Category Archives: African Americans

Jan. 17, 1907: The Changing Face of the City

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007. Jan. 17, 1907 Los Angeles On a trip from Utah to visit his daughter, H.E. Gibson keeps getting lost as he wanders around Los Angeles. No, it’s not because Gibson is 80, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, African Americans, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, LAPD, Real Estate, Streetcars | Comments Off on Jan. 17, 1907: The Changing Face of the City

Jan. 16, 1947: Teachers Call ‘Song of the South’ Racist Propaganda

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 16, 1947: Chef Tubbs is opening a restaurant at 1305-7 E. Olympic Blvd. Olympic Boulevard and Central Avenue, via Google Street View. Jan. 16: Local 27 of the American Federation of Teachers, meeting in Washington, called the Disney feature … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Film, Food and Drink, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Jan. 16, 1947: Teachers Call ‘Song of the South’ Racist Propaganda

Black L.A. Laura Bowman Cast in All-Black Production of ‘Anna Lucasta’

Posted on January 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 9, 1947:  Laura Bowman, who died in 1957 after a long illness, is to appear in an all-black production of “Anna Lucasta” at the Biltmore Theater. ” Anna Lucasta,” written by Philip Yordan, was originally produced by the American … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Stage | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Black L.A. 1947: LAPD Detectives Cleared of Brutality Against Drunk Woman

Posted on January 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 9, 1947: The Sentinel reports on the ruling by the Los Angeles Police Commission in the case of Edythe L. Galloway, 434 E. 48th St. On Nov. 6, 1946, the Police Commission voted to investigate the allegations of brutality … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, City Hall, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: LAPD Detectives Cleared of Brutality Against Drunk Woman

Black L.A. 1947: Sentinel Refuses Ads From Central Avenue Club Over White Cashier

Posted on January 9, 2018 by lmharnisch

4201 S. Central, the location of the Downbeat Room, via Google Street View. Notice the Dunbar Hotel next door. The famous Club Alabam’ was nearby at 4215 S. Central.   Jan. 9, 1947: Mabel Scott and Gerald Wilson open the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Music, Nightclubs | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: Sentinel Refuses Ads From Central Avenue Club Over White Cashier

Jan. 5, 1947: Two Black 15-Year-Olds Set for Electric Chair After Losing Plea

Posted on January 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project. Jan. 5, 1947: “The majority of Americans belong to one minority group or another,” said Dr. Will Durant, author and lecturer, yesterday in outlining the scope of the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Black L.A. 1947: Mary Lou Williams ‘Waltz Boogie’

Posted on January 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

“Leon Wheaton of 1011 E. 43rd Place, Los Angeles, one of the latest local victims of police brutality,” in a photo published Jan. 2, 1947, in the Los Angeles Sentinel.  Unfortunately, there is no further information in the Sentinel about … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Music | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: Mary Lou Williams ‘Waltz Boogie’

Jan. 4, 1947: Angry Sailor Sets Fire to Skid Row Hotel After Being Rolled

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947Project. Jan. 4, 1947: Suppose, for a moment, that you are a 19-year-old mess cook second class stationed in San Pedro. Suppose further that while you are on leave … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts, Fires, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Black L.A. 1947: 10 Black Doctors Admitted to Leading Surgical Society, Raising Number to 14

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Leon H. Washington Jr., left, publisher of the Sentinel, marches in a picket line with a sign that says “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” in a photo published Jan. 2, 1947. Jan. 2, 1947: At its convention in Cleveland, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Medicine, Obituaries | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: 10 Black Doctors Admitted to Leading Surgical Society, Raising Number to 14

Black L.A. 1947: First African American Named to L.A. Police Commission

Posted on January 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 2, 1947: The Los Angeles Sentinel publishes the photo of Charles H. Matthews on Page 1 as part of its roundup of major stories from 1946. Matthews, a former deputy district attorney and an NAACP executive at the time, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, 1947, African Americans, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: First African American Named to L.A. Police Commission

