Elusive Eden: A New History of California, fourth edition

CHAPTER 25: PROLOGUES TO VIOLENCE: GENESIS OF A

GHETTO

THE STORM BEFORE THE STORM• California blacks aware of American racism --1950s civil rights movement gearing up in

South--Televisions brought police brutality, riots home• California seemed more benign than

Mississippi--Black Californians held elective office

--assembly members Augustus Hawkins (1940), W. Byron Rumford (elected 1948), F. Douglass Ferrell, Mervyn Dymally (1962), Willie F. Brown (1964), Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Bill Green, John Miller (1966)

--1962 Augustus Hawkins elected to U.S. House of Representatives

• Legislature mandated equal opportunity in housing, employment

• Blacks owned single-family residences on tree-lined streets

• Many black, white Californians complacent about state race relations

RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION• No segregation for Cal blacks in 19th c --Legal restrictions on Chinese --In San Francisco, restricted to 10-block area • Not an issue in 19th c northeastern cities--Before 1865 most US blacks in rural South--1865-1900 urban ##s increased--Mostly moved to southern cities

• WWI produced first demographic shift --Great Migration both push and pull--Escaping from violence, segregation in South--Approx 500K drawn to defense work in

northern cities--accelerated WWII--400K came to California 1940s

• Sociologists studied African American experience

--1944 Gunnar Myrdal published The American Dilemma

--Surveyed US race relations --+2% of all US blacks west of Mississippi River

• 25% (120K) of all western blacks in LA--14th largest black community in US--Concentration grew thru 1950s --1965 LA 6th largest black community--Neighborhood same size

BLACK ANGELENOS• Blacks among city's original settlers--1781 + half of original pobladores claimed

African ancestry• Mexican-American War, gold rush brought

some--Most continued north to mining districts--Earliest black Angelenos included slaves--1856 Biddy Mason sued under Cal's free soil

constitution

--Mason, her three children, 11 others freed

•Freedman Robert Owens aided Mason--Arrived from Texas 1850--Raised cattle --Mason, Owens invested in LA real estate•Dr. John Strother Griffin formed water company --1868 LA contracted with Griffin for city water--Later sold to city for substantial profit

• 1860s, 1870s stable black community emerged--##s remained small--1880, 102 blacks in city of 11,000 --less than 1%--1890, 1,300 blacks--1900, 2000 --1910, 7,600 --1920, + 16,000 --Consistently 2-3% of total pop

• by 1900 identifiable black neighborhood in LA--downtown along First and Second streets--single family homes, apartments, boarding

houses--bought or rented from black entrepreneurs

like Mason, Owens• others scattered throughout city through

1910s--only income limited property rental,

ownership

• Formed protective, self-help organizations--Churches, Afro-American Protective

Association • 1879 began publishing The California Eagle • Employment experiences varied--White neighbors valued as laborers, skilled

craftsmen, service workers --Usually paid lower wages than whites--African American professionals served

community

--Black attorneys, physicians, others also

served white clients

•1913 W.E.B. DuBois visited Los Angeles --Founded National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) --Editor of The Crisis --Called "the most beautifully housed group of colored people" in US

• Felt secure enough to protest social insults--1915 picketed screenings of The Birth of a

Nation--NAACP, other groups joined protest--Pickets in SF Bay Area too• Electoral success in 1918--With white voters elected state's first African

American assemblyman Frederick M. Roberts--publisher of The New Age newspapers

• 1920s turning point--After 1925 ½ new arrivals from rural South--Little in common with black Angelenos• National race relations soured--Resurgent KKK attacked immigrants, blacks,

Jews, feminists--Race riots erupted in eastern, mid-western

cities--lynchings picked up in South

--KKK appeared in California--+ 15,000 members in LA region--+ 8,000 in SF Bay Area• "bungalow boom" pulled whites into suburbs --Successful blacks able to purchase--1930 + 1/3 all black LA families owned homes--Same proportion as whites• By mid-1920s three black neighborhoods in LA

• historic black neighborhood downtown --bordered by Central, Spring, First, and

Fourteenth streets--population density growing--housing stock deteriorating• elite black enclave near University of Southern

California • third small cluster downtown near railroad

station

• + 75 % of black Angelenos in one of these areas

--Difficult to live outside--White landowners outside those areas refused

to rent or sell to blacks

SEGREGATED CALIFORNIA• Most deeds included restrictive covenants --prohibited sale, lease, or rental of property to

nonwhites --possible fines, loss of property• ineffective before 1920s--white sellers motivated to sell --few suits prosecuted--early court decisions favored black plaintiffs

