Land Acknowledgement

Berkeley Public Library buildings are built on the territory of xučyun (Hooch-yoon), within the homeland of the Chochenyo (Cho-chen-yo) speaking Ohlone (Oh-low-nee) people. See the full statement.

Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch

Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch Library Exterior photo
Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch Library Exterior Photo
Exterior of the Tarea Hall Pittman South Library
Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch Library Interior photo of signage honoring Tarea Hall Pittman
Currently Open
Monday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tuesday: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Wednesday: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Thursday: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Friday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

1901 Russell St.
Berkeley, CA 94703
United States

510-981-6260
Branch Desk

Branch Supervisor — Jill Tokutomi

Directions
AC Transit —

7 |  12 | 18 | 27 | F  Also accessible by BART at Ashby BART station. (Lines that run to/from Richmond)

Parking —

No parking lot; unmetered street parking is almost always available.

Map/Directions —

Follow this link to map and directions.

Upcoming at Tarea Hall Pittman South

  • Community Craft Circle @THP South

    Friday, October 23 2026 1:00pm - 4:00pm

    Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch - THPS Branch Meeting Room

    Community Craft Circle, work on your knitting, crochet, embroidery, or any craft you like! This is not a class, so there will be no instruction, but we learn from each other and enjoy conversation.

  • Samples and Scrapers Car Show and DJ Set @THP South - A Function of The Break Room

    the break room in a cube formation surrounding a collage picture of a dj and old school cars

    Saturday, October 24 2026 2:00pm - 5:00pm

    Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch - THPS Branch Meeting Room

    The Black American Sound System is joining forces with the Berkeley Public Library to transform its branches into vibrant hubs of Black musical culture and community memory.

  • Free Flu Vaccine Pop-up Clinic @THP South

    Gloved hands place a bandage on a person’s upper arm after an injection.

    Monday, October 26 2026 12:00pm - 2:00pm

    Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch - THPS Branch Meeting Room

    Flu season is here! Protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community by getting a free flu shot.

  • Baby/Toddler Storytime @THP South

    Tuesday, October 27 2026 10:30am - 11:00am

    Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch - THPS Branch Meeting Room

    Baby/Toddler Storytime @THP South Books, rhymes, music and more

  • Cultivating Compassion in Difficult Times @THP South

    cultivating compassion flyer

    Tuesday, October 27 2026 6:00pm - 7:00pm

    Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch - THPS Branch Meeting Room

    Join Khenpo Karma Tenkyong in discussing the the importance of compassion, and its cultivation in difficult times.

See all events

About Tarea Hall Pittman

Tarea (Ty) Hall Pittman was a civil rights worker, social worker, and community activist. Born in Bakersfield, California in 1903, she was the second of the five children of William Hall and Susie Pinkney. Her father, a farm laborer who moved from Alabama to Bakersfield in 1895, helped his brothers found the Bakersfield Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
 
Although Pittman experienced racial prejudice in Bakersfield, she did attend integrated public schools and in 1923 enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley.  Black students were not allowed to reside in campus housing leading Pittman to use personal connections to find accommodations.   Through these connections she also met William Pittman, a dental student whom she married in 1927.
 
Pittman became active in the NAACP and California State Association of Colored Women’s Clubs in the early 1930s.  She served as President of the Association from 1936 to 1938.  Her work with the Association included voter registration and funding orphanages for African American children.  In 1936 she organized west coast branches of the National Negro Congress and assisted in the creation of the Negro Education Council which provided research for and funded “Negroes in the News,” a radio program devoted to publicizing positive news about the African American community.  Pittman often hosted the programs as well and became a recognized radio personality across the U.S.
 
After dropping out of school to marry her husband and support his career, Pittman returned to college and received an A.B. in social service from San Francisco State College in 1939.  In 1941, Pittman, anticipating the large scale migration of blacks to the West Coast, began helping the first arrivals from the South integrate into Bay Area communities.  She also organized protests against Kaiser Shipyards and other war industries in 1941 and 1942 to force them to hire African Americans.
 
Pittman, always an active clubwoman, served as President of the California Council of Negro Women from 1948 to 1951.  She also continued her civil rights work, helping to desegregate the Oakland Fire Department in 1952 and working on behalf of the NAACP, helping to lobby successfully for the California Fair Employment Practice (FEP) bill which was signed into law in 1959 by Governor Edmund “Pat” Brown. Partly because of this success Pittman served as Director of the West Coast Region of the NAACP from 1961 to 1965.  During her tenure, she worked to get FEP laws passed in Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada.
 
Pittman retired from the NAACP in 1970 but continued to broadcast the “Negroes in the News” radio program into the late 1970s. After protracted illness, she passed away on July 31, 1991, having been an integral part of the civil rights and social welfare movements in the Bay Area and the West Coast for much of the 20th Century. - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/aaw/pittman-tarea-hall-1903-1991#sthash.F75xVJ11.dpuf