Past Public Presentations

• Featured Speaker, The Church in Ocean Park, Santa Monica, California
  Sunday, December 29, 2019
  Message about self-determination during the Church’s Kwanzaa celebration service.

• Featured Speaker, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, California
  Wednesday, July 10, 2019
  “Creating Community in Black Los Angeles during the Great Migration and an exploration of Black Business History,” “Creating Community in Black Los Angeles during the Great Migration” series. Here is a link to video segments of this talk.

• Featured Speaker, Whittier College, Whittier, California
  Tuesday, April 23, 2019
  “Leadership from a Humanist View,” Whittier College Initiative.

• Featured Speaker, Santa Monica Conservancy, Santa Monica, California
  Saturday, March 16, 2019
  “Hidden Stories of Santa Monica Beach: Race, Real Estate and Remembrance in the Ocean Park Neighborhood, 1900–1960s.”

• Featured Speaker, California Coastal Commission meeting, Los Angeles, California 
  Friday, March 8, 2019
  “Making Visible  Stories of African Americans and California Dream.” My live presentation at the California Coastal Commission meeting is available via Cal-Span.org here for your viewing convenience.

• Featured Speaker, White and Case LLP, Los Angeles, California 
  Friday, March 1, 2019
  “The Great Migration and how this Changed California!” Black History Month celebration series.

• Featured Speaker, California Coastal Conservancy, Oakland, California 
  Thursday, September 20, 2018
  “Making Visible Overlooked Stories of African Americans in California Dreams” Part 2. My live presentation was available via webinar and the California Coastal Conservancy has posted the recording of it here for your viewing convenience.

• Featured Speaker, 12th Annual Leimert Park Village Book Fair 
  Saturday, August 22, 2018
  “The Great Migration and how this Changed California!” with Radio Host and Author Earl Ofari Hutchinson as moderator. Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza || Los Angeles, California.

• Coordinator and Moderator, Critical Surf Studies: a discussion panel
  Sunday, June 3, 2018
  Part of Nick Gabaldón Day weekend activities 2018 || Speakers: Krista Comer, Kevin Dawson, Dexter Z. Hough-Snee, Elizabeth Pepin Silva and Dina Gilio-Whitaker. Santa Monica Annenberg Beach Community Beach House, California.

• Guest Speaker, “Excavating Venice of America” || DouglasPlus: Conversation Event
  Wednesday, June 1, 2016
  Part of the play development of “Venice of America” by Richard Montoya and Roger G. Smith. Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, Culver City, California.

• Featured Speaker, Manhattan Beach Public Library Lecture Series, Manhattan Beach, California
  Tuesday, April 26, 2016
  “African American Leisure, Southern California Tales and Bruce’s Beach”

• Featured Speaker, Los Angeles Breakfast Club, Los Angeles, California
  Wednesday, March 30, 2016
  “Hidden Stories of Santa Monica: Race, Real Estate and Remembrance in the Ocean Park Neighborhood, 1900s-1960s”

• Panel Speaker, Freshmen Assembly Lecture Series, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California
  Monday, February 29, 2016
  Remarks entitled “Reclamation of Forgotten Stories in the California Dream”

• Keynote Speaker, Santa Monica Conservancy Annual Meeting and Awards   
  Sunday, February 8, 2015
  In my talk entitled “Diversity, Real Estate, and Remembrance in Santa Monica,” I discussed my research at a historical Jim Crow era, African American beach site, and efforts to connect the public with a more inclusive & diverse Southern California heritage. Casa Del Mar Hotel || Santa Monica, California.

• “White Wash” Documentary Screening and Discussion 
  Thursday, April 3, 2014, 3:00–9:00 P.M.
  Jackie Robinson Arts & Humanities Lecture Series 2013–2014, Pasadena City College, California.

• The Jim Crow Era (1900s–1960s) Leisure Experience of African Americans in the Lake Elsinore Community of Riverside County (Invited)
  Saturday, March 8, 2014
  Riverside County History Symposium – In Riverside!

• “12 Miles North: The Nick Gabaldón Story” Documentary Screening and Discussion  
  Thursday, February 6, 2014
  Pilgrim School Celebrates Black History Month 2014, Los Angeles California.

• Walking Tour Lecture, “Ocean Park Neighborhood Beach: Race, Real Estate and Remembrance,” Santa Monica, California (Invited)
  Saturday, October 27, 2013
  “What’s Out There Weekend Los Angeles,” The Cultural Landscape Foundation, October 26–27, 2013.

Past Conference Presentations

• Owning the Means of Cultural Production: Democratizing and Disseminating the Culture of Racial Freedom Struggle in the West panel
  Friday, October 18, 2019, 8.30 A.M.– 10.00 A.M. 
  Paper presented: “African Americans, Leisure, and Performance of the California Dream in the Jim Crow Era”
  Western History Association Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 16–19, 2019

• Black Travel Before and After the Green Book panel
  Wednesday, October 3, 2019, 10.00 A.M.– 11.55 A.M. 
  Chair and Commentator
  Association for the Study of African American Life and History Conference, North Charleston, South Carolina, October 2–6, 2019

• Space 1: Black California Land Development, 1920s panel
  Wednesday, January 30, 2019, 2.45 P.M.– 4.15 P.M. 
  Paper presented: “Welcome to the Parkridge? New Negro Adventures in Exurban County Club and Subdivision development in Southern California’s Inland Empire during the 1920s”
  Collegium of African American Research Conference, Orlando, Florida, January 30–February 2, 2019

