August 2020 – West Oakland Stories Positive Feeling Movement Inc

ED HOWARD LIFE STORY: PART 6B

ED HOWARD LIFE STORY PART 6B

ED HOWARD’S LIFE STORY

WHY DID OAKLAND NOT BURN BACK IN THE 1960’S SINCE THE MEDIA PLAYED US UP TO BE THE MOST MILITANT CITY IN AMERICA.

I know now why I made such a vital impact with the Kaiser Industries Advisory Board members because at the time they had no real connection to the Black community.

Kaisers Engineers promoted me from the Configuration Engineering Designer Draftsman and gave me a title of Assistant to the Vice President of Kaiser Engineers; and an office next to his; and my own secretary – I was still in my 20’s.

I was the brainchild of the things I made happen At Kaiser (listed below) through my position listed above working with the Kaiser Volunteers who donated their time and skills to local Black business projects.

In the listings below, every time you see the word DIGNITY it’s the same as saying the Afro American Association.

• I Designed the Configuration Engineering Drafting Training program, interviewed each trainee and was their teacher for two years (two different classes); and placed them in Kaiser Engineers and Kaiser Industries Engineering design departments after they completed the program.

• Summer Hiring Program: Placed high school students in office training positions each summer.

• Dignity Inc.: The economic arm of the Afro-American Association and that arm were Attorney Don Warden and I.

• I was the Producer of the Black Dignity TV Show on KGO-TV in San Francisco California

• Dignity Enterprises

• Dignity Sewing Company

• Dignity Mobile Car Wash

• Nairobi Consultant and Associates (Black professionals and businessmen supporters)

• Dignity Press (I personally signed for a loan of $50, 000 from Bank of America for the printing facility, equipment and production stock for this business start-up).

• Dignity Wooden containers pallets and other related products. (I redesigned the first pallet).

The activities above were widely known in Black Oakland.

READ THE KAISER HOME OFFICE NEWSLETTER FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THESE PROGRAMS

Many people in the media at that time speculated that Oakland would burn – not one match was ever scratched. Black Oakland was too busy taking advantage of the opportunities being opened up to us.

Friends, I hope you enjoyed the first six posts our series detailing the life of Oakland original pioneer, film maker, engineer, TV producer, and night club owner–just to name a few titles–Mr. Ed Howard.

Be sure check out the West Oakland Stories short historical film, as well as the brief documentary “Between Black & White” detailing the historical alliances between Greek & Black communities. Both videos are not to be missed! Among one another, let’s put the No Negative Speak movement into practice.

In the second half of our sixth segment, a two-part story especially timely given the current civil rights movement in our streets, Mr. Howard in his own words memories from his role in Oakland’s political movements of the 1960’s.

Apollo Papafrangou

Follow Ed Howard’s story! Click the link for episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5: www.westoaklandstories.org

https://westoaklandstories.org/…

West Oakland Stories Positive Feeling Movement Inc – “No Negative Speak” with each other…

STAY TUNED : Ed Howard resigns from Kaiser and goes into business for himself in the coming 7th segment.

Pic 1: Ed Howard Producer of Black Dignity TV show

Pic 2: Kaiser Newsletter Description of projects EH was the mastermind under the name of Dignity Inc.

Pic 3: Ed Howard present day

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ED HOWARD LIFE STORY PART 6A

ED HOWARD – WEST OAKLAND STORIES (PART 6A)

ED HOWARD’S LIFE STORY

WHY DID OAKLAND NOT BURN BACK IN THE 1960’S SINCE THE MEDIA PLAYED US UP TO BE THE MOST MILITANT CITY IN AMERICA?

My Oakland Kaiser Engineers stories will take a book to explain, but I will attempt to summarize it the best way I can here.

I literally convinced Kaiser Engineers and Kaiser Industries to open up its hiring practice for white collar jobs to Black people in great numbers and that ended the old way of only having a token Negro in the office.

Kaiser was one of the most powerful businesses in Oakland at that time, so when the other Oakland companies saw Kaiser open up its business to Black people, they did the same.

Three years at Lockheed I grew tired of commuting to Sunnyvale, California so I got an interview with Kaiser Engineers and was hired. I resigned from Lockheed.

After being hired by Kaiser Engineers, I asked if I could go back to my high school (McClymonds) and talk to the students because I was an example for them to see what can be achieved coming from West Oakland. The first class I visited was Mr. Ben Tapscott’s Mechanical Drawing class, he turned out to be the first Black coach in the Oakland Unified School system. I believe Mr. Tapscott was just beginning his teaching career in Oakland.

Kaiser Management, to my surprise, really praised me after I visited a few schools; they began to question me about the Black community. The most consistent question was “What do Black people want?”, and my answer was always “jobs and money”.

I was invited to come to a meeting in Walnut Creek at an exclusive country club to meet the top executives of Kaiser Industries – they just looked at me, no conversation. The next week I was offered a position to be a member of the Kaiser Industries Advisory Board.

You must remember in this time period (1963-1969) Medgar Evers, John Kennedy, Malcom X, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated; and the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland.

I am a West Oakland street person and I already had a neighborhood jacket of always being in the streets. Also, I was a key member of the Afro-American Association, which was the main group in Black Oakland before the Black Panther Party. AAA was responsible for Black Oakland changing from using the term “Negro” to “Black” or “African American” and we also created the Black Handshake; and in general, we were responsible for getting the study of Black Culture message out to Black Oakland.

To be continued: Part 6B

Follow Ed Howard’s story! Click the link for episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5: www.westoaklandstories.org

Pic 1: Ed Howard giving instruction in the Kaiser Engineers Design room. 1963-64.

Pic 2: 1966 Letter from Oakland’s Roosevelt Junior High School welcoming Ed Howard as guest speaker.

Pic 3: WOSPSM “Black handshake” logo.

Pic 4: Ed Howard present day.

Friends, I hope you enjoyed the first five posts in our series detailing the life of Oakland original pioneer, film maker, engineer, TV host, night club owner–just to name a few titles–Mr. Ed Howard.

Be sure to check out the West Oakland Stories short historical film, as well as the brief documentary “Between Black & White” detailing the historical alliances between Greek & Black communities. Both videos are not to be missed! Among one another, let’s put the No Negative Speak movement into practice.

In our sixth segment, a two-part story especially timely given the current civil rights movement in our streets, Mr. Howard in his own words shares memories from his role in Oakland’s political movements of the 1960’s.

Follow Ed Howard’s story! Click the link for episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5: www.westoaklandstories.org

Apollo Papafrangou

West Oakland Stories Positive Feeling Movement Inc – No Negative Speak With each other.

#townbiz #oakland #westoakland #oaklandhistory

ED HOWARD – LIFE STORIES (PART 5: The Real World

Friends, I hope you enjoyed the first four posts in our series detailing the life of Oakland original pioneer, film maker, engineer, TV host, night club owner–just to name a few titles–Mr. Ed Howard.

In our fifth segment, Mr. Howard in his own words shares positive memories from his young adulthood in venturing beyond West Oakland in search of work opportunities.

Photo 1: Lockheed, 1950s.
Photo 2: Ed Howard at Lockheed office, 1950s.
Photo 3: Ed Howard home from work.
Photo 4: Ed Howard present day.

Check out parts 1-4: www.westoaklandstories.org

Apollo Papafrangou

Ed Howard Life Story (Part 5)

INTRODUCTION TO THE REAL WORLD

1959 – I have completed college, married, one child and no job. I looked for a job in engineering – interviewing in every engineering firm I could find in my field from Oakland to Sacramento; and from Oakland to San Jose. I was not hired because at that time it was very very rare to find any engineering company that would employ a Black man in its work force.

I reverted back to the State of California Unemployment Office to see if they could place me in a job. I was lucky and was placed in a small company on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland – Matt Lawrence Orthopedic design, repair and manufacturer. I obtained experience in layout design of pneumatic and hydraulic valves; procedures and standards; and hands on machinist operator of lathes, drill press, routers, etc. Sadly a few months later I was told by the owner that he liked me and my work very much but his employees, who were all white men, told him that they were not comfortable with me working there, so in spite of my good work, he laid me off two weeks from Christmas 1959.

Now I am out of work again so I go back to Lockheed Aero Space in Sunnyvale California. I had an interview there before but this time I presented my resume and they noticed I had machinist experience – they offered me a job as a Radial Router Operator. Once I got in, I started to read all the signs, posters and company information that I could. I discovered that after a three-month probation period in the company you could apply for any of the in-house jobs posted in the plant. A post for an Engineering Electro/Mechanical Layout Designer was posted – I applied and got the job.

At Lockheed I was exposed to the highest level of Engineering Technology because they had the contract to design the Polaris Missile for the U S Government. I was introduced to the new engineering technology of that time – the printer circuitry board using electronic design schematics with electronic components such as diodes, resistors, transistors, etc.; and the appropriate mechanical design to house all the electronic.

Next: Part 6 – My Journey to Kaiser Engineers. Some people say I had a lot to do with Oakland not burning in the 1960’s because of the things I was involved in at Kaiser Engineering, and being on the Kaiser Industries Advisory Board of Directors, Oakland California from 1963-1970. Stay tuned.

Follow Ed Howard’s Story! Click link for episodes 1,2,3&4 (www.westoaklandstories.org)

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