"Of Roses and Orange Blossoms"

Early and mid-twentieth-century migration is at the heart of nearly all of the oral histories in this series. From 1916 to 1970 nearly six million African Americans sought to escape economic suppression and racial violence by leaving the rural South and relocating to urban areas in the Northeast, Midwest, and western United States. The Great Migration unfolded in two significant waves. The first wave occurred from 1916 to 1930. Then, after a slight hiatus during the Depression, the second wave--sometimes referred to as the Second Great Migration--commenced in 1940 and lasted until 1970.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, glowing reports in the press and from friends and family made California a key destination for African Americans going west. Los Angeles, in particular, was viewed as a destination with less racial tension and a range of economic possibilities for those with an enterprising outlook. Writing in the NAACP’s magazine The Crisis after visiting the city in 1913, W.E.B. Du Bois reported that “One never forgets Los Angeles and Pasadena: the tenuous beauty of roses and orange blossoms . . . . These colored people are pushing and energetic. They are without doubt the most beautifully housed group of colored people in the United States.” His article “Colored California” is dotted with pictures of businesses and well-manicured houses, illustrating the economic growth and stability of a rising middle class.

The African American population in Los Angeles swelled during the migration years. According to the U.S. census, between 1910 and 1930, the city’s black population grew from 7,599 to 38,894. During World War II, those numbers increased dramatically, as African Americans were drawn to Los Angeles by the labor demands and economic opportunities of the war industries. And by 1970, the census numbered the black population of Los Angeles at 759,091. Although many African Americans found opportunity and economic mobility in Los Angeles, the realities of racial discrimination, segregation, and economic limitations remained. Still, they developed vibrant communities, built institutions, and formed commercial areas that served the needs of a growing population.

Nearly all of the narrators in this series came from families who had migrated west in the past few generations—some when the narrators themselves were younger, some in their parents’ or grandparents’ generations. Many brought with them skills, trades, and traditions that they then cultivated in Los Angeles. In the five clips below, narrators share stories of their move west or the traditions through which they stayed connected to the places from which they had come.