

“They have pastel-colored houses here,” Lathan said. “Beige, blue and yellow. I just thought they were so beautiful, and then I could take the tram and go to the zoo.”

There are some things we expect to change since the 1950s.

“My rent was $39 a month because my husband was on the job,” Lathan replied. “When he quit, the rent went up to $69 a month.”

Other elements of San Francisco have all but disappeared.

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“You can walk all day and not see a black person at the bank, at the grocery store, on the street,” Lathan continued. “There are almost no blacks in this city. But then they were. We had Fillmore, Hunters Point and Ingleside.”

Lathan and the history books agree that “renovation” or “urban renewal,” as some call it, has led to a rapid decline in the number of blacks and low-income people living in San Francisco. The Housing Act of 1949, signed into law by President Truman, cleared the way for the demolition and rebuilding of city blocks that the government considered slums. The western addition was the epicenter of this on the west coast. This resulted in approximately 20,000 people being displaced from Fillmore County.

“Then right after that, they started shutting down housing projects,” Lathan said. “Then San Francisco became so expensive and valuable that people started offering huge sums of money to sell their property.”

According to Bay Area Census data, blacks made up about 10% of San Francisco’s population in 1960, 13% in 1970, and 5% today. The Lathans are dedicated to preserving the black imprint in San Francisco. Among many roles, Arthur was the president of the NAACP city chapter.

“I was very politically active,” Lathan said. “Even the teachers were divided depending on where you got your assignment. We were sent to Hunters Point.”

In 1963, Lathan fought the San Francisco Unified School District and became the first black teacher at a Columbus elementary school. After 32 years, she retired as district director.

“Of all the things I’ve done, I’ve had the most joy and enjoyment in class,” Lathan said. “I enjoyed working with these kids.”

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Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was mayor at the time, appointed Lathan to the first Rent Control Board and brought her with her to Abidjan when it became San Francisco’s sister city. Lathan was the first woman president of Youth for Service, a city-based organization that helps teenagers in need. One of her most impressive contributions can be seen right in the city center.

“We just thought that Africans are everywhere, and not only that, everyone came from Africa,” Lathan said. “It was the seed of humanity, of life, and we should have a museum that reflects that.”

In 2000, Lathan, along with a team that included former mayor Willie Brown, began developing the San Francisco Museum of the African Diaspora, or MOAD. It opened in 2005.

“It was supposed to be the presence of blacks,” Lathan replied. “To make sure that a black component was included in the redevelopment of the city after you did the urban renewal that displaced so many blacks. Can’t you have at least one thing that gives some permanence?”

Kitsaun King has been working with the museum almost since its inception. She was born and raised in San Francisco and knows Lathan well.

“I was very excited because we don’t have anything like this in San Francisco and we never have,” King said.

“When I saw this place, I realized that this is a serious study of the diaspora,” continued King. “In 2015, we changed our focus to a museum of contemporary art. It really put us on the path we are on now and where we want to go, which is to support and develop contemporary artists from the African diaspora, wherever they are.”

Lathan’s participation in MOAD is a dream come true for her ancestors.

“I’m so excited that he survived because so many things are dying, but MOAD is very bright.”

At 90, Lathan is also full of energy.

See more stories related to Black History Month here.

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