Photo: The Guardian Staff arrangement, preview of photographs in exhibition curated by Alison Rose Jefferson at the California African American Museum, Los Angeles

As California became the ‘frontier of leisure’ in the early 1900s, Black Americans established recreational sites along the oceanfront, building thriving communities that helped shape the culture of the Golden State. Historian Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson has collected archival photos from the Jim Crow era that bring to life the stories of African Americans who settled by the beach, creating popular gathering places that challenged white supremacy.

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