• 1919 Los Angeles Investment Co. vs. Albert Gary set new precedent

--Decided in state supreme court --sale, rental, or lease could not be legally

restricted on basis of race--actual use could be--1948 state Supreme Court overturned--By then Los Angeles ghetto established --New mechanisms maintained "de facto"

segregation

• 1920s business owners refused to serve blacks--Eg restaurants, hotels, theaters, clothing stores--Public facilities—swimming pools, parks, and

playgrounds—restricted --Sometimes legally--Sometimes by white violence

• Blacks relegated to menial occupations--Eg porters, janitors, waiters, maids--Whites dominated handful of factory jobs in

1920s LA--Whites dominated sales, clerical jobs--1930, 11,000 worked in retail sales, only 30

were black--Black earnings often too low to afford decent

housing

• By end of 1920s, black segregation firmly in place

--Black population grew, black neighborhoods did not

--White-owned businesses moved out --Absentee landlords subdivided properties --Single-family homes became multi-unit

apartments--Failed to maintain properties

• LA reduced services to black districts--Garbage collection, street sweeping,

maintenance deferred--Lower investment in schools, books, equip.--Utilities, transportation services poor• Violence, intimidation blocked black ambitions--1925 black attorney promoted "country club"

type development in Huntington Beach --burned before completion

--Santa Monica denied permit for black bathhouse, amusement center, closed black-owned dance hall

--Black investors purchased Corona country club --Failed when owners, patrons intimidated --Manhattan Beach, Klan pressured city

government to condemn black-owned waterfront property

--Blacks barred from beach

--San Gabriel Valley tried to retroactively remove Booker T. Washington, Jr. 's family

--Family eventually won lawsuit

WATTS• Watts originally south of LA --semirural, working-class community --part of El Rancho Tajuato --grant confirmed by Gwin Commission --nibbled away by lawyers, tax assessors,

squatters --grant holder died in late 1870s--will distributed among numerous heirs

--sold small parcels to speculators --speculators divided into smaller lots --sold for $25 to Mexican railroad workers • 1907, Hispanic, black, white residents

incorporated town of Watts--Pacific Electric Railway Company purchased

parcel --established "Watts Station" --rail service accelerated development

• Watts pop grew during World War I--Most newcomers from rural South --black population majority--1926 set to elect black mayor• 1926 LA absorbed town of Watts--KKK may have pressured city to annex to stop

election--Watts residents needed Owens Valley water --eliminated Watts autonomy

--insured Watts would become black district in white city

• 1940-1970 transformed LA pop--Black percentage of population doubled from

1940 to 1950--1940 black pop 63,774 --1950 "" "" 171,209--1960 "" "" 334,916--1970 "" "" 503,606

• Problems created by residential segregation already critical in 1920s

--20K newcomers 1920s--Another 20K 1930s--Limited to same 3 neighborhoods, plus Watts• 1940s Watts showed severe physical, social

deterioration --federal study acknowledged poor schools--lack of employment opportunities--conflict between community and police

• 1947, LA planning commission criticized Watts --deficient recreational facilities--deteriorating streets--decaying private, public buildings--inefficient public transportation--limited shopping facilities--high disease, death, delinquency rates

• urban renewal programs made worse --demolished neighborhoods--displaced residents• by 1960, Los Angeles as racially segregated as

almost any Southern city --only two northern cities more segregated than

LA--Cleveland, Chicago

THE RIOT• Wednesday August 11, 1965 hot summer day--Temperatures fell early evening--Brought residents outside• Routine traffic stop turned into riot--White CHP officer Lee Minikus --Black driver 20-year old Marquette Frye--Minikus pulled Frye over for drinking, speeding

--Encounter devolved into 6 days of rioting--Community's frustrations had been brewing

since 1920s• Random incidents of violence Wednesday

night, early Thursday morning--groups of mostly young black men stoned police--randomly attacked white drivers --clashed with television crews--some black residents aided, sheltered injured

whites

• Police Chief William Parker held press conference

--Called violence isolated --Only a few "agitators" involved• Black community leaders called meeting for

Thursday afternoon --Invited array of officials--Congressman Augustus Hawkins--County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn--Clergymen of various churches

--reps from police, sheriff, fire departments --district attorney's office--NAACP --Hoped to head off a second night of rioting--asked LAPD to send out black officers --Presence of television cameras, media

undermined--Disgruntled citizens took over meeting

• Weather uncooperative--Santa Ana winds kicked up--90 degrees by 1:30 pm• Peacekeeping efforts failed• By 7 pm Thursday crowds gathered along

