Hayward is Home
Site Overview
Nestled between the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay and the foothills of the Diablo Range, the city of Hayward holds profound histories. The peoples and ecologies of Hayward have both reflected and propelled significant historical change worthy of sustained attention now.
Created by History majors at California State University, East Bay, this digital history project identifies three unique lines of inquiry for the study of Hayward. Overcoming great challenge and hardship, residents of this particular place have defined meaningful and artful ideas of home; they undertook one of the world’s most significant ecological restoration projects at the shoreline of San Francisco Bay; and they have invested hard work in supporting and caring for one another. History majors identified these key themes by scouring local archives, by consulting current scholarship, and by listening to community members today.
Above all, this project argues that we have much to learn from Haywardians as we seek to repair the harms of the past, help and respect one another, and give space for ecological diversity. It is a rich and deeply important history, found in a local and seemingly ordinary place.
We have chosen to present these lines of inquiry in digital form, to give special expression to the beauty and heartfelt efforts by residents of this area to make meaningful homes, understand the ecology of this place, and to sustain each other in community and identity.
This website was developed within the span of a 15-week semester, as part of a course introducing digital history to History majors; Hayward is Home is not intended to offer complete histories of the themes identified. Rather, our goals have been to reveal the power of digital formats for humanistic study as well as to indicate the significant history found in Hayward and robust resources available now for its study.
Holše Warep, Beautiful Land
Hayward is Home necessarily begins with ideas of home from the Muwekma Ohlone. “Hayward” as place is, in fact, a stunningly brief history, within the far longer home-making in the region by Muwekma Ohlone People. Hayward resides in unceded ancestral land, home today to descendants of the First People, Jalquin/Yrgin Chochenyo Ohlone-speaking tribal groups. For centuries, Muwekma Ohlone have continuously cared for their rightful lands and settled homes. Moreover, they have extended crucial knowledge of Indigenous history and culture of the region. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Land Acknowledgement makes this history known.
Lacking formal U.S. recognition because of academic malfeasance, the Muwekma Ohlone have preserved the history of this region, “with no places other than homes to meet and revitalize our traditions, language, and dances.” This experience is crucial to understanding the region’s history. “Home” in Hayward has been a site of identity-formation and family protection for many groups of people. However, absent other forms of power and sovereignty, family homes have been vulnerable to dispossession and violence, time and again in Hayward.
This digital history project highlights individuals, families, and communities that have made Hayward home in culturally powerful ways. But this home-making has always been a hard-won and precarious undertaking. We invite review of these historical patterns of home-making and home-breaking, in order to generate new ways to sustain families and communities in their creation of place.
NAHC Digital Atlas (ca.gov)
Digital Atlas of California Native Americans
Hayward is Home
Site Overview
Nestled between the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay and the foothills of the Diablo Range, the city of Hayward holds profound histories. The peoples and ecologies of Hayward have both reflected and propelled significant historical change worthy of sustained attention now.
Created by History majors at California State University, East Bay, this digital history project identifies three unique lines of inquiry for the study of Hayward. Overcoming great challenge and hardship, residents of this particular place have defined meaningful and artful ideas of home; they undertook one of the world’s most significant ecological restoration projects at the shoreline of San Francisco Bay; and they have invested hard work in supporting and caring for one another. History majors identified these key themes by scouring local archives, by consulting current scholarship, and by listening to community members today.
Above all, this project argues that we have much to learn from Haywardians as we seek to repair the harms of the past, help and respect one another, and give space for ecological diversity. It is a rich and deeply important history, found in a local and seemingly ordinary place.
We have chosen to present these lines of inquiry in digital form, to give special expression to the beauty and heartfelt efforts by residents of this area to make meaningful homes, understand the ecology of this place, and to sustain each other in community and identity.
This website was developed within the span of a 15-week semester, as part of a course introducing digital history to History majors; Hayward is Home is not intended to offer complete histories of the themes identified. Rather, our goals have been to reveal the power of digital formats for humanistic study as well as to indicate the significant history found in Hayward and robust resources available now for its study.
Holše Warep, Beautiful Land
Hayward is Home necessarily begins with ideas of home from the Muwekma Ohlone. “Hayward” as place is, in fact, a stunningly brief history, within the far longer home-making in the region by Muwekma Ohlone People. Hayward resides in unceded ancestral land, home today to descendants of the First People, Jalquin/Yrgin Chochenyo Ohlone-speaking tribal groups. For centuries, Muwekma Ohlone have continuously cared for their rightful lands and settled homes. Moreover, they have extended crucial knowledge of Indigenous history and culture of the region. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Land Acknowledgement makes this history known.
Lacking formal U.S. recognition because of academic malfeasance, the Muwekma Ohlone have preserved the history of this region, “with no places other than homes to meet and revitalize our traditions, language, and dances.” This experience is crucial to understanding the region’s history. “Home” in Hayward has been a site of identity-formation and family protection for many groups of people. However, absent other forms of power and sovereignty, family homes have been vulnerable to dispossession and violence, time and again in Hayward.
This digital history project highlights individuals, families, and communities that have made Hayward home in culturally powerful ways. But this home-making has always been a hard-won and precarious undertaking. We invite review of these historical patterns of home-making and home-breaking, in order to generate new ways to sustain families and communities in their creation of place.
NAHC Digital Atlas (ca.gov)
Digital Atlas of California Native Americans
Holše Warep, Beautiful Land
Hayward is Home necessarily begins with ideas of home from the Muwekma Ohlone. “Hayward” as place is, in fact, a stunningly brief history, within the far longer home-making in the region by Muwekma Ohlone People.
Meanings of Home
Through the 20th century, Haywardians thought keenly about the meanings of home, perhaps because so many came from other places. Haywardians saw their homes inextricably linked to the Bay Area’s great beauty, a consequence of Muwekma Ohlone land stewardship.
Understandings
Haywardians have generated crucial new knowledge of the environment and ecology. In particular, they have created contributed enormously to the field of ornithology. After European and American private enterprises destroyed portions of Hayward’s Bay shoreline, a local environmental movement arose to restore and protect the unique shoreline ecology.
Belonging
Two remarkable community-based news organizations originated in Hayward in the 1970s, one primarily focused upon the LGBTQ+ community and the other for East Bay Latinx communities. Both were remarkable in the ways they created connection and belonging through culture, support, and local and state-wide political action.
Holše Warep, Beautiful Land
Hayward is Home necessarily begins with ideas of home from the Muwekma Ohlone. “Hayward” as place is, in fact, a stunningly brief history, within the far longer home-making in the region by Muwekma Ohlone People.
Meanings of Home
Through the 20th century, Haywardians thought keenly about the meanings of home, perhaps because so many came from other places. Haywardians saw their homes inextricably linked to the Bay Area’s great beauty, a consequence of Muwekma Ohlone land stewardship.
Understandings
Haywardians have generated crucial new knowledge of the environment and ecology. In particular, they have created contributed enormously to the field of ornithology. After European and American private enterprises destroyed portions of Hayward’s Bay shoreline, a local environmental movement arose to restore and protect the unique shoreline ecology.
Belonging
Two remarkable community-based news organizations originated in Hayward in the 1970s, one primarily focused upon the LGBTQ+ community and the other for East Bay Latinx communities. Both were remarkable in the ways they created connection and belonging through culture, support, and local and state-wide political action.