Donato Cruz is a first-generation graduate and researcher whose parents came to California from Oaxaca (father) and Zacatecas (Mother), Mexico. He earned both a Bachelor’s of Arts and Master’s of Arts degree in History from California State University, Bakersfield. Donato’s master’s thesis, ” ‘America’s Newest City’: 1950s Bakersfield and the Making of the Modern Suburban Segregated Landscape” (2020), examines housing segregation and urban development of post-war Bakersfield, California, 1940-1960. Donato currently works as a processing archivist at the Historical Research Center and Archives (HRC), located inside the Walter W. Stiern Library, at CSU, Bakersfield. His master’s thesis was used as a starting point for the HRC’s “America’s Newest Cities: Housing and “Red Lining” in California’s Central Valley,” exhibition in 2023. The exhibition and master’s thesis have been used by public policy writers, local educators, and community-based organizations for social equity change. Donato also provides community research support and resources, coordinating volunteers, processing collections, and digitizing records. When he is not helping researchers, he also assists our History students with internships, archival training, and discussing various historical topics.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8835-2777
Community Collaborations and Public History
2026- Interview: A Black History Month profile of H.H. Collins KGET News, February 2, 2026
2026- The Critical Role of Ethnic Studies in Educational Leadership book chapter: “Ethnic Studies Curricular Considerations: A Case Study of Housing Discrimination in Kern County” by Jeremiah Sataraka, Donato Cruz, and Christopher Livingston. Pending Publication 2026
2025 502 Recovering Silenced Histories: Epistemic Activism in California’s San Joaquin Valley Society of American Archivists, August 26, 2025
2025- Panel 25: Racial Restrictive Covenant Projects in Western States: Making Public History Matter, Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association, July 31, 2025
2024- “Community workshop sheds light on housing inequality in Bakersfield,” Kern Sol News, October 25, 2024
2024- Bakersfield’s History of Redlining, The Renegade Rip, April 19 2024
2024- Ep 2. From Exhibit To Empowerment: A Journey Through City Oral History! Urban Beginnings Podcast March 27 2024
2023- CSU Bakersfield, Exploring housing discrimination in Kern County, November 2023
2023- Grant Analyst, Research Analyst, America’s Newest Cities: Housing and “Red Lining” in California’s Central Valley * CSU Bakersfield Auxiliary for Sponsored Programs Administration, Bakersfield, California Humanities, Summer 2023
2023- Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc. (GBLA) 10th Annual Fair Housing Conference “Opening Doors to Housing Opportunity,” Presentation, “Kern County Redlining: Addressing the California Association of Realtor’s Apology in 2022,” April 28, 2023
2023- Civil Rights in the American West, Public History Institute at California State University, Bakersfield, 2023
2022- “The sound of something better,” A legacy of racial injustice in Bakersfield, Walter W. Stiern Library, October 26, 2022
2022- Redistricting and Redlining and Effects on BIPOC Communities panel discussion, Kern County Library, October 20, 2022
2022- Graphic Designer and History Consultant, “Fact or Fiction: Looking at the Migrant Labor Experience in 1930s California,” Fall to Spring 2022
2022- Interview, “An exhibit at CSU Bakersfield highlights the work of Dorothea Lange through a new and more diverse lens,” March 25, 2022
2022- Interview, “California migrants commemorated in CSUB Walter W. Stiern Library exhibit,” February 28, 2022
2020 “GIS Mapping of Racially Restricted Neighborhoods,” Applied Geography Inc, October 18, 2020
2020- History of Housing and Segregation in Kern County, Our California Story Project, Spring 2020
2019 “America’s Newest City: Bakersfield 1950s and The Making of the Modern Sub-Urban Segregated Landscape,” Western Historical Association, October 17, 2019
2019- Guest Lecturer, “Earl Warren in the Civil Rights Era: Kern County’s anti-civil rights movement and rhetoric, 1954-1965,” Kern County Historical Society, January 19, 2019
2018 Presenter on CSU, Bakersfield, Walter Stiern Library 360 virtual tour project, including technology and use, June 2018
Notable Citations and Research References
2025- Byron Zacarias, Darker nights: Sundown towns of the San Joaquin Valley March 18, 2025
2025 Kern County Regional Plan Part 1, Addendum to the UC Merced Community and Labor Center 2024 report for the Community and Economic Resilience Fund, May 2024
2024-Rosales, O. (2024). Civil rights in Bakersfield : segregation and multiracial activism in the Central Valley (First edition.). University of Texas Press.
2023- Marin County, County of Marin Restrictive Covenants
2023- Historic Resources Group, “City of Bakersfield, City Wide Historic Context Statement, revised draft,” August 02, 2023 (Research Reference)
2023- Monreal, Tim. Patino-Longoria, Felisa. Herrera, Marlene, “Intergenerational Pláticas as Ethnic Studies Freedom Dreaming in Kern County” Ethnic Studies Pedagogies, Vol 1, Issue 1, 2023 (Research Reference)
2023- City of Bakersfield, Housing Element Update Draft, Research Reference, 2023
2023- Reparations: Let’s Talk About It, KGET News, March 2, 2023, Research Reference
2021- Bakersfield Council Member Eric Arias reads a racially restricted language for the Bakersfield City Council record, Citation, Research Reference. 4-26-2023
2021- Redistricting Hearing, Kern County Board of Supervisors (September 7, 2021) Citation Mentioning my Research on Redlining and Racially Restrictive Covenants. (Video) (Transcript)
2021- California’s- AB 3121 TASK FORCE TO STUDY AND DEVELOP REPARATIONS PROPOSALS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS Draft Report- Bibliographic Citation
Selected Digital Projects
2026- Database Archivist: Rooted in Relationships: Decades of Queer Life at CSUB, Collaboration with Olive Garrison a local educator, researcher, and historian.
2025- Technology Support: Oral Histories- Bold Step, A celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike
2024- “America’s Newest Cities” Housing Discrimination and Redlining in California’s Central Valley, Project Documentary
2024- Bakersfield College Levan Center: Chris Livingston and Donato Cruz speak on redlining in Kern County
2023- Housing Discrimination and Redlining Archives
2023- Redlining in Bakersfield, Housing History: Racially Restrictive Covenant in Kern County Housing Tracts (website design and research, including supporting pages)
2020- California State University, Bakersfield: A Documentary.
2020- Our California Story: Consulting Archivist on Assignments and Digital Media
2019- Basque Oral History Project, Filming, Post-production, Technology Advisor
2018- CSU, Bakersfield 360 Virtual Reality Tour, Software, Photography, and Web-design
2018- Public History Institute Website Design and Maintenance
2017- Historical Research Center and Archives Video Project and Instructional Support, Filming, Post-production, and Social Media (YouTube)