March Program Attraction
by Nilda Rego

Richard Schwartz, author of Earthquake Exodus, 1906 is to be our speaker on March 16th at Aegis on Country Club Drive and he has accepted. This April 18th is the 100th anniversary of the big quake. Schwartz will be talking about the refugees who came to the East Bay. His talk will be augmented by a slide show.

Something about the book

Earthquake Exodus, 1906, Berkeley responds to the San Francisco Refugees is the new book by Berkeley's own historian Richard Schwartz. It contains over 200 photos, many of which have never been seen by the public before and many others that have not been published in 100 years. But more important than the amazing visual feast Schwartz provides us with the stories he retrieved from the "dust bin of history." The stories of the amazing Berkeley Relief Committee, the citizens of Berkeley saving the lives of 15,000 San Francisco earthquake and fire refugees and the effect the ten-week relief period had on everyone who went through it - refugee and relief workers alike - are ones that we are so enriched by Schwartz having saved them.
Who would have thought there was such an effort mounted by ordinary citizens, maintained by them and their donations of food, clothing, housing, time and caring. Who would have known the effort, monumental in its day, could have been so forgotten. When we see our counterparts of one hundred years ago being so capable and effective in such an overwhelming emergency and are inevitably drawn to comparing it to our own response to the Katrina disaster, we are sobered and wish to read more to glean the simple secrets of their success.

Schwartz went to scores of sources over years of research to pull a coherent picture of life in this tumultuous period for us to relish. He describes life the day before the quake in Berkeley and describes the experiences of going through the event in the east bay. Then Schwartz details the damage we never knew existed in Berkeley from this quake.

Following a thorough walk through town viewing the damage, we are then told of the amazing Relief Committee, its forming within hours of the quake and its activities those many weeks. When the relief period is over, we are presented with the reconstruction era of a new and changed Berkeley, with a swollen population, an expanding real estate building boom and a new culture, changed forever by the events of 1906. Schwartz claims we were put on a trajectory by that event that we are still effected by today if we know how to look. And in this book, he gives us the details and tools to do just that.

This book is a gift to the citizens of 2006 of the Bay Area and beyond, just as the citizens of 1906 gave their gift to the refugees. Do not miss this opportunity to learn about a real reason for the whole town to celebrate its kindness and success and look to the past to prepare for the inevitable future we must meet. Schwartz has done it again and we suggest you partake in reclaiming this monumental and thoroughly forgotten Bay Area history.

Earthquake Exodus, 1906, Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees is a work of art and masterful history telling. We guarantee you will feel proud, good and better prepared after reading it.

Biographical notes on Mr. Schwartz

Richard Schwartz grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1968 at Central High School he won varsity football's "Team Award" and was the undefeated Pennsylvania State Fencing Champion in 1969. Schwartz graduated from Temple University in 1973 with a bachelor's degree in English literature. For two years while at Temple he supported himself by working on a Pennsylvania Dutch farm eleven hours a day, three days a week.

He came to Berkeley in 1973 and formed the New World Trio, an acoustical jazz trio with Eric Vaughan (grandson of Sarah Vaughan) on piano, Samandi Aheshma on bass, and himself on drums. He also played in Abukar, a Berkeley Latin jazz sextet, and taught drums in a Berkeley after school program.

In 1976 Schwartz joined the U.S. Forest Service to fight fires in the Sierra. It was during this time that he came across an ancient sixty-five foot stone circle near Truckee. His curiosity about this configuration led to his first book. The Circle of Stones, a nonfiction archeological mystery.

Schwartz has written articles for the Alameda County Historical Society, the Berkeley Historical Society, the Truckee Historical Society, and the Bay Area Rock Art Research Association on this and other Native American and American historical topics. He has given book readings for The Circle of Stones at bookstores and historical societies.

In 1982 Schwartz earned his General Building Contractors license from the State of California, where he is also certified to condemn and examine buildings for the State after an earthquake. He continues through the present to be active in the construction trades and has specialized in earthquake retrofitting.

In the early 1990's he joined a Brazilian samba school and played in San Francisco and Oakland Carnivals. In 1992 he traveled to Brazil and studied Afro Brazilian drumming with renowned drummer Carlinios Brown. He co-led Orixa Ba Ba of San Francisco on billings that included Ray Charles and Tower of Power. The group also performed on KQED television.

In 1996 Schwartz was at the Berkeley Historical Society when a stack of Berkeley newspapers circa 1900 was about to be discarded. These rescued Berkeley Gazettes became the basis for the book, Berkeley 1900.

Richard Schwartz put four years into the research, writing and production of Berkeley 1900 and published it himself. Berkeley 1900 was on the East Bay Best Sellers List in the East Bay Express for ten months. The book was chosen by the San Francisco Chronicle as a Holiday Gift Book in 2000.

Mr. Schwartz just released Earthquake Exodus, 1906. It is the only book to focus on the refugees instead of the disaster. Mayor Bates has already utilized the research on the book to comment on the response to Katrina.

More information about Mr. Schwartz can be found at http://www.RichardSchwartz.info