dorothy dandridge

Congresswoman’s Sister Remembered as ‘Joyful’ and ‘Radiating’

Watson Bradfield, a trailblazer in her own right, was born July 22, 1938 into a family of trailblazers.  She was the youngest of four children. Her father, William Watson, was one of the first African American police officers in Los Angeles. Her grandfather, Spencer Watson, was a civil rights activist, involved in organizing the pullman porters along with Bayard Rustin. And, her grandmother Belle O’Neal was the surgical nurse who worked on the first open heart surgery with Dr. Clarence Williams in Chicago.

Our History Matters: The Untold Stories of African American ‘Hidden Figures’

Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1878. Major Taylor participated in his first bike race as a teenager. Shortly after, he moved to Worcester, Massachusetts to become a professional cyclist. Throughout his career, he received several world records from competing in races around the world but that didn’t stop the racist fans from throwing things at him and competitors trying to bump him off the track during his races. One competitor by the name of W.E. Becker choked Taylor until the police separated the two.

THE CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM ANNOUNCES FALL SEASON, FEATURING TWO HISTORY EXHIBITIONS AND SOLO SHOWS FOR ARTISTS NINA CHANEL ABNEY AND ROBERT PRUITT

The California African American Museum (CAAM) announced today that it will open four new exhibitions in fall 2018, including two original exhibitions that examine important chapters of African Americans history in California and solo exhibitions of new and recent works by artists Nina Chanel Abney (in conjunction with the Institute for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles) and Robert Pruitt. One of the upcoming exhibitions also includes CAAM’s first partnership with its Exposition Park neighbor, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is lending pieces from its collection.