Gwen Morris remembers the spark that ignited a unique documentary film project called Blacksno, which records oral histories of African Americans in the Central Valley.  “I was sitting in an executive committee meeting for a well-intentioned community organization, and they started presenting a history and timeline of racism in Fresno,” she said. “I saw it, and I kind of chuckled. I’m 75 years old, and I’ve lived here all my life! So the history of Fresno and what goes on in

Photo courtesy of the Fresno City & County Historical Society and the Pop Laval Foundation. All rights reserved. Julia Bell, known as the woman who planted Fowler’s first peach tree, was a pioneering landowner and community leader in rural Fresno County. Widowed by 1900, she headed her household, helped reunite family members migrating from the South, and co-founded the area’s first all-Black church, First Baptist Church. In 1919, when Fowler was little more than a wheat fiel

A significant component of the Facing Fresno learning program is the exploration of a timeline that highlights significant moments in the history of Fresno, our state and the nation. What does it mean to “face Fresno”? For julie vue, Senior Program Officer at the Central Valley Community Foundation, it involves raising awareness of the complex history that shaped our Valley and how decisions made long ago continue to influence our lives today.  In her role at the Foundation,

Photo courtesy of the Fresno City & County Historical Society and the Pop Laval Foundation.  All rights reserved. Photographed in 1900, the Quong Shun Wo Store in Fresno’s China Alley is decorated for Chinese New Year. Following the arrival of the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1870s, many Chinese laborers settled in Fresno after track construction ended. By the 1880s, a thriving Chinatown had emerged just west of downtown, serving as a vital cultural and commercial hub for

Newspaper clipping from The Fresno Bee, December 7, 1989.  Used with permission from the Fresno City & County Historical Society.  All rights reserved. In 2006, the Fresno Regional Foundation, as it was then known, marked 40 years of serving the community. At an event to celebrate this accomplishment, former executive director Bob Miner looked at the hundreds gathered and said, “Is this our little foundation?” It was a full-circle moment for Mr. Miner, the Central Valley Comm