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Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities
An in-depth analysis of the historical and contemporary contours of black life in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is well-known as a temperate paradise with expansive beaches and mountain vistas, a booming luxury housing market, and the home of glamorous Hollywood. During the first half of the twentieth century, Los Angeles was also seen as a mecca for both African Americans and a steady stream of migrants from around the country and the world, transforming Los Angeles into one of the world’s most diverse cities. The city has become a multicultural maze in which many now fear that the political clout of the region’s large black population has been lost. Nonetheless, the dream of a better life lives on for black Angelenos today, despite the harsh social and economic conditions many confront.
Black Los Angeles is the culmination of a groundbreaking research project from the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA that presents an in-depth analysis of the historical and contemporary contours of black life in Los Angeles. Based on innovative research, the original essays are multi-disciplinary in approach and comprehensive in scope, connecting the dots between the city’s racial past, present, and future. Through historical and contemporary anecdotes, oral histories, maps, photographs, illustrations, and demographic data, we see that Black Los Angeles is and has always been a space of profound contradictions. Just as Los Angeles has come to symbolize the complexities of the early twenty-first-century city, so too has Black Los Angeles come to embody the complex realities of race in so-called “colorblind” times.
Melina Abdullah, Alex Alonso, Dionne Bennett, Joshua Bloom, Edna Bonacich, Scot Brown, Reginald Chapple, Lola Smallwood Cuevas, Andrew Deener, Regina Freer, Jooyoung Lee, Mignon R. Moore, Lanita Morris, Neva Pemberton, Steven C. Pitts, Carrie Petrucci, Gwendelyn Rivera, Paul Robinson, M. Belinda Tucker, Paul Von Blum, Mary Weaver, Sonya Winton, and Nancy Wang Yuen.
Los Angeles is well-known as a temperate paradise with expansive beaches and mountain vistas, a booming luxury housing market, and the home of glamorous Hollywood. During the first half of the twentieth century, Los Angeles was also seen as a mecca for both African Americans and a steady stream of migrants from around the country and the world, transforming Los Angeles into one of the world’s most diverse cities. The city has become a multicultural maze in which many now fear that the political clout of the region’s large black population has been lost. Nonetheless, the dream of a better life lives on for black Angelenos today, despite the harsh social and economic conditions many confront.
Black Los Angeles is the culmination of a groundbreaking research project from the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA that presents an in-depth analysis of the historical and contemporary contours of black life in Los Angeles. Based on innovative research, the original essays are multi-disciplinary in approach and comprehensive in scope, connecting the dots between the city’s racial past, present, and future. Through historical and contemporary anecdotes, oral histories, maps, photographs, illustrations, and demographic data, we see that Black Los Angeles is and has always been a space of profound contradictions. Just as Los Angeles has come to symbolize the complexities of the early twenty-first-century city, so too has Black Los Angeles come to embody the complex realities of race in so-called “colorblind” times.
Melina Abdullah, Alex Alonso, Dionne Bennett, Joshua Bloom, Edna Bonacich, Scot Brown, Reginald Chapple, Lola Smallwood Cuevas, Andrew Deener, Regina Freer, Jooyoung Lee, Mignon R. Moore, Lanita Morris, Neva Pemberton, Steven C. Pitts, Carrie Petrucci, Gwendelyn Rivera, Paul Robinson, M. Belinda Tucker, Paul Von Blum, Mary Weaver, Sonya Winton, and Nancy Wang Yuen.
- GenresNonfictionHistoryRace
448 pages, Paperback
First published May 19, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 17, 2018
This was a really good read. This was a library book and there was no book jacket so I had nothing to go by but the title when I picked it up, and I was imagining a more linear history of black Los Angeles, but instead each chapter focuses on a different aspect of life in LA, including stuff like local womanist leaders, the history of gangs in the area (which I thought was particularly interesting), etc.
December 29, 2022
A fantastic book for what it is, a book about Black Los Angeles. It goes over some of the common repetitive issues that are of concern in the Black majority area's of Los Angeles and how they have been addressed in the past; including their history and their contemporary agendas. There is also a significant, if still lacking, attempt at truly gathering first person information which I appreciate.
January 31, 2026
Really interesting history of the Black experiences in LA. I read another book, City of Quartz, which was absolutely dull. This is the real deal about people who love life and each other. Honestly the white people's history is just land stealing and putting up fences. This book covers so much about how you can be engaged with your community. Appreciated reading it. My time was not wasted.
December 15, 2023
If you like very specific deep dives into issues in Los Angeles this book does not disappoint. The majority of the chapters are super interesting and I learned quite a bit. There are a few slow chapters but the rest make up for the more boring ones.
August 21, 2012
As a native, I always find books on Los Angeles interesting and this one didn't let me down, however. Written in more of an academic style, it is not your average coffee table book. May hold a few surprises for natives, big surprise for me was that my attorney is cited several times! Check it out for yourself.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews