Hello, all!
In 1872, Emperor Norton set out the original vision for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge with three Proclamations that all were published in The Pacific Appeal — an African American-owned and -operated weekly newspaper that the Emperor named his "imperial gazette" in January 1871.
The Proclamations were published on January 6th; on March 23rd; and on September 21st.
The issue date of any given Proclamation typically did not match the date of publication. In this case, the Proclamation was issued on September 17th — the date we just celebrated as Empire Day! It was the 13th anniversary of the Emperor's public reign.
For all three bridge Proclamations — including links to images of the original newspaper pages, showing how the Proclamations appeared in the context of the paper — click here.
:: :: ::
This is a perfect day to sign and/or share The Emperor's Bridge Campaign's petition calling on the California legislature simply to add "Emperor Norton Bridge" as an honorary name for the Bay Bridge — leaving in place all existing names for the bridge and its parts — and for lawmakers to...
Do this in 2022 — the 150th anniversary of the Emperor's bridge Proclamations.
As of this writing, there are 6,086 signatures — just 14 shy of 6,100.
Let's clear the next century mark this weekend!
For much more on the Campaign's bridge-naming project, go to...
Cheers,
JOHN LUMEA
The Emperor's Bridge Campaign
www.EmperorsBridge.org