Category Archives: African Americans

Black L.A. 1947: Sheriff’s Deputy Reprimanded for Striking Sentinel Staffer With Gun

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Florence Avenue and Hooper Avenue, via Google Street View. May 15, 1947: About 3 a.m. on April 17, 1947, Louis V. Cole of the Sentinel advertising department was delivering tear sheets of that week’s ads when his car stalled. Cole … Continue reading →

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May 18, 1907: Black Worker on Search for Lost Lumber Gets in Fatal Fight

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. May 18, 1907 Los Angeles William Mullen, a black strikebreaker for the Pioneer Truck Company, was delivering a shipment of lumber when he realized that he had lost some of his load … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947: ‘Whites Only’ Jobs as Black Unemployment Rises

Posted on May 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 15, 1947: The Sentinel calls for a federal fair employment practices act. Below, racial preferences in classified ads in the Los Angeles Times.  

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Black L.A. 1947: World War II Veteran Kills Wife, Commits Suicide

Posted on May 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 15, 1947: Robert B. Hudson, 30, was “ambitious, quiet and conservative in his activities,” the Sentinel said. He was discharged from the service with the rank of staff sergeant after 27 months in the South Pacific. He and his … Continue reading →

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1947: When History Shouldn’t Be Segregated

Posted on May 14, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and is one of my first comments on the 1947project blog, begun by Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak. At that point, the Sentinel was not online. Where are the black people? I … Continue reading →

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May 12, 1907: History Deals a Deadly Hand

Posted on May 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. May 12, 1907 We’ve been having fun all week with the Shriners, parading around in their costumes, engaging in peculiar rites and pondering silly questions like “What Makes the Wildcat Wild?” Then … Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, African Americans, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Black L.A. 1947: Thomas R. LeBlanc, Influential Figure in Los Angeles Music

Posted on May 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

LeBlanc’s Creole Band in an undated photo, via the Sentinel. May 8, 1947: I went down the research rabbit hole on the story of Thomas R. LeBlanc, who was featured in the Sentinel. This is a story that deserves more … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947: John Thomas Trains at Main Street Gym for Bout With Enrique Bolanos at Wrigley Field

Posted on May 9, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 8, 1947: John Thomas begins training at the Main Street Gym for the California State lightweight championship match at Wrigley Field on June 3. Before being drafted into the Army, Thomas was an impressive young fighter and was scheduled … Continue reading →

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Black L.A., 1947: Racial Tensions at Fremont High Boost Homeowners’ Efforts to Keep Neighborhood White

Posted on May 8, 2018 by lmharnisch

March 1947: Students who walked out of classes at Fremont High School to protest the presence of six African American students stand next to a figure labeled “No Negroes” hung from a lamp post at 77th and San Pedro streets. … Continue reading →

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May 8, 1947: Mixed Marriage Was Illegal, Louisiana Court Rules, Ordering Woman to Vacate Home for New Owner

Posted on May 7, 2018 by lmharnisch

Daisy Lee Wade, 14, shows off a bike she won in a contest to name a bicycle. Her winning entry: A Master Chaser. May 8, 1947: Tony Rice and Azelia Barthelmy (sometimes Berthlemy) were married by the Catholic Church of … Continue reading →

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From 1937: A Rape Victim’s ‘Night of Horror’

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

And here’s where we go down the research rabbit hole from the L.A. Sentinel, 1947: The California Venereal Disease Control Act of 1937. Which brings us to “California and Western Medicine,” July to December 1937.

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May 3, 1907: Fleenor, Accused ‘Barefoot Bandit,’ Says LAPD Got Him Drunk to Gain Confession

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Note: This is an encore post from 2006. On the witness stand, accused “Barefoot Bandit” James G. Fleenor complains that police got him drunk to gain a confession. Fleenor, who was black, had been part of an attempted jailbreak … Continue reading →

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Black L.A., 1947: ‘Behold a Cry’ and an Exploration of the ‘Estate of James Crow’

Posted on May 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

May 1, 1947: The Sentinel publishes an ad for Alden Bland’s “Behold a Cry.” (Available on 14-day loan from Archive.org). The New York Times said: ALDEN BLAND, the Negro author of this short novel, has none of the power of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Books and Authors | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Black L.A. 1947: Killers Restage Deadly Robbery of Watts Liquor Store for LAPD Movie

Posted on April 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

10952 Wilmington Ave., Watts, in 2012, as shown in Google Street View. Two two-story residences were built on the property in 2014. April 17, 1947: LAPD detectives have three men reenact the killing of liquor store owner Louis de Ciodda, … Continue reading →

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Black L.A. 1947, Jackie Robinson Joins Dodgers

Posted on April 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

  April 17, 1947: Jackie Robinson’s signing with the Dodgers is Page 1 news in the Sentinel…. … And on the cover of the sports section in the Los Angeles Times – and no picture or even a Page 1 … Continue reading →

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Black L.A., 1947: White Student Refuses to Leave Black School

Posted on April 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

April 10, 1947: James O. Plinton Jr., left, and Sentinel Publisher Leon H. Washington with one of the Grumman planes Plinton bought for his air service. April 10, 1947: Karla Rosel Galarza, 22, is refusing requests by the Washington, D.C., … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Education | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Black L.A., 1947: 126 Men, 3 Women Arrested in Raid on ‘Wild Stag Party’

Posted on April 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

The former La Vada Apartments, site of a stag party in 1947, via Google Street View. April 10, 1947: Police raided the ballroom of the La Vada Apartments, 249 E. Vernon, arresting 126 men who had paid $1 for admission … Continue reading →

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Black L.A., 1947: Famous Flier James O. Plinton Jr. Visits L.A.

Posted on April 6, 2018 by lmharnisch

April 3, 1947: James O. Plinton Jr., a pioneering African American aviator, visits Los Angeles to buy two Grumman amphibious planes. At the beginning of World War II, Plinton went to the Tuskegee Institute, where he was a flight instructor, … Continue reading →

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Black L.A., 1947: Mother Sues Hospital Over Baby Mix-Up

Posted on April 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jewell Sperling with her son James Sperling Jr., Pittsburgh Courier, April 12, 1947. April 3, 1947: Jewell Sperling of 714 W. 32nd St., sues Hoover Hospital for $3,500, charging that she suffered mental distress from being sent home with the … Continue reading →

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Black L.A., 1947: Reward Offered for Leads in Streetcar Conductor’s Killing

Posted on April 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

1117 E. 58th St., where streetcar conductor Harold D. Moon was robbed and killed, March 30, 1947, via Google Street View. April 3, 1947: Harold D. Moon, a conductor on the “U” streetcar, was shot in the back and robbed … Continue reading →

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