Lillian Love - Oakland

Lillian Q. Love interviewed for television in Oak Village, August 23, 1967. Source: Moriah Ulinskas/Oakland Redevelopment Agency

Lillian Q. Love (April 3, 1912 – February 20, 1987) was an activist who helped fight the plans for 'urban renewal' in West Oakland. She was the mother of Bill Love, professor emeritus at Merritt College, and described as "civic leader, activist, and the unofficial 'Mayor of West Oakland'" ¹

Lillian Qutee Love, born in Texas April 3, 1912, was recognized by many as the unofficial “mayor of West Oakland.” A member of the West Oakland Improvement Club, Love co-founded the Oak Center Neighborhood Association (OCNA) in 1963, a homeowners’ organization that fought the city for housing-rehabilitation funding in place of proposed redevelopment. She led a five year-long fight against the Oakland Redevelopment Agency and accused the Oakland Redevelopment Agency’s first director, Thomas Bell, of purposefully misleading Oak Center residents regarding the agency’s plans. In March of 1964, Bell resigned under pressure from the federal Urban Renewal Administration. In 1966 the OCNA was awarded a $15 million grant for rehabilitation of Oak Center homes by the agency’s new director John B. Williams. That same year she was sworn in as an agency commissioner.

A staunch Republican, Love credited her mother (Martel Meneweather) and father (Earl Meneweather) for instilling her belief in “self-reliance”. The Meneweathers had unsuccessfully fought the development of public housing (Peralta Villa) in West Oakland in the 1930s, which caused the forced relocation of the Meneweather family. In the 1960s, Love challenged the “War on Poverty” programs, which she believed created lucrative bureaucratic jobs, but neglected the poor whom the programs were meant to serve.

Love graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in child development. She worked for the City of Oakland Health Department in 1933 and from 1948-1955. She worked as a social worker and community resource consultant for Alameda County from 1955-1976 and co-owned a furniture company with her husband. She was a founding member of the Church of the Good Shepherd of Oakland and served as the church’s first financial secretary. She served on the boards of the West Oakland Improvement Association, the Young Republicans of California, the Sunset District Community Council, the One Hundred Eighty Block Club, the McClymonds’ Citizen Advisory Committee, and as president of the Oak Center Neighborhood Committee.

She served six years on the Oakland Economic Development Council, was a member of the Community Development Advisory Commission in the 1970s, and on the Special Advisory Board to the state Office of Economic Opportunity. In 1973 she served as Chairwoman of Mayor John Reading’s re-election committee. In 1985 she led a protest against Oakland City Council’s proposal for high density residential buildings. Love died February 20, 1987.