In October 2020 the Mill Valley City Council established a temporary diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) task force that would serve as an advisory committee to the Council on racial equity issues. The Council and the public overwhelmingly commented that such a group was long overdue. Looking to the past, however, we see this was by no means the first time Southern Marinites grouped together to confront racism and forge a path towards equity. Beginning in the early 1940s and working our way to the present this episode provides some insight into how Mill Valley got to where it is today in this important work.