The museum, which showcases the culture and art of African peoples throughout history and the present day with interactive displays, exhibits, presentations and performances, plays upon the themes of origins, movement, adaptation and transformation.

After more than a decade of steadily declining health, Rosa Parks died on Oct. 24 of natural causes. She was 92 years old.

The most Asian thing about me is my eating habits. There is no question about it. Dinner is, and has always been, rice, vegetables, meat and fish. So when the idea of trying the Mediterranean diet came up, I was definitely up for a chance to break out of my routine.

The Mediterranean is a broad region of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, including Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, North Africa and the Middle East. The diet relies heavily on olive oil, seasonal fruits and vegetables and whole-grain bread.

May 17, 1954 — In the case of Brown vs. Board of Education Kansas, the Supreme Court unanimously rules to end racial tolerance of segregation in schools. The 1896 “separate but equal” ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson is overturned because black students are not getting an equal education. In the ruling, chief justice Earl Warren wrote that some students were not getting the protection they deserved under the 14th Amendment. The decision begins a long process to enable all students to get an equal education. (http://college.hmco.com/history)

Illustrations by Susan Lau

“I participated in the Faithful Fools’ street retreat in the Tenderloin as part of Unitarian Universalist Coming of Age program,” Shackelford said. “Once I did it, it became a spiritual journey for me.”

The Faithful Fools is a charitable program and self-described "street ministry" in the city that leads participants on walks through the Tenderloin in an effort to find truths about the poverty-stricken neighborhood and themselves.

Walking down Haight Street at night, the sweet smells of apple or honey, and the sound of Middle-Eastern music eminate from a busy room filled with people enjoying Middle-Eastern cuisine. Café Kan Zaman offers San Franciscans a taste of Middle-Eastern culture, not only through food but also hookah.

Hookah, a traditional Middle Eastern or Asian water pipe used for smoking tobacco, is a new hit among young San Franciscans. This popularity stems from travelers returning from Europe, where some coffee shops also offers hookah pipes and from people visiting the Middle-East, where they often experiment with exotic cultural items. San Francisco is a city rich in cultural diversity.

"In the beginning, people would stare at me when I would speak Chinese," junior Sati Houston said, "They would say 'Oh my God!' A black person speaking Chinese! "

Houston who takes Chinese 5, speaks the language at home with her mother, a native of Taiwan. She said people think she looks African-American, even though she is a mix of ethnicities from all around the globe.

"People ask me, 'Are you black?'" Houston said. "I tell them I'm part African-American, but I'm also Taiwanese, Native American, Italian and Mexican."