Black Los Angeles started small. The first census of the newly
formed Los Angeles County in 1850 recorded only twelve Americans of
African descent alongside a population of more than 3,500 Anglo
Americans. Over the following seventy years, however, the African
American founding families of Los Angeles forged a vibrant
community within the increasingly segregated and stratified city.
In this book, historian Marne L. Campbell examines the
intersections of race, class, and gender to produce a social
history of community formation and cultural expression in Los
Angeles. Expanding on the traditional narrative of middle-class
uplift, Campbell demonstrates that the black working class, largely
through the efforts of women, fought to secure their own economic
and social freedom by forging communal bonds with black elites and
other communities of color. This women-led, black working-class
agency and cross-racial community building, Campbell argues, was
markedly more successful in Los Angeles than in any other region in
the country.
Drawing from an extensive database of all African American
households between 1850 and 1910, Campbell vividly tells the story
of how middle-class African Americans were able to live, work, and
establish a community of their own in the growing city of Los
Angeles.