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| employer = [[National Park Service]]
| occupation = [[National Park Service ranger]]
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'''Betty Reid Soskin''' ({{nee}} '''Charbonnet'''; born September 22, 1921) is an American retired [[National Park Service ranger|ranger]] with the [[National Park Service]], previously assigned to the [[Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park]] in [[Richmond, California]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/26/MNFUSA80E.DTL&hw=Betty+Reid+Soskin&sn=003&sc=552 |title=WWII meant opportunity for many women, oppression for others|first=Carolyne|last= Zinko|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date= September 26, 2007|access-date= March 23, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/31/PKL91BL53V.DTL#ixzz0eDQsu0bc |title=Ranger's voice spans East Bay history|first= Lee |last=Hildebrand|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date= January 31, 2010|access-date= March 23, 2011}}</ref> Until her retirement on March 31, 2022, at the age of 100, she was the oldest serving [[National Park Ranger]]
== Early life ==
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| date =2019-02-05
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| url =https://www.berkeleyside.org/2019/02/05/reids-records-californias-oldest-record-shop-to-close-in-the-fall
| accessdate = 2022-03-31}}</ref>
She later served as a field representative for [[State Assembly|California State Assemblywomen]] [[Dion Aroner]] and [[Loni Hancock]], and in those positions became actively involved in the early planning stages and development of a park to memorialize the role of women on the [[Home Front during World War II]]. Those efforts came to fruition when [[Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park]] was established in 2000, to provide a site where future generations could remember the contributions women made to the war effort.
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[[File:Richmond - Marina Bay - Rosie the Riveter monument 01.jpg|thumb|right|'''The Rosie Memorial''' in [[Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park]], [[Richmond, California]]]]
Reflecting on her own role in planning for the park's creation, and on how she brought her personal recollections of the conditions for African American women working in that still [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] environment to bear on the planning efforts, she has said that, often, she "was the only person in the room who had any reason to remember that
In 2003, she left her state job and became a consultant at the park she helped create before becoming a [[National Park Ranger|park ranger]] with the [[National Park Service]] in 2007 at the age of 85.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/betty-soskin-a-living-monument-to-wwii-history/2015/06/12/09b2ae90-1144-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html |title = Betty Soskin A Living Monument To WWII History |newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]|date=June 12, 2015 }}</ref>
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She released her memoir, ''Sign My Name to Freedom'', in February 2018. A feature-length documentary about Soskin's involvement with music, also titled ''Sign My Name to Freedom'', began filming in 2016.<ref>{{cite web | last=Sobotta | first=Sharon K. | title=Sign My Name to Freedom | website=East Bay Express | date=January 11, 2023 | url=https://eastbayexpress.com/sign-my-name-to-freedom/ | access-date=January 31, 2024}}</ref>
Soskin
In celebration of her 100th birthday, the [[West Contra Costa Unified School District]] renamed Juan Crespi Middle School to Betty Reid Soskin Middle School.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/09/24/betty-soskin-park-ranger-100/| title=She became a park ranger at 85 to tell her story of segregation. Now 100, she's the oldest active ranger.| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|first=Sydney|last=Page|date=September 24, 2021}}</ref><ref name=school_rename>{{cite web | url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-bay-district-names-school-after-betty-reid-soskin-on-her-100th-birthday/2663683/ | title=East Bay District Names School After Betty Reid Soskin on Her 100th Birthday |date=September 22, 2021| website=www.nbcbayarea.com}}</ref>
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[[Category:African-American centenarians]]
[[Category:African-American history in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:American community activists]]
[[Category:American Unitarian Universalists]]
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[[Category:People from Oakland, California]]
[[Category:People from Richmond, California]]
[[Category:
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