With profound sadness we announce the passing of Georgia “Mother Rose” West  on December 23, 2024. Mother Rose was a well-known pillar in the Oak Park community helping our region thrive by ensuring cultural diversity. Mother Rose was the owner/operator of Underground Books, part of the 40 Acres Cultural Center at 35th Street and Broadway. Known as the “literary hub of Oak Park”, Underground Books provides programs and learning opportunities for the community and contributes toward ensuring all children have the same access to education and knowledge.    

Mother Rose loved being a part of Oak Park and the community loved her. She greeted everyone who walked in Underground Books with a warm smile and her gentle spirit and desire to help others will truly be missed.

Born on April 7, 1949, at Mercy Hospital, Georgia, known affectionately as “Mother Rose”, was a second generation Sacramentan having graduated in 1966/67 from Sacramento High School like her father, George Peat, before her in 1935. Mother Rose graduated from Sacramento City College’s nursing program and worked professionally as a registered nurse for 27 years in Sacramento, Oakland and Phoenix, Arizona. After her nursing career, she decided to run Underground Books to ensure that the community had a gathering place and access to important cultural books. 

Mother Rose had a lasting impact on Oak Park and was a huge part of efforts to revitalize and sustain an often overlooked part of Sacramento. She valued arts and literature and played a huge role in ensuring African American culture thrived in Oak Park.

When Underground Books opened more than 21 years ago, it was one of approximately 200 African American bookstores in the United States; now it’s one of approximately 50. The store’s name references  Harriet Tumban and the Underground Railroad. Most enslaved Black Americans couldn’t read because enslavers and Southern legislators deprived them of access to books.

Many of the young people Mother Rose hired and mentored were students from Sacramento Charter High School and the greater Oak Park neighborhood. Every year, Mother Rose also took great pride in honoring her parents by presenting to a worthy Sacramento High School student the “Peat Scholarship Award” – the most prestigious award given to a student who embodies the Sac High school motto “Service for Others.”

Mother Rose is survived by her sons Kevin Johnson and Ronald West, her daughter in-law Michelle (Johnson), and all members of the Brownstone Family. She will also be dearly missed by a close knit group of friends, her Saint Paul Church family and her St. HOPE family.