Avalon Boulevard--Attacked cars--Cars torched--Stores looted, torched

--Crowds attacked fire units--By early Friday Aug 13, + 12 cars burned, 76

bldgs looted or destroyed• Shortage of leadership--Around midnight California National Guard

offered assistance--LAPD declined--Gov Brown in Greece--Mayor, Lt. Gov out of town

--Noon Friday Chief Parker requested Natl Guard--Lt. Gov. Anderson delayed activating guard• Rioting spilled out of Watts--Reached streets around University of Southern

California, Los Angeles Coliseum--Crowds grew, participating, applauding--Attacked Oak Park Hospital at Broadway and

Manchester--first fatality, probably a ricocheting bullet

• Early Friday evening first National Guard units arrived

--Set up roadblocks --Trying to contain rioters--By Saturday am, + 12 dead--Whole blocks burning or burnt--about 13,000 guardsmen by Saturday night

• Saturday morning burning, looting resumed--Safeway store on Imperial Highway hit--By noon, + 50 more bldgs looted, torched--Incidents between drivers and National

Guardsmen led to more injuries, several deaths

--Troops almost gained control of Watts by Saturday night

• Situation worse north of Watts--New neighborhoods torched--waves of looters stripped major department

store --200 arrested during the day--National Guard officers positioned snipers on

rooftops--Sporadic reports of shots, violence Sunday,

early Monday am

• Remaining businesses reopened Monday morning

• Tuesday am curfew lifted• One week later last National Guard troops left

AFTERMATH• at least 10,000 local people involved• + 13,000 National Guard troops, California

Highway Patrol, police/sheriffs from other jurisdictions

• 30 fatalities, all but 3 black• Estimates of injured 849 to 1,309• 4,000 arrests

• property damage estimated at $40 million (over $273 million in 2010 dollars)

--mostly white-owned businesses targeted• state commissioned an investigation--result McCone Commission report, Violence in

a City—An End or a Beginning?--identified causes of rioting--repeal of Proposition 14 --frustration over political impotence

--reiterated problems observed, documented twenty years earlier

• municipal, state, national officials failed to adequately address problems

• conditions remained the same, or grew worse• Rodney King riots 25 years later proved it

Police and Student Protester, San Francisco State College, 1968The 1960s, which began in optimism, ended in pessimism and upheaval. Local, national, and international issues increasingly divided Californians into hostile camps. Polaris Images.

Dining-Car Waiters on a Southern Pacific Railroad Train, Los Angeles, 1940s. It was the promise of employment, such as in the burgeoning railroad business, that lured migrating African Americans to Los Angeles from states in the East and South in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Relatively good housing, economic opportunity, and relations with other groups in the city generated a mood of optimism among Los Angeles African Americans through the 1920s. SHADES OF L.A. COLLECTION/Los Angeles Public Library.

Ralph Bunche in Los Angeles, 1926. In many ways, the life of Ralph Bunche (right) (1904–1971) illustrated the promise that early Los Angeles held out to African Americans. A native of the middle west (Detroit), Bunche migrated as a child with his family to Los Angeles. Graduating from UCLA in 1927, he went on to Harvard University and earned a doctorate. A professor of government at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University, in 1941, Bunche began a long, distinguished career as a diplomat for the United States government and United Nations. For his service as leader of the UN’s Palestine Commission, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, the first African American to be so honored. SHADES OF L.A. COLLECTION/Los Angeles Public Library.

Baptist Ministers Meeting, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Los Angeles, 1930. Churches and their ministers were important focal points in the lives of black Angelinos, not only for religious service but also because they provided leadership in ethnic improvement programs and civil rights work. SHADES OF L.A. COLLECTION/Los Angeles Public Library.

Angelenos Outside the Alabam Club, ca. 1954. The relatively open environment of early twentieth century Los Angeles, particularly its movie, radio, and recording industries, nurtured the talents of many black artists and entertainers. Lionel Hampton migrated with his family from Alabama to Los Angeles in 1927, where he attended the University of Southern California. After playing with the Benny Goodman Quartet, Hampton started his own orchestra, moved to New York, and won international acclaim as one of the country’s greatest jazz artists. SHADES OF L.A. COLLECTION/Los Angeles Public Library.

The Philanthropic Matrons, Los Angeles, ca. 1955. Women’s groups like this one assumed many community responsibilities in Los Angeles. The Philanthropic Matrons sponsored charity events and local improvement projects. SHADES OF L.A. COLLECTION/Los Angeles Public Library.