Black History Month 2023: Southern California events, history and news
Southern California is home to some momentous Black history: Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier, grew up here and attended UCLA. Biddy Mason, a freed slave, became an entrepreneur and philanthropist here. L.A.’s Central Avenue was home to a thriving and innovative jazz scene (don’t miss Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Column One about that). So here, for Black History Month 2023, is a selection of Los Angeles Times coverage.
Why do we even still have Black History Month? The growing number of right-wing attacks on teaching America’s racial history offers a good answer.
Black History Month starts today and L.A. is full of events highlighting Black art and culture, from a cinema summit to a musical tribute.
In 2023 Behold will be bigger than ever with more portraits and engaging videos that jump off the screen with Black joy. And we need your help to do it right.
For years, the Los Angeles Times has overlooked the vibrancy of Black L.A. A new portrait series by the paper lets the community speak for itself.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar celebrates the cultural oasis that was Central Avenue in Los Angeles.
Black L.A. reflects on first Juneteenth memories
I was 9 years old when my mom took me to hear Dr. King speak. It changed the way I saw myself and the world.
People, streets, a fire station and even a mountain have names that sketch the hardships, triumphs and hard-won progress that are part of Black history in Southern California.
Government efforts to silence hip-hop in the ‘80s and ‘90s were just another chapter of white supremacism’s war on truth.
Before Manhattan Beach shut it down, Bruce’s Beach was a famous Black-owned beach resort. Now, some want the city to atone for its actions.
In a history-making vote, Los Angeles County supervisors unanimously approved a plan to return Bruce’s Beach to a Black family.
County officials say the Bruce family has agreed to sell the Bruce’s Beach property in Manhattan Beach back to Los Angeles County for nearly $20 million.
In Black neighborhoods, residents feel the sting of betrayal over three council members’ racist conversation.
This February, several Black creators went viral with videos that offered a more nuanced and in-depth exploration of the Black experience in America.
Honoring the legacy of Biddy Mason, who became a wealthy landowner, a noted philanthropist and a key founder of the first African American Church in Los Angeles
MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson Day on Friday, which is the 75th anniversary of the Dodgers legend breaking baseball’s color barrier. Here’s our coverage.
On Sundays, author Roxane Gay explores her favorite L.A. book shops, art galleries and movie theater with comfy seats.
Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph of ‘Abbott Elementary’ likes to spend Sundays with her adult children doing yoga, eating ice cream and going to the movies.
Plants sustained Genea Richardson in prison and led to a job after she got out. She now trains formerly incarcerated people to work in landscaping.
Says Louis Easton, aka the Plant Mon: “In the Black community, if you say you work like a Jamaican, it means you wear many hats. And that’s me.”
Physical therapist Terry Richardson, aka the Black Thumb, tends humans by day and rescues orchids by night. He can show you how to keep your orchids alive.
Brandy Williams is an artistic landscaper who paints with plants — one luscious succulent at a time — through her business Garden Butterfly.
Black Lives Matter L.A. leader Melina Abdullah discusses her parenting approach and efforts to challenge the status quo.
How did your favorite stylist’s favorite stylist tap into the fashion zeitgeist of the city? Bring the community into the process