Black L.A. 1947: Racist Street Sign Removed; Advertisers, Officials Repudiate ‘The Equalizer’

Posted on January 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 2, 1947: The Los Angeles Sentinel publishes a photo of a street sign reading “Dixiana Circle” at 23rd Street and Long Beach Avenue. The Sentinel reported June 6, 1946, that the street had been renamed Staunton.  Not too surprisingly, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, 1947, African Americans | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: Racist Street Sign Removed; Advertisers, Officials Repudiate ‘The Equalizer’

Black L.A. 1947: Buddy Young — First African American to Score a Touchdown in the Rose Bowl

Posted on January 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

A 1947 Rose Bowl program, listed on EBay, with bids starting at $10.50.   Jan. 1, 1947: On the program’s cover, the players are white… … but the Sentinel’s sports section highlights five African Americans playing in the Rose Bowl: … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Black L.A. 1947: Cross Burnings and Jim Crow Trains in Los Angeles – The Biggest Stories of 1946

Posted on December 29, 2017 by lmharnisch

In its Jan. 2, 1947, issue, the Los Angeles Sentinel looked back at the major stories of 1946, a good introduction to the year ahead: Job discrimination, Jim Crow laws, segregated housing, police beatings and racial violence. We will be … Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, 1947, African Americans, History, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Black L.A. 1947: Cross Burnings and Jim Crow Trains in Los Angeles – The Biggest Stories of 1946

Black Dahlia: A Two-Year Update and a Look Ahead

Posted on December 26, 2017 by lmharnisch

The second anniversary of my retirement from the Los Angeles Times coincided with lots of questions prompted by a Fox News piece on Piu Eatwell’s “Black Dahlia, Red Rose.” Even though I had blogged about the book repeatedly, people still … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1947, African Americans, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, History | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Navy Releases Accounts of Pearl Harbor

Posted on December 7, 2017 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2011. Dec. 22, 1941: The Navy releases three personal accounts of the Pearl Harbor attack. Many acts of heroism are described, and these few lines shed more light on the presence of African … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, African Americans, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Navy Releases Accounts of Pearl Harbor

Eve Golden’s YouTube Theater: Theresa Harris

Posted on February 14, 2017 by lmharnisch

  An image of Theresa Harris from PM magazine, Oct. 29, 1949, listed on EBay for $60. Lena Horne was an angry, angry woman—she felt that if she’d been white she’d have had the career of Rita Hayworth or Doris … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Eve Golden’s YouTube Theater: That Girl In The Satin Dress! She Kills Me!

Posted on November 29, 2016 by lmharnisch

  A poster for “Rufus Jones for President.”   Note: Eve has discontinued her YouTube Theater, but has consented to have me post the entries she has already written. Ever see Rufus Jones for President? Calling it “quite a pip” … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Watts Riots: Rare Video of Marquette Frye

Posted on August 12, 2015 by lmharnisch

My good friend Tony Valdez aired part of an interview with Marquette Frye last night as part of Fox 11’s coverage of the Watts riots. The arrest of Frye by CHP officers is what touched off the riots in 1965. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1965, African Americans, Television | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Watts Riots: Rare Video of Marquette Frye

Another Good Story Ruined: The L.A. Times and the Watts Riots

Posted on August 4, 2015 by lmharnisch

Myth destroyed: The Times publishes a photo Aug. 13, 1965  of Charles Hillinger in the riot area interviewing people. As next week’s anniversary of the Watts Riots draws near, I am once again hearing the old urban myth that the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1965, African Americans, Another Good Story Ruined, LAPD | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, June 5, 1944

Posted on June 5, 2014 by lmharnisch

June 5, 1944 HOLLYWOOD, June 4 — Erich Pommer, one time high mogul of UFA productions in Berlin, became an American citizen last week and celebrated by signing for two pictures with Producers Corp. of America. Years ago, before the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1944, African Americans, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, June 5, 1944