Black Leaders of Leisure in Southern California during the Jim Crow Era: The Implications of their Stories Today

During the reign of the Jim Crow era in the United States, from 1900 into the 1960s, African Americans created their own recreational spaces that formed communities and nurtured successful businesses. Historian Alison Rose Jefferson’s talk investigates these places drawn from her recent book Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era.  Leisure was  moving to the center of the American Dream, and Black Californians sought to make the California Dream a reality for all, alongside the broader struggle for freedom and rights in the United States. Black entrepreneurs were important promoters at two resorts near Palm Springs: at Lake Elsinore where architect Paul R. Williams designed a Black-owned resort, and the Parkridge Country Club in Corona.

 

Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson is a publicly engaged independent historian, heritage conservation consultant and a third generation Californian. She has worked extensively across Los Angeles to elucidate and re-center the African American experience in local history, heritage conservation efforts, civic memory, and the American identity. Among her other efforts, Dr. Jefferson and Michael Blum of Sea of Clouds received the 2020 Cultural Landscape Award from the Santa Monica Conservancy for their successful effort to have the Bay Street Beach Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places. For more on Dr. Jefferson’s work go to: alisonrosejefferson.com.

This event qualifies for 1 AIA/CES Learning Units (LU).