Sanborn & San Antonio Parks

What is their story?

Sanborn Park (now known as Josie de la Cruz Park) and San Antonio Park are two parks that played an important role as gathering places for rallies, community mobilizations and protests during Oakland’s Chicano Movement in the Fruitvale.

During the late 1960’s and through the 1970’s, marked by a dynamic rise in political activism and grassroots organizing, the Mexican and Chicano communities in Oakland used both of these parks as gathering places for rallies, political marches and community celebrations such as the Chicano Moratorium, rallies against police brutality and many Dia del Barrio celebrations. Marches would often begin in Sanborn Park and end at San Antonio Park, allowing for the march route to go through the heart of residential Fruitvale neighborhoods. These gatherings helped galvanize the nascent Chicano movement and forge a strong Chicano community in the Fruitvale - whose legacy continues to this day.

Today, both parks - San Antonio and Josie de la Cruz/ Carmen Flores Park continue to be an important gathering place for the community.