February is African American Heritage Month at the Los Angeles Public Library. In celebration of this rich cultural heritage and in keeping with the branch’s theme of “African-Americans in the Arts,”…
“The people from Texas took Juneteenth Day to Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, and other places they went.”—Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other SunsWhen the emancipation proclamation was signed by…
“You do what you think is right and let the law catch up”—Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967. On his way to serving on the high…
2017 marks the hundredth anniversary of the death, at the age of 49, of Scott Joplin, one of America's first great composers, and the composer of arguably the first important American opera…
In 1995, after playing in Southern California for nearly 50 years, the Los Angeles Rams left the West Coast for the Midwest, to become the St. Louis Rams. They would stay there for 21 years, winning…
On January 25, 2017, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to give its final approval to the city’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. If Los Angeles is selected as the host of the…
The 1960s were a transformative period for the country with Civil Rights at the forefront. African Americans gained traction in political positions both at the state and local level, and Los Angeles…
Insurance companies have long provided policies to cover losses of property but, before the end of the Civil War, this also included pay-outs for injury and death of the formerly enslaved. This…
Among the many treasures in the Literature & Fiction department is our poetry collection, which clocks in at around 20,000 titles. Since February is African-American Heritage Month, what better time…
As a salute to African American Heritage Month we present a brief glance at the epicenter of Central Avenue in the once glamorous and glorious Dunbar Hotel. In its heyday, the Dunbar was the stopping…
As African American Heritage Month draws to a close, I would like to bring your attention to a largely unknown chapter of American history. The segregation laws and practices collectively known as…
To commemorate African American Heritage Month, Central Library offers two maps that exemplify the struggles and triumphs of African-Americans in this country. The first is “Americans of Negro Lineage…
Activist Malcolm X appears at a meeting at 2nd Baptist Church, [1962]. Herald Examiner CollectionWith over 100,000 images and counting, the Los Angeles Public Library's online photo collection…
