The force behind Underground Books and mother of Sacramento’s first Black mayor dies at 75
.jpg "Georgia West is photographed in 2003. Georgia Rose Peat West died peacefully Monday at her Oak Park home with her sons, former Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and marketing executive Ronnie West, beside her.")
Georgia Rose Peat West, the driving force behind Underground Books in Oak Park and mother to Sacramento’s first African American mayor, died at her home Monday with her two sons at her side. The 75-year-old had been diagnosed with lung and adrenal cancers.
West’s elder son, Kevin Johnson, garnered worldwide recognition as a player for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association and brought media attention from around the country to Sacramento in 2008 when he became the California capital’s first Black mayor.
Ronald West, the younger of West’s two sons, works as a marketing executive in the retail tire industry. He and Johnson said they got their competitive spirit from their “unbelievably supportive’” mother who always cheered them from the sidelines.
As a child, West impressed the other kids in her neighborhood — even one Jerry Royster — with her athletic prowess. Royster would go on to play Major League Baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves.
He said the kids who lived near his family’s Oak Park home made a competition of almost everything. Many of them would run races up and down the street or try to travel the longest distance while doing handstands, he said, but if they didn’t excel at those feats, they tried to win Hula-Hoop or jump-rope competitions.
“The winners of all these events ... would vary from hour to hour,” Royster said, “until Georgia moved in. She dominated the racing, the handstands, the Hula-Hoops, and especially the jump-roping. Needless to say, she was the best athlete in a neighborhood that was full of great athletes.”
West, who was born at Mercy General Hospital on J Street, graduated in 1967 from Sacramento High School, the same school that her father George Peat had attended, and it would become the alma mater of both her sons as well.
In a 2003 Sacramento Bee story, West described herself as “young and wild” when she was a teenager. She had Johnson at age 16, she said, and his father died when he was 3.
Consequently, West said in the story, her father stepped up as a stable and positive role model for Johnson as she attempted to build a singing career. She spent a lot of time on the road, even traveling to Vietnam as a USO performer to entertain the troops in 1968, she said.
Her sons — Johnson, 58, and West, 42 — said that it was during her USO tour that their mother learned to perform the high kick she would became famous for performing as she cheered their athletic endeavors.
Even as she pursued an entertainment career, West ensured she would have a backup plan by earning a nursing degree from Sacramento City College. When she didn’t hit it big, she made a career as a registered nurse for 27 years in Sacramento, in Oakland and even in Phoenix, Arizona, where Johnson was playing with the Suns.
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She supported Johnson at his games, and she became an active member of the National Basketball Moms Association, raising money for charity, advising newcomers on how to help their sons survive their newfound fame and making lasting friendships with other players’ mothers in the league.
When Johnson returned to Sacramento and established the St. Hope nonprofit to revitalize Oak Park, The Bee’s stories show West supported him in that work as well. She greeted visitors at the organization’s development company with her wide, infectious smile. She poured herself into arranging an annual fundraising dinner, securing auction items, selling tables and recruiting volunteers.
She seemed to have boundless energy, said Johnson, a three-time NBA All-Star.
When St. Hope established Underground Books, with its focus on African American literature, in its 40 Acres mixed-use complex, it became West’s passion project. From that shop at the corner of 35th Street and Broadway, West shared her knowledge of Oak Park history and her love for her alma mater.
A generation of millennials and Generation Z students joined her extended family in affectionately calling West by her nickname, Mother Rose, and she frequently could be found on the sidelines at games cheering for them, said Cassandra Jennings, St. Hope’s president and CEO.
Every second Saturday of the month, West would open the bookstore to children ages 5-10, inviting them to come read a book and do an activity, Jennings said.
“She would give them a book, and later, she started giving their parents a book, just to encourage reading because readers are leaders,” Jennings said. “We wanted to make sure that Black and brown kids were able to take advantage of it, because the books in the store really reflected them.”
Johnson said he and his brother have not yet set a date for West’s memorial service, but they plan to have it at St. Paul Church of Sacramento, 3996 14th Ave. Johnson began to attend the church as a teenager, West said in the 2003 Bee article, and she joined later in what she described as an answer to his prayers.
“Faith has grounded him and grounded me,” she said.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Mother Rose Fund at St. Hope to maintain West’s legacy. You can mail cards and donations to Underground Books, P.O. Box 5447, Sacramento, CA 95817. If you’re making the donation at sthope.org, you will be able to type in the fund name as part of the payment process.
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This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 7:30 AM.
