Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific

November 15, 2025 – March 22, 2026

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 4pm

Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific at the Museum of Sonoma County reveals untold stories of Black seafarers and the North Coast of California.

Most accounts of the United States’ maritime enterprises are disproportionately populated by white seafarers. The Museum of Sonoma County is pleased to present an exhibition that expands that narrative to include the many Black whalers, commercial mariners, fishers, explorers, soldiers, and sailors who traveled along the Pacific Coast and traversed the high seas from the 16th century to the present day.

The exhibition has deep resonance on the North Coast of California ranging from the Black sailors who first arrived in the 16th century all the way to the Black sailors and shipyard workers of World War II who left a lasting, regional legacy. The Second Great Migration-a product of the World War II- brought millions of African Americans out of the US South for wartime job opportunities, many of which were found in the San Francisco Bay Area’s shipyards. Some sailors and their families eventually moved into Marin and Sonoma County, bolstering and at times establishing Black communities north of San Francisco.

Importantly, this exhibition recenters the relationship between Black folks, water, and ships. Take Me to the Water moves beyond the entrenched narrative of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and towards the understanding that Black people have not only existed in the Pacific region for centuries but played an integral role in the development of Pacific economy and society. Visitors will be introduced to the early freedoms some Africans experienced through exploration and service on the high seas, roots of seafaring and surfing that can be traced back to Africa’s western coast, Black labor in shipbuilding, longshoring and other coastal industries, Black folks’ advancements in scientific research, and the exchange of experiences, ideas, and creation of new communities for people of African descent along the Pacific.

About the Curator: 

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Caroline Collins, who charts her interest in Black people’s relationships with water and watercraft to a childhood that included regular visits to Southern California beaches. Dr. Collins is an incoming Assistant Professor at UC San Diego; UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at UC Irvine, an affiliated researcher with the Democracy Lab and the Indigenous Futures Institute at UC San Diego, and is a co-founder of “Black Like Water,” an interdisciplinary research collective at UCSD that highlights Black relationships to the natural world.

Exhibition Support

This project is made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. The exhibition tours through Exhibit Envoy.

The mission of the Museum of Sonoma County is to engage and inspire our diverse community with art and history exhibitions, collections, and public programs that are inclusive, educational, and relevant.