Los Angeles Black History

Los Angeles Black History Los Angeles has a rich Black History that dates back to 1781. Join me as we discover that history!

Kappa Alpha Psi at UCLA in 1924. Did you know a Black man, Frederick Madison Roberts, sponsored legislation to establish...
07/27/2025

Kappa Alpha Psi at UCLA in 1924. Did you know a Black man, Frederick Madison Roberts, sponsored legislation to establish the University of California at Los Angeles and improve public education, and he proposed several civil rights and anti-lynching measures.

In 1917, Janet Collins, a Black ballet dancer and painter, was born.She moved with her family from New Orleans, Louisian...
07/26/2025

In 1917, Janet Collins, a Black ballet dancer and painter, was born.She moved with her family from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Los Angeles as a young girl, attending Los Angeles City College and the Los Angeles Art Center School. As an accomplished painter, she was able to finance her relocation to New York to pursue a dance career. In 1941, she performed with the new but world-renowned Black dance troupe formed and directed by Katherine Dunham. At the age of fifteen, Collins successfully auditioned for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Philharmonic, but after being told she would have to paint her face white to perform, she declined the offer. She told her aunt what happened and was advised, "You get back to the barre and start your City exercises. Don’t try to be good, be excellent." In 1949, Collins made her New York debut in a solo concert. As a Prima Ballerina in 1951, she became the first Black artist to perform on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Starring in the 1951 production of Cole Porter’s Out of This World, Collins won the Donaldson Award, signifying the best dancer on Broadway.She remained with the Met until 1954, dancing in Carmen, Aida, La Gioconda, and Samson and Delilah, after which she toured the United States and Canada in solo dance concerts. Having taught at several colleges and dance institutions in New York and California, she retired and resided in Seattle. Janet Collins died in June 2003 in Forth Worth, Texas.

07/13/2025

Explore the fascinating yet forgotten history of Los Angeles' own "Black Wall Street", a thriving African American business district that once rivaled its mo...

WOODY STRODE (1914-1994)Born July 28, 1914, in Los Angeles, California, Woody Strode (Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode) wa...
09/06/2024

WOODY STRODE (1914-1994)
Born July 28, 1914, in Los Angeles, California, Woody Strode (Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode) was first of the star football athletes to become a successful film actor. He and Kenny Washington integrated the National Football League (NFL), and Strode played for the Los Angeles Rams in 1946 before moving to the Canadian Football League in 1948. He also did professional wrestling and reportedly tussled with the renowned Gorgeous George.
Strode made a successful transition from sports hero to the movie screen, though Hollywood seemed more predisposed to his magnificent physique and gallant stride than his acting ability. Strode gave the Hollywood establishment what they demanded and appeared in some of the best and the worst of what they offered him. In director John Ford’s Sergeant Rutledge (1960), a western where he depicted a soldier on trial for two murders and the r**e of a white woman, when Strode bared his chest to a white woman (actress Constance Towers), even the movie audiences gasped.
Strode is perhaps best remembered as the stoic slave gladiator in Spartacus (1960) who tells Kirk Douglas: “I don’t want to be your friend. I might have to kill you.” He appeared in any number of other films, among them The Ten Commandments (1956). He was the African antagonist in Tarzan Fights for Life (1958) and an Apache chief who took on Sean Connery in the western, Shalako (1968). Strode’s riveting presence among a trio of hired gunslingers waiting at the train station in the spaghetti western, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), is unforgettable.
Strode appeared in at least 90 films, from Sunrise in 1941 to his last, The Quick and the Dead, released in 1995. He was always magnificent with a no-nonsense style and quiet intellect that no athlete-turned actor has ever surpassed. Strode, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in 1994 at the age of 80.

Black People Founded the City of Los AngelesLos Angeles, California has a lot more Black history than most people realiz...
08/23/2024

Black People Founded the City of Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California has a lot more Black history than most people realize. The city was founded in 1781 by a group of 44 Mexican settlers, and 26 of them were of African descent.

Pío de Jesús Pico, who was of both African and American descent, was one of the first governors of the area that is now known as the city of Los Angeles. In fact, he served as the governor of Alta California twice and was even a councilman before his untimely death.

Even more, in 1872, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in Los Angeles when emancipated Blacks began moving to the city in significant numbers towards the end of the Civil War. In 1885, the second Baptist Church for African Americans was built.

In the 1920's, Paul Revere Williams, a famous Black architect credited for shaping Los Angeles, began designing homes and commercial buildings through out the cities.

Locations like Central Avenue became the focal point for African-American communities. In fact, Central Avenue was the location of the vibrant Los Angeles jazz scene that attracted such greats as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Bessie Smith. To date, the Dr. Ralph J. Bunche home, the first person of color to win the lauded Nobel Peace Prize, remains a landmark on Central Avenue.

The infamous Dunbar Hotel (originally known as the Hotel Somerville) on Central Avenue was completely financed and built solely by Black people. Known as one of the finest Black-owned hotels in the nation, it would often host major events such as the NAACP national conventions.

Today, Los Angeles remains one of the top cities in the countries where African Americans live, and Black history continues to be made in the areas of business, entertainment, politics, and more.

Arthur Winston was born on March 23, 1906. He was an African American custodian and a Los Angeles Metro employee for 72 ...
08/03/2024

Arthur Winston was born on March 23, 1906. He was an African American custodian and a Los Angeles Metro employee for 72 years.
Born and raised in Oklahoma before it became a state, Winston began picking cotton when he was 10. But several harvests were lost to droughts and storms, forcing the family to head west when he was 12 years old. He graduated from LA's Jefferson High School in 1922. Winston’s hourly salary was 41 cents an hour when he began work for the Pacific Electric Railway Co. in 1924.
One year later he married Frances Smith. The couple had four children and five grandchildren. He stayed with the same company despite the name changes, starting from the Los Angeles Railway that became Los Angeles Transit Lines in 1945, to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority created in 1958; the Southern California Rapid Transit District created in 1964, and as it is known today Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority "Metro" created in 1993.
He attributed his work ethic to his upbringing, declaring that his father taught him the value of hard work at an early age. Upon his retirement on his 100th birthday, he stated that he was planning to visit his 98-year-old brother in Tennessee and had the intention of remaining active in various endeavors.
He had the record as the most reliable worker that the United States Department of Labor has ever chronicled. He worked for 72 years without ever being late, and having only taken off a single day (in 1988 for the funeral of his wife Frances). In 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded him with an "Employee of the Century" citation for his work ethic and dedication.
The Arthur Winston Bus Yard (Division 5 in South Bay) was named in his honor in Los Angeles. Winston died of heart failure in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles on April 13, 2006 less than one month after his retirement.

The mythical Black Queen Califia.(Khalifa)!!!According to her story, California was where only Black women lived. Gold w...
04/28/2024

The mythical Black Queen Califia.(Khalifa)!!!

According to her story, California was where only Black women lived. Gold was the only metal and pearls were as common as rocks.

These women were the most powerful beings on earth. When Cortez reached California, searching for this mythical queen, her influence over him was so overwhelming that he paid tribute to Queen Califia by naming the state after her.

California literally means, “the land where Black women live."

It’s documented that of the 44 people who founded Los Angeles, 26 were of African descent. What is amazing (and not taught in California schools) is the majority of the founders of San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego were of African descent, or that Orange County, Beverly Hills, LaJolla and Malibu were settled and once owned by people of African descent.

04/07/2024

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. "Chip" Murray, who used his tenure at one of Los Angeles' oldest churches to uplift the predominantly Black neighborhoods of South Los Angeles following one of the country's worst race riots, has died.

01/19/2024

One of the most well-known black architects, Paul Revere Williams’ 50-year career and over 2,000-designed homes has played a major role in shaping Southern California’s signature architectural style. His work is distinguished by a mix of styles and types, from hotels and restaurants to churches and hospitals. Williams studied architecture at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and trained at several prominent Los Angeles firms before starting his own practice. He became the first black member of the American Institute of Architects in 1923.
Also known as the “architect to the stars”, Williams designed the homes for an array of celebrity clients, including Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra and Barron Hilton. He defined the spaces that comprise the aesthetic of “Hollywood glamour”, which spread across the country.
Williams is also the mind behind the iconic, space-aged Theme Building at the Los Angeles International Airport. Despite the countless barriers Williams faced due to the color of his skin, he remained steadfast and determined as an architect. He even learned how to draw upside down so he could position himself across the table from white clients who were uncomfortable sitting next to him when reviewing plans. In 2017, Williams was posthumously awarded the AIA Gold Medal.

Albert Baumann’s pharmacy, 1928, at the Hotel Somerville (later the Dunbar Hotel). UCLA library special collections
01/15/2024

Albert Baumann’s pharmacy, 1928, at the Hotel Somerville (later the Dunbar Hotel).



UCLA library special collections

Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company office, 1948, at 4261 S. Central Ave. UCLA library collections
01/15/2024

Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company office, 1948, at 4261 S. Central Ave.



UCLA library collections

08/21/2023

The Center for Oral History Research’s special website documents more than a dozen business owners’ stories of success, challenges and perspectives on history.

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