• Stories of Race and Coastal Access in California panel 
  Wednesday, December 12, 2018, 10.30 A.M.– noon 
  Paper presented: “Overlooked People and Places in the Heritage of Southern California”
  Resort American’s Estuaries, 9th National Summit, Long Beach Convention Center, California, December 8–13, 2018

• The African American West in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Century panel
  Wednesday, December 12, 2018, 10.30 A.M.– noon 
  Paper presented: “Overlooked People and Places in the Heritage of Southern California”
  Resort American’s Estuaries, 9th National Summit, Long Beach Convention Center, California, December 8–13, 2018

• On the Beach: Questions of Race, Gender, and Ecosystems on American Shorelines panel 
  Saturday, August 4, 2018, 3.45–5.15 P.M. 
  Paper presented: “Making Visible Overlooked Stories of African Americans in California Dreams”
  Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, 111th Annual meeting, Santa Clara University, California, August 2–4, 2018

• Telling Our American Stories: Voice Re-Centered from the Margins in Historic Preservation panel
  Friday, May 18, 2018, 3.45–5.15 P.M. 
  Paper presented: “Reclaiming Los Angeles Country Beaches as Communities of Color: Recognition of History for Community Engagement and Social Action, Now, and in the Future 2018 Update”
  California Preservation Foundation Conference, Palo Alto, California, May 17–20, 2018

• African Americans and Landscapes of Leisure in Twentieth-Century California panel
  Saturday, August 5, 2017, 9.45–11.15 A.M.
  Paper presented: “Adventures of African Americans in Southern California Exurban Country Club and Subdivision Development in the Inland Empire During the 1920s”
  Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, 110th Meeting, California State University, Northridge, August 3–5, 2017

• “Race and the Limits of Leisure: Black Travel and Tourism in the Age of Jim Crow” panel/ African American Leisure, Southern California Tales and Bruce’s Beach” Part 2 presentation, and “White Wash” Documentary film screening and discussion/Film Festival 
  October 5–9 2016
  Association for the Study of African American Life and History, 101st Annual Meeting and Conference, Richmond, Virginia

• Baldwin Hills Village: Race, Community Associations, and the Ethnics of Preservation, part 2 roundtable
  February 2016
  Roundtable discussion participant
  Modernism Week programming, Palm Springs, California

• Baldwin Hills Village: Race, Community Associations, and the Ethnics of Preservation roundtable
  Saturday, November 14, 2015, 4.30-6.15 P.M.
  Roundtable discussion participant
  Society for American City and Regional Planning History (SACRPH) Conference, Los Angeles, California, November 5-8, 2015

• Plenary Session: White Wash Documentary Film Screening and Discussion: Race, Surfing and the Romanticized Beach Culture of Southern California
  Saturday, July 18, 2015, 1.30–3.00 P.M.
  Historian Alison Rose Jefferson and filmmaker Ted Woods introduced the documentary, and led a discussion afterward.
  2015 Summer Regional Workshop, Organization of American Historians, Theme: Diversity in the American West, Glendale, California, July 17–19, 2015

• The Politics of Race, Gender and Recreation in Twentieth Century American Leisure Culture panel
  Saturday, June 27, 2015, 9.00–11.00 A.M.
  Paper presented: “Eureka! Race, Leisure, Subldivisions, Promoters and Gambling on the California Dream” Part 2
  Collegium for African American Research (CAAR) Conference, Liverpool, United Kingdom, June 24–28, 2015

• The Politics of Play: Locating Race and Gender within American Leisure Culture panel
  Friday, April 17, 2015, 1.30-3.00 P.M.
  Paper presented: “Eureka! Race, Leisure, Subdivisions, Promoters and Gambling on the California Dream”
  2015 National Council on Public History Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, April 15-18, 2015

• White Wash: Cultural Politics, African Americans, Surfing and the Romanticized Beach Culture of Southern California (“White Wash” Documentary Screening and Discussion)
  Saturday, April 12, 2014, 10:50–12:20 P.M. 2014
  Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, April 10–13, 2014

• Cultural Inclusion and Sustainable Heritage Conservation panel
  Saturday, March 22, 2014
  Paper presented: “Reclaiming Los Angeles County Beaches as Communities of Color: Recognition of History for Community Engagement and Social Action, Now, and in the Future”
  2014 National Council on Public History Conference, Monterey, California, March 19-22, 2014

• Blacks in the North American West Panel and “White Wash” documentary film screening and discussion
  Thursday, March 14, 2013, 1:30–3:30 P.Mand Saturday, March 16, 2013, 12:30–2:00 P.M.
  2013 Collegium for African American Research (CAAR) Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, March 13–16, 2013

• Rediscovered Places: Reclaiming a Forgotten Past
  Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 2:00–3.30 P.M. 2011
  California Preservation Conference, Santa Monica, California, May 15–18, 2011

• Essay and Other Works Panel, and Co-Conference Organizer
  Friday, May 13, 2011
  Black California Dreamin’ Conference

• Race, Place, and Tourism: Leisure Sites as Contested Sites panel
  Friday, April 8, 2011, 8:30–10:30 A.M. 2011
  National Council on Public History Conference, Pensacola, Florida, April 6–9, 2011