Black in L. A. - The Vital Link

By Beverly Mateer Taylor

16th-century Spanish folktale about Queen Califa, ruler of an island inhabited by black Amazons living in caves full of gems, led the first Spanish explorers in search of this island called California. Since it's only a folktale, this story doesn't really qualify as the beginning of African American history in Los Angeles. The true story begins in February 1781, when 44 settlers founded "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula" under Spanish rule. Half of these original pobladores—Antonio Mesa, Manuel Camero, Luis Quintero, Jose Moreno, their wives, and the wives of Jose Antonio Navarro and Basilio Rosas—had African ancestors.

By 1789, the pueblo of 139 inhabitants elected its first city council, to which Manuel Camero was elected.

Descendants of these settlers were prominent in developing the Los Angeles area. Some, such as Andres Pico and Juan Francisco Reyes, acquired vast ranchos.

Among those exercising considerable political and economic power were mayors Juan Francisco Reyes and Tiburcio Tapia. Pio Pico, the last governor of California under Mexican rule and the builder of Pico House, was a large landowner and businessman. Grandchildren of Luis Quintero included Eugene Biscailuz, who served as sheriff of Los Angeles, and Maria Rita Valdes Villa, whose 1838 land grant is now Beverly Hills.

The first African American known to live in Los Angeles was Thomas Fisher, a sailor captured by the Spanish when Captain Bouchard attacked Los Angeles. Little is known of him although he is believed to have played a role in the conquest of Los Angeles by American troops during the Mexican War. In 1822, a Joseph Vincent Lawrence settled in Los Angeles.

When American troops occupied Los Angeles in 1847, a few blacks accompanied them. One slave freed by an American officer was Peter Biggs, one of the more colorful characters of early Los Angeles. He set up business as the first barber in Los Angeles, but due to his high prices, was forced out of business when a Frenchman opened a shop nearby.

California Statehood

American statehood in 1850 was a setback for blacks in Los Angeles and throughout the state. Slavery was not allowed, but neither was equality. During the first legislative session in 1850, statutes were enacted that denied them the rights to give evidence in court, to receive a public education, to homestead public lands, and to vote.

It took years of hard work for blacks to regain these rights. In 1863, the legislature restored the right to testify in court. Between 1872 and 1879, black children gained some access to education, but the law proscribing African American children's right to a public education was not repealed until 1880.

Census records reported an increase in the African American population from 15 in 1850 to over 60 in 1860. Pioneer families who came during this decade included the Smarts, Owenses, Masons, Ballards, Greens, and Peppers. Their descendants were influential in the African American community into the 1940s.

Two who became wealthy through savvy real estate deals and were well known as philanthropists were Robert Owens and Biddy Mason. Owens came to Los Angeles in 1853 and, until his death in 1865, owned a successful livery and teamster business and invested in real estate. His son, Charles, is believed to have alerted the Los Angeles sheriff when Robert Marion Smith was preparing to leave for Texas, a slave state, with fourteen blacks. Smith was immediately served with a writ of habeas corpus, his "slaves" were taken into protective custody, and on Jan. 19, 1856, judge Benjamin Hayes of the United States District Court of Appeals ruled that they were not voluntarily accompanying Smith, and therefore must remain in California.

Robert Owens provided housing for four of them, Biddy Mason and her three daughters. Biddy's daughter Ellen married Charles Owens, and Biddy found work as a midwife and nurse. From an income of $2.50 a day, she saved $250 in ten years.

She then purchased two lots on South Spring Street between Third and Fourth streets. On one, she built the house she occupied until her death in 1891. The other she sold in 1875 for $1,500. Over, the years, her real estate deals enabled her to build an estate that was valued at $300,000 in 1909. She was generous to her family and to others in need. In 1871, she provided funding to establish the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is said to have obtained a certified copy of the court order granting her freedom, which she carried always.

Between 1860 and 1880, the African American population grew slowly--to 102 out of a total population of 11,000--due to a strong Confederate element in Southern California during the Civil War, racist comments in the Los Angeles News, and the state's refusal in 1869 to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment.

Los Angeles prevented African Americans from registering to vote until Louis Green led a successful battle resulting in immediate registration for the 1870 election by the 25 African American men eligible to vote.

The era of quick wealth between 1850 and 1870 was also a lawless one, in spite of a county sheriff and a city police officer. According to Homer F. Broome, Jr., African Americans managed to mind their own business and avoid the frequent lynchings that vigilante Anglo-Americans and Mexican-Americans inflicted on each other.

