History of African Americans in Los Angeles
The first blacks in Los Angeles were mulattos and Afro-Mexicans who immigrated to California from Sinaloa and Sonora in northwestern Mexico.
African Americans are concentrated in South Los Angeles; as well as a Black community in suburban cities such as Compton and Inglewood.
[4] The Black population in Los Angeles has declined since 2017, due to gentrification and more Latinos such as Mexicans and Central Americans moving to their neighborhoods.
[13][14] Pío Pico, California's last governor under Mexican rule, was of mixed Spanish, Native American, and African ancestry.
[20] From approximately 1920 to 1955, Central Avenue was the heart of the African American community in Los Angeles, with active rhythm and blues and jazz music scenes.
The listing on the National Register notes, "All-black fire stations were simultaneous representations of racial segregation and sources of community pride.
"[23] In 1928, World War I veteran William J. Powell founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club.
In 1931, Powell organized the first all-black air show in the United States for the Club in Los Angeles, an event that drew 15,000 visitors.
[citation needed] World War II brought the Second Great Migration, tens of thousands of African American migrants, mostly from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas, who left segregated Southern states in search of better opportunities in California.
The African American population significantly increased in the Second Great Migration of the 1940s as area factories received labor for the effort in World War II.
[25] The 1965 Watts Riots were triggered by the arrest of a 21-year-old black man named Marquette Frye at 116th Street and Avalon Boulevard for driving drunk.
An investigating commission found that the African American citizens had been denied respect and endured substandard housing, education and medical care.
[citation needed] In 1973, Tom Bradley was elected as Mayor of Los Angeles, a role he'd hold for 20 years.
A jury found Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter, an offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of 16-years.
However, trial judge, Joyce Karlin, sentenced Du five years of probation, four hundred hours of community service, and a $500 fine.
These communities were Avalon, Baldwin Hills,[37] Central, Exposition Park, Santa Barbara, South Vermont, Watts, and West Adams.
[citation needed] Since then the Santa Barbara street was renamed Martin Luther King Jr.
[39] Many blacks leaving Los Angeles who also California moved to cities in the U.S. South, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Little Rock, New Orleans, and San Antonio.
The Inland Empire African American Chamber of Commerce began with six members in 1990 and the membership increased to 90 by 1996.
Nigerians, Ethiopians, Ghanaians, Belizeans, Jamaicans, Haitians, and Trinidadians are clustered in African American neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
[43] In 2001, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Compton, Ladera Heights, and View Park had the highest concentration of blacks.
As of 2001, in the majority of cities within Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties had black populations below 10%.
[44] The Black percentage of the population has declined in Los Angeles in 2017, possibly due to an increase of Mexican and Central American immigrants.
There is a black Muslim community in Los Angeles, and Islam has had a large influence on the African American population in California.
[53] In 2007, 4% of African American adults in Los Angeles County identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.
[56] Blacks in Los Angeles County are often affected by homelessness, poverty and incarceration due to discrimination.
[60] African Americans have faced significant challenges when attempting to integrate into predominantly white suburban areas.
However, there were notable exceptions for suburbs including Pasadena, Monrovia, and Pacoima, where black communities had established longstanding historical ties.
After 1980, the movement of African Americans into suburban regions increased, with many residing alongside Hispanic populations in emerging majority-minority suburbs such as Compton, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Carson and Gardenia.
