Linda's Blogspot

Flora Wellman was far from a typical 19th-century mother. She was a fiercely independent, highly eccentric, and intellectually restless woman who spent much of her life dedicated to Spiritualism —a religious movement based on the belief that the spirits of the dead can communicate with the living. ​ Ms. Rivers and the WikiExplorers, finding that understanding Flora’s spiritualism is key to understanding  Jack London’s childhood and why he relied so heavily on the grounded, practical love of Jennie Prentiss . ​ 1. The Nature of Her Beliefs ​Flora didn’t just "dabble" in spiritualism; she made it her life's work. She frequently held séances in her home, acting as a medium to contact the "spirit world." ​ The "Guide": She claimed to be guided by the spirit of an indigenous person named "Plume." ​ The Trances: During Jack's childhood, he often witnessed his mother in "trance states," speaking in different voices or claim...

This is a narrative that truly transcends the era it was born in. It’s a story of "shared survival"—three people who, by all societal accounts, should have been broken by their circumstances, but instead formed a singular, unbreakable unit . ​Below a WikiExplorers Field Journal and a scene of Ms. Rivers and her students at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO). ​ WikiExplorers Field Journal: The "Two Mothers" Project and Jack London  ​Date: February 2026 Lead Explorer: Ms. Rivers Location: 659 14th St, Oakland (AAMLO Archives) ​The Scene: Discovery in the Archives ​Ms. Rivers: (Adjusting her glasses as she leans over a digitized 1910 Census record) "Look here, class. This isn't just a list of names. It’s a map of a family that the world said shouldn't exist. Address: 490 27th Street. Head of household: Virginia Prentiss. Living with her: Flora Wellman." ​Maya (Student 1): "Wait, Ms. Rivers... so after the suicide attempt, ...

  WikiExplorers , culture crawl during the 2026 Bioneers Conference in Berkeley,  California.  They journey through Oakland in search of historical threads that ties a world-famous author Jack London to an African American community and an African American foster mother .  ​Below a "Culture Crawl" that explores this historic bond. ​ The Two Women Who Mothered and Loved Jack London ​ By Ms. Rivers, Lead WikiExplorer ​In the late 1800s, while the city of Oakland was a chaotic frontier of railroads and docks, two women from different worlds formed a pact that would change American literature. Flora Wellman , a white spiritualist , and Virginia "Jennie" Prentiss , a formerly enslaved Black woman, shared the mothering of a boy who would become the world's most famous writer: Jack London. ​The history books often frame London as a rugged "lone wolf." But the archives at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) tell a deeper story...

  Eugene Lasartemay was a marine engineer with a  passion for history. How Eugene Lasartemay Built a Home for Black History ​In 1937, Eugene Lasartemay stood on the docks of San Francisco and did something no Black man before him had officially done: he boarded a ship as a licensed marine engineer. It was a career defined by internal combustion, pressure gauges, and the relentless machinery of the Pacific trade. But while Lasartemay spent his days ensuring engines ran smoothly, he spent his nights worried about a different kind of breakdown—the fading memory of his own people. ​ From the Boiler Room to the Archive ​Lasartemay’s journey from a licensed engineer to the "Dean of East Bay History" wasn't a career change; it was a mission of survival. Born in Hawaii and moving to California in the 1920s, he entered a state that was rapidly growing but systematically erasing the contributions of its Black residents. ​By 1946, Eugene and his wife, Ruth, realized that if the...

​ Eugene Pasqual Lasartemay ​Eugene Pasqual Lasartemay (May 17, 1903 – June 3, 1993) was an American historian, civic leader, and marine engineer. He is most notable as a co-founder of the East Bay Negro Historical Society (EBNHS), the predecessor to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO). His lifelong work focused on the preservation of African American history in California and the Western United States. ​ Early life and education ​Lasartemay was born in Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii, to Patricio Lasarte and Ana Eglesia Adeline Torres de Lasarte. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1920s to pursue an education in engineering. He graduated from Dobie’s Engineering College in San Francisco and, in 1937, became the first licensed African American marine engineer to sail from the Port of San Francisco. ​ Career and historical work ​After retiring from a career in marine engineering and the grocery industry in 1965, Lasartemay dedicated himself to historical preser...

Eugene Lasartemay was a foundational figure in chronicling the Black experience in the American West.  ​ The Guardian of Oakland’s Memories ​The Man Who Saved Our Stories: Eugene Lasartemay and the Birth of AAMLO ​Have you ever wondered what happens to history when nobody is looking? In the mid-1940s, a marine engineer named Eugene Lasartemay noticed a glaring silence in California’s history books. There were no stories about the Black pioneers, the laborers, or the community leaders who built the East Bay. ​Instead of waiting for someone else to fix it, Eugene and his wife, Ruth, started in their own living room. ​A Library Born from a Living Room In 1946, Eugene and Ruth Lasartemay, alongside their friends Jesse and Dr. Marcella Ford, began a decades-long mission. They collected everything: old funeral programs, family photos, letters, and oral histories. They understood that for a community to have a future, it must have a documented past. This humble collection eventually grew ...