Lawrence Brooks de Graaf (born August 30, 1932 in Yonkers, New York)[1] is an American historian.
He grew up in various places in New York State before moving in 1944 to Glendale, California, where his father had taken a job with Sun Oil.
[1] De Graaf received a bachelor's degree in history from Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1954 and both an M.A.
and PhD in history from UCLA, the latter in 1962 with the dissertation Negro migration to Los Angeles, 1930 to 1950.
[1] In 2006, the Los Angeles City Historical Society honored de Graaf with its Miriam Matthews Ethnic History Award for chronicling Southern California’s ethnic history.