Between 1886 and 1889, a combination of a railroad rate war and aggressive advertising lured 39,000 people to Los Angeles, including at least 1,100 African Americans. Los Angeles became known as a good place for blacks. Housing was integrated, as people choose neighborhoods they liked and could afford. A strong sense of community began to emerge in 1890, and areas of African American concentration developed along Second Street between San Pedro and Alameda streets, and around Eighth Street and Maple Avenue.

From this time on, increasing numbers of African Americans came to the Golden State. The 1900 census counted 2,841 blacks; 1910, 7,599; 1920, 18,738; 1930, 30,893; and 1940, 75,209. As late as 1940, Los Angeles had one of only two significant African American communities in the eleven western states.

The Golden Era, 1890 to 1920

Los Angeles seemed to have almost outgrown its anti-black bias. The real estate mania had brought wealth to some families, and a small group of professionals, including, doctors, lawyers, editors, and ministers, were emerging as leaders in the black community. The building boom between 1902 and 1908 created a demand for black muscle, a need partly filled by Southerners driven off cotton farms by boll weevils and racial tensions. Los Angeles was one of the first communities in America to employ black firemen and policemen.

This small percentage of the total population had a surprisingly large share of the businesses. Among them were May's Ice Cream Parlor, Dawson Cafe, Golden West Hotel, Los Angeles Van and Storage, Shakelfords Furniture Store, Donnell's Blacksmith Shop, and J. B. Loring's real estate office. East First Street was a busy workingman's thoroughfare with Japanese, Russian Jewish, and black businesses side by side from Los Angeles Street to Central Avenue.

The community spread from First and Los Angeles streets to Boyle Heights and west of down-town along Jefferson Boulevard between Normandie and Western avenues. The Furlong Tract was built south of downtown, selling lots to black families for $750. It became a working-class area settled by people like the Guillebeaus, Postells, and Hickses. Many were employed at such nearby plants as the Cottonseed Oil Mill, the Hercules Foundry, and the Pioneer Paper Co.

Businesses and services needed by a community of 200 homes opened, including three churches and a school. After the 1933 Long Beach earthquake damaged some of the homes, families began to leave the neighborhood. The remaining houses were torn down in 1942 and the Pueblo Del Rio housing project, designed by a team of talented designers including Paul Revere Williams, was built to house the defense industry workers. All that remains of the original Furlong Tract is Holmes School, built as the 51st Street School in 1910 and renamed in 1913 after a fire. It was the first all-black school in Los Angeles, except that the teachers and principal were all white initially.

The first African American teacher hired in Los Angeles, Mrs. Bessie Bruington Burke, joined the staff in 1911. In 1918 she became the principal at Holmes. She retired after 44 years service in the school district, most of them at Holmes.

Organizations such as the Los Angeles Forum, the Sojourner Truth Industrial Club, the Women's Day Nursery Assn., and the local branch of the NAACP began during this period. The Forum, a group of men from various black churches, worked on social issues from 1903 until 1942. The Sojourner Truth Club began in 1904 to protect the welfare of Negro women and provided Christian non-sectarian housing for single women for more than 84 years.

The Los Angeles Branch of the NAACP was formed in 1914 at the home of Drs. John and Vada Somerville by E. Burton Cerutti, Charles Alexander, John Shackelford, Betty Hill, Rev. Joseph Johnson, W. T. Cleghorn, and others.

Dr. Charles Edward Block served eight years as the first president. An early successful battle gained admittance of "colored students" to Los Angeles County Hospital's nursing school, once the Board of Supervisors was convinced that these students could have filled the desperate need for nurses during World War I if they had been admitted then.

Drs. John and Vada Watson Somerville had earlier fought their own integration battles as the first and second African American students at the USC School of Dentistry. Another USC dental graduate, Dr. Claude Hudson, served ten years as the second president of the local NAACP.

Many individuals—such as R. C. Owens, J. L. Edmonds, Charles Alexander, and Margaret Scott turned the fight against racism in the city into a collective rather than an individual battle through two quasi-political organizations.

The Citizens Protective League focused on fighting local displays of bigotry in hotels, cafes, clothing stores, etc. and the Independent Republic attempted to unite all voters of color in California. One result of this effort was the election of Frederick Roberts, a Republican, to the California Assembly in 1918. He was the first African American to hold a statewide office and represented his Los Angeles district, which included Watts, until 1934. He was unseated by Augustus Hawkins, a liberal Democrat, who held the seat until 1960 when he was elected to Congress from his Los Angeles district.

