Below are links to stories on people and places that have been overlooked in the “collective memory” of the heritage of the Southern California region and the United States.
Some of the stories include coverage of my research and public history programming efforts.
stories on people and places that have been overlooked
Reclaiming Bruce’s Beach
Photo: 60 Minutes+ streamed on Paramount+ Reclaiming Bruce's Beach (S1 E12) By Westley Lowery | 60 Minutes+ on Parmount+ Original May 2, 2021 60 Minutes+ visits Southern California where a black family...
Manhattan Beach Took Beachfront Land from a Black Family. L.A. County Has Voted to Give it Back
Photo: Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Manhattan Beach Took Beachfront Land from a Black Family. L.A. County Has Voted to Give it Back By Ian Spiegelman | Los Angeles MagazineApril 23,...
Manhattan Beach May show the Way on Reparations
Photo: Prime beachfront property. Mario Tama/Getty Images North America Manhattan Beach May show the Way on Reparations By Francis Wilkinson | Bloomberg.comApril 22, 2021 Almost a century after...
Once Upon A Beach In California
Photo: California African American Museum Once Upon A Beach In California By Mike Wesson | The Beat Podcast, TheBeatMedia.com April 21, 2021 (aired) You wouldn’t know it today, but Manhattan Beach in...
California Beach Seized in 1924 From a Black Family Could Be Returned
Photo: Manhattan Beach, Gabriella Angotti-Jones for the New York Times California Beach Siezed in 1924 From a Black Family Could Be Returned By Jocey Fortin | The New York Times April 18, 2021 Nearly a...
A beach town seized a Black couple’s land in the 1920s. Now their family could get it back
Photo: Chief Duane Yellow Feather Shepard is a relative of the Bruce family. Photograph: Damon Casarez/The Guardian A beach town seized a Black couple's land in the 1920s. Now their family could get it...
$75M Beachfront Property Taken From Black Owners in 1927 Set to Be Returned to Descendants
Photo: Inside Edition TV Show $75M Beachfront Property Taken From Black Owners in 1927 Set to Be Returned to Descendances By Staff | Inside Edition, CBS TV Los Angeles April 15, 2021 Nearly a century...
Bruce’s Beach: (Finally) doing the right thing
Photo: Our Weekly, Charles and Willa Bruce Bruce's Beach: (Finally) doing the right thing By Gregg Reese | Our WeeklyApril 14, 2021 Lawmakers move to correct injustice in the South Bay Read the article...
Segregation: les Afro-Americains demandent des reparations || Segregation: African Americans Demand Reparations
Photo: Nicole Spohn Almeida, Arte TV Segregation: les Afro-Americains demandent des reparations || Segregation: African Americans Demand Reparations By Nicole Spohn Almeida | Arte TV (French) April 14,...
USA: Afroamerikaner fordern Reparationszahlungen || USA: African Americans are demanding reparations payments
Photo: Nicole Spohn Almeida, Arte TV USA: Afroamerikaner fordern Reparationszahlungen || USA: African Americans are demanding reparations payments By Nicole Spohn Almeida | Arte TV (German) April 14,...
Historian Alison Rose Jefferson on the generations-long fight for belonging at one Southern California beach
Photo: Alison Rose Jefferson's iphone by Lisa Bartley ABC7 News LA Historian Alison Rose Jefferson on the generations-long fight for belonging at one Southern California beach By The Trust for Public...
The true damage in a racist land grab
Photo: Los Angeles Times The true damage in a racist land grab? By Alison Rose Jefferson | Los Angeles Times, OpEd April 5, 2021 The question of how to acknowledge and repair racist crimes of the past...
How should Manhattan Beach atone for its racist past?
Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times How should Manhattan Beach atone for its racist past? By Rosanna Xia | Los Angeles Times March 28/29, 2021 For months, Manhattan Beach has wrestled with an...
Alison Rose Jefferson interviewed about Bruce’s Beach and Santa Monica’s Belmar History + Art project
Photo: KJLH Radio Alison Rose Jefferson interviewed about Bruce’s Beach and Santa Monica’s Belmar History + Art project "The FrontPage" with Dominique Di Prima | 102.3 FM RadioFREE KJLH March 17, 2021...
Manhattan Beach Punts on Apology for Historic Racism, Dissolves Task Force
Photo: Spectrum News 1 Manhattan Beach Punts on Apology for Historic Racism, Dissolves Task Force By David Mendez | Spectrum News 1 March 17, 2021 MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — After more than five hours...
Reclaiming 50 years of lost African American history in Santa Monica
Reclaiming 50 years of lost African American history in Santa Monica by Adrienne Alpert | ABC 7 News Belmar History + Art project March 16, 2021 Read the article here.
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer Just got some Competition, Remembering Latasha Harlins, The Restitution of Bruce’s Beach
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer Just Got Some Competition, Remembering Latasha Harlins, The Restitution of Bruce's Beach With Austin Cross | 89.3 KPCC March 16, 2021 LA County is considering returning a...
This Black Family Ran a Thriving Resort 100 Years Ago. They Want the Land Back.
Photo: California African American Museum This Black Family ran a Thriving Resort 100 Years Ago. They Want the Land Back. By Jocey Fortin | The New York Times March 11, 2021 Last year the NYT did a short...
Tour Santa Monica’s once-vibrant Black neighborhoods, nearly erased by racism and ‘progress’
Photo: Dancer Cristyne Lawson as a young girl in Santa Monica in 1953, and today. (Cristyne Lawson Collection; Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times) Tour Santa Monica’s once-vibrant Black...
Manhattan Beach, Bruce’s Beach and race
Photo: Va Wikimedia Commons / CC 2.0 Manhattan Beach, Bruce's Beach and racePress Play with Mdeleine Brand | KCRW March 4, 2021 Manhattan Beach seized Bruce’s Beach, a thriving Black enclave. Now...
LA County Looking to Return Land to the Family Descendants of Bruce’s Beach
Photo: NBC4 TV News LA County Looking to Return Land to the Family Descendants of Bruce’s Beach by Jonathan Gonzalez | NBC4 TV News March 1, 2021 Read the article here.
Historic Belmar Park and Belmar History + Art Virtual Opening Ceremony
Historic Belmar Park and Belmar History + Art Virtual Opening CeremonySunday, February 28, 2021
Justice Now: Black history’s Untold Stories With Martin Luther King Jr III, Kavon Ward, Robert Lee Johnson, and Alison Rose Jefferson
Photo: Leroy Hamilton Justice Now: Black history’s Untold StoriesWith Martin Luther King Jr III, Kavon Ward, Robert Lee Johnson, and Alison Rose Jefferson97.7 The WaveWednesday, Feb. 24, 2020, 6 pm PST...
“How Racism Ruined Black Santa Monica”
Photo: Shades of L.A. Collection/Los Angeles Public Library Collection “How Racism Ruined Black Santa Monica” by Hadley Meares | In Arts & Entertainment, LAIST.com December 23, 2020 Read the article...