Black History Month - Los Angeles' Pioneers and Trailblazers
by Pebbla Wallace, LACHS Board Member
In February Los Angeles (and the United States) celebrates Black History Month. In doing so, the LACHS would like to recognize some of our historical pioneers, and the major contributions they have made to the City of Angels.
The celebration of Black History first began on the second week of February in 1926 when it was recognized as “Negro History Week”. The week was started by educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson who was concerned about “the miseducation of the Negro” when many textbooks distorted black history with ugly racial stereotypes and ignored their tremendous contributions to America.
The date was originally chosen to encompass the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass and honored them for their beliefs on freedom. In the beginning, very few cities or states recognized this date. But during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and 1970s it began to grow, and became Black History Month. In 1976 President Gerald Ford became the first president to officially recognize Black History Month, with a proclamation, and subsequent presidents followed.
Today we dedicate this month to recognize the impact that individuals of African descent have made to enrich America in all parts of our society.
Sam Haskins
Courtesy of the African American Firefighters Museum
Sam Haskins (1846-1895) – Los Angeles’ First Black Firefighter
Sometimes history can be a discovery that happens completely by accident. That is exactly what happened when Joe Walker, a crime analyst from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD), was researching the genealogy of someone else who died the same year as Sam Haskins. He found an article about Haskins that indicated he died while in the line of duty as a firefighter in 1895. For years, Los Angeles had always recognized George Bright as the first Black firefighter who was appointed in 1897. But this article about Sam Haskins death in 1895, was two years before George Bright become a firefighter. After further research it was found that Sam became a firefighter in 1888 (assigned to engine company No. 2), making him the first Black Firefighter in Los Angeles and California.
Sam Haskins was born into slavery in Virginia in 1846. Haskins moved to Los Angeles around 1880 and became a member of the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) as a “call fireman” (part-time, on-call basis). Because a call fireman was not a full-time job, Haskins also worked as a porter at the Union Depot Hotel.
Not only was Haskins a pioneer of his time as being the “First”, he was also unfortunately the first firefighter to die in the line of duty. The Los Angeles Herald described this about Haskins death on November 19, 1895:
“An alarm was rung at 5:55 p. m., and two minutes later the engine and hook and ladder wagon were tearing along over the paving stones and car tracks. Sam Haskins, the Herculean colored fireman, jumped to his place on the engine but, owing to the roughness of the pavement, the numerous car tracks, the rapidly drawn engine was so unsteady that the unfortunate fireman lost his balance, flung his arms about wildly for a moment, then fell between the left hind wheel and the boiler and was crushed to death. The engine was stopped at once, but it was fully ten minutes before the wheel was taken off and the mangled and dying man removed. Drs. Choate and McCarthy were summoned, and under their direction, the dying man was carried to the engine house, where he was placed upon a mattress. Efforts were made to revive him, but he died about five minutes after he was removed from the engine.”
Miriam Matthews (1920)
Photo Credit: Shades of LA Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
Miriam Matthews – First African American woman (credentialed) to be hired by the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL).
Miriam was born in Florida and moved to the Los Angeles area when she was two years old. After graduating from Los Angeles High School, she attended UCLA and later transferred to Berkeley where she received a degree in Spanish and a certificate in Library Science before being hired by the Los Angeles Public Library. Realizing the lack of resources regarding African American History at the library, she was an integral part of collecting African American history resources for the library. From 1949 to 1960 she served as regional librarian for LAPL and supervised twelve branches in Los Angeles. Miriam died in 2003.
Joseph Henry Green – The other first Black LAPD Officer
Little is known about Joseph Green who was one of the first Black police officers along with Robert Stewart (see Robert Stewart blog) to have served on the Los Angeles Police Department on March 31, 1889. Unfortunately, Joseph’s career was short-lived. Less than a year after his appointment, Joseph and nine other officers were laid off when the department was ordered to reduce its numbers.
But what we do know about Joseph through various records, is he was born in North Carolina on October 30, 1851 (according to his tombstone DOB). He lived in North Carolina until 1876, and later that year moved to San Francisco where he worked at the Palace Hotel as a waiter. Following his waiter job, he worked for the widow of rich railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins Jr. Green moved to Los Angeles around 1883, where he worked at the Pico House as the head waiter. Around 1887 he worked at City Hall as a janitor before being appointed as a police officer in 1889.
After his layoff at the LAPD, he continued to work as a waiter until his sudden death in 1903. Joseph was survived by his wife Amanda, and his two daughters Lauretta and Cecil (his son Adolph died in 1889 at age 5). His daughter Lauretta Green Butler became a known musician in Los Angeles and opened the first Black professional dance studio in Los Angeles.
Georgia Ann Robinson
Photo Credit: Security Pacific Natl. Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
Georgia Ann Robinson – First African American woman appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and one of the first African American police officers in the United States (1919)
Georgia was born in 1879 in Louisiana where her parents died when she was very young. She was later raised by her older sister and then at a Catholic convent. At eighteen she moved to Kansas and became a governess. She later met her husband Morgan Robinson and moved to Los Angeles.
In 1916, when the LAPD was in desperate need of officers due to the lack of men because of World War I, they began to recruit women. Georgia was recruited by the department first as a volunteer, and then three years later as the first African American woman to become a full-time police officer, which also made her the first African American woman police officer in the U.S. At the time of her appointment, there were only four other female LAPD officers.
Her first assignment was working as a jail matron, and then on juvenile and homicide cases. Her career ended abruptly in 1928 after suffering a serious head injury while trying to break up a fight between inmates. The injury caused her to lose her eyesight and forced her into early retirement. She died in 1961.
Charlotta A. Bass (1952)
Photo Credit: Shades of Los Angeles Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
CHARLOTTA AMANDA SPEARS BASS – First African American Newspaper Woman
Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass – Was the first woman to own and operate a newspaper in Los Angeles. She was also the first African American woman to own and operate a newspaper in California and the United States. She published the California Eagle in Los Angeles from 1912 until 1951.
Charlotta was born in South Carolina in 1874. In 1910 she moved to Los Angeles where she worked for the California Eagle by selling subscriptions of the newspaper. When the owner of the paper died in 1912, Charlotta took over as Editor and later as the owner when she purchased the paper at auction for fifty dollars. Besides containing various news stories, the paper’s original concept was to assist new migrants in Los Angeles with housing, jobs (especially those African Americans fleeing the deep south). Charlotta’s husband, Joseph Bass, was later named the editor until his death in 1934.
Charlotta was also a political activist in Los Angeles in the 1940s, promoting multiethnic politics and civil rights among, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans. Charlotta died in 1969 at the age of 95.