Newspapers, such as John Niemore's California Eagle, and the Liberator, edited by J. L. Edmonds, reported news of the community, provided housing and job information, and advocated for African Americans. One early newspaper campaign was to stop businesses from charging blacks significantly higher prices in food and drink establishments.

When California Eagle editor Neimore, who had begun the paper in 1879, died in 1912, Charlotta Spears Bass became editor. Her husband, Joseph Blackburn Bass, was a partner in the business from their marriage in 1913 until his death in 1934. Mrs. Bass was a fearless advocate for her community, but she also recognized the need for a social page in the paper. She once pulled a gun from her desk and frightened off thugs sent by the KKK to intimidate her.

She kept the Eagle going until 1941, when she sold it to Loren Miller. Under all three editors, the paper was known for its political advocacy for equality and its fight against racial bigotry. Loren Miller sold the paper when he was appointed a municipal court judge in 1964, and within six months it failed due to poor management. The California Eagle Photograph Collection and the Charlotta Bass papers are available to researchers at the Southern California Library for Social Studies & Research.

Another long-running newspaper, the Los Angeles Sentinel, was founded by Leon Washington in 1933, and is still being published. His longest running campaign urged African Americans not to spend their money in places that would not hire them.

The first African American policeman, Robert William Stewart, was hired in 1886. By 1911, seven of the 505 sworn police personnel were black; by 1914, there were fourteen. These early police, black or white, were primarily chosen for their size, physical strength, physical stamina, and the ability to give and take physical abuse. Training consisted of a one-day orientation by a senior officer. Black officers were assigned to black neighborhoods, usually to foot patrol. In 1919, the first black policewoman, Georgia Robinson, was hired, followed by Lucile Shelton in 1925 and Juanita Edwards in 1928.

The first African American member of the Los Angeles Fire Department, George W. Bright, was hired in 1897. By 1902, he had attained the rank of lieutenant and the department was faced with a dilemma—segregate or allow a black to supervise white firemen. The department gathered up all the black firemen in the city and assigned them to Engine Company 30 under Bright's supervision. Fire Station 14 became all black in 1936. Civil service regulations were regularly violated to maintain the segregated system and retain captain as the highest rank open to African Americans.

Central Avenue, 1920s and '30s

The 1920s saw the erosion of many gains. Activity by the Ku Klux Klan revived after World War I. Housing covenants with racial restrictions appeared in 1927 and, with them, attempted evictions from many areas in the city. Central Avenue became the major African American business section as industrial development pushed businesses and residents further south.

More businesses and professional services opened along Central Avenue to fill needs that were denied blacks at white-owned businesses and offices.

Andrew J. Roberts sold his successful Los Angeles Van, Truck and Storage Co. to open the A. J. Roberts Funeral Home, which ran an apprenticeship program for morticians in addition to its other services. The Hudson-Ledell Building, designed by Paul Williams, was opened jointly by a medical doctor and a dentist in the '20s, and continued to house professional offices until World War II. Dunbar Hospital was opened by three black doctors in 1923. A pharmacy was opened by two pharmacists who had worked at the hospital.

Golden State Guarantee Fund Insurance Co. of Los Angeles was created in 1925 by Norman O. Houston, William Nickerson Jr., and George A. Beavers, to provide life insurance coverage for African Americans denied insurance by white owned firms. (The current company building on West Adams Boulevard, designed by Paul R. Williams, houses a significant collection of African American art.)

Social clubs, such as the Silver Fox Club and the Just for Fun Club, were formed, as was a literary group, the Phys-Art-Lit-Mo Club. The annual Lion Tamer's Ball was held for several years. The Golden West Lodge of the Benevolent and Paternal Order of Elks and the Prince Hall Free Masons were organized. The Marcus Garvey Universal Negro Improvement Assn. was active from 1921 to 1934. Among the leading figures of this era were Joseph and Charlotta Bass, J. D. Gordon, John Wesley Coleman, and W H. 'Pop" Sanders.

Black churches, such as the First AME, the Second Baptist Church, St. John of God Catholic Church, and others, including many storefront churches, have always been a strong force in the African American community.

Built in 1924, the Lincoln Theatre became the leading venue for theater productions, music, films, and comedians on South Central Avenue. Jazz thrived in such clubs as Club Alabam, the Savoy, the Apex, and the Kentucky Club along Central Avenue.

Recreational opportunities were limited by whites-only policies at pools, beaches, parks, etc. Bruce's Beach, a popular black-owned resort in Manhattan Beach, was forced by officials and residents to close, and the Pacific Beach Club in Huntington Beach burned the day before it was to open. To fill this gap, the resort town of Val Verde was founded in the Santa Clarita Valley in 1924 by a group including real estate agent Sidney P. Dones, Charlotta Bass, community leader Hattie S. Baldwin, and Norman O. Houston. It soon became known as "the black Palm Springs," and prospered until the 1960s when once-segregated vacation spots through-out southern California were opened to everyone.

Hotel Sommerville was built by Dr. J. A. Sommerville in 1928 to fill a need for a good hotel for African Americans. The first national convention of the NAACP took place as soon as the hotel opened in 1928. After the crash of 1929, it was renamed the Dunbar Hotel by new owners. Many jazz notables, including Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Count Basic, frequented the hotel when they worked in nearby clubs. Dr. Sommerville rebuilt his fortune in the 1930s and entered politics. He was the first black delegate to the California Democratic National Convention (1936) and the first black appointed to the Los Angeles Police Commission (1949).

In the 1930s, prosperous African Americans, including actresses Louise Beavers, Butterfly McQueen, and Hattie McDaniel, lived in the West Adams district. An attempt by white homeowners to remove them and other black families from the neighborhood led to a U. S. Supreme Court decision in 1948 declaring housing covenants unenforceable. Within five years the covenants were outlawed.

Post World War II

Thousands of African Americans came from other states during the Depression and post-war period, resulting in Los Angeles becoming one of America's major urban centers of black population. This tremendous surge of newcomers eroded the sense of community 'African Americans had before the war. Social problems, including segregation, were now viewed more as national problems and less as unique to Los Angeles.

In the late 1940s, Dr. H. Claude Hudson founded the Broadway Federal Savings to enable African Americans to obtain real estate loans. Under his son Elbert Hudson and his grandson Paul Claude Hudson, the business has continued to grow and is now publicly owned with multiple branches. All three men were also lawyers.

Another individual with a lasting impact on Los Angeles was Paul Revere Williams, first black member of the American Institute of Architects, who designed 3,000 residential, municipal, and commercial buildings, including the theme building at LAX, in a career that began in the 1920s and continued nearly until his death in 1980. To overcome the reaction of potential clients dismayed at the discovery of his race, he learned to sketch upside down so they could see their dream house on paper as they described it to him. His many achievements have recently been detailed in a book by his granddaughter Karen Hudson.

Integration came slowly to the Los Angeles Police and Fire departments. As recently as the 1950s and 1960s, many African American sergeants studied law and went into legal careers because of a lack of promotional opportunities in the Police Department. Thomas Bradley, first African American mayor of Los Angeles, was one of them. In 1992, Willie Williams of Philadelphia became the first African American chief. Bernard Parks, promoted from with-in the department, replaced him in 1997. Ann Young became the first African American female captain in 2000.

By 1953, the NAACP was pressing for equality in hiring, transfers, and promotions in the Los Angeles Fire Department. Politicians dragged their feet, and the media became involved, triggering a nasty fight. Black firefighters organized the Stentorians with the slogan, "We only fight the department on integration." Firemen such as Wallace DeCuir, who greeted his colleagues every morning knowing they would ignore him, and Reynald Lopez, who kept his cool when a "Whites Only" sign was hung on the kitchen door, eventually gained acceptance through their dignified persistence.

In 1956 all fire stations were finally integrated. Jim Stern became the first black battalion chief in 1968; he moved on to become chief of the Pasadena Fire Department, and was elected president of the International Assn. of Fire Chiefs.

Fire Station No. 30 was closed and now houses the African American Firefighter Museum, thanks to the work of Arnett Hartsfield, who kept detailed notes, clippings, and photos of the struggle. A roster of black firemen, 1897 to 1956, with service details, is on the museum's website.

Postscript

Black history in Los Angeles from the days of Spanish and Mexican rule to 21st-century America is a complex maze of good times and bad. African American contributions to the development of the city have been—and continue to be—significant. The California African American Museum in Exposition Park and the A.C.Bilbrew Library on El Segundo Boulevard are leaders among those who hold the keys to the whole story.

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© Beverly Mateer Taylor. Used with permission.