The Black Power and Chicano movements in the poverty wars in Los Angeles

Journal of Urban History

Volumn 33, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 277-295

  Bauman, Robert ^a  

^a WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Black Power movement; Chicano movement; Los Angeles; War on Poverty; Watts

Indexed keywords

AFRICAN AMERICAN; COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION; CULTURAL RELATIONS; LABOR PARTICIPATION; LATINO PEOPLE; POVERTY; SOCIAL MOVEMENT; URBAN SOCIETY;

CALIFORNIA; LOS ANGELES; NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 33845548607     PISSN: 00961442     EISSN: 15526771     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0096144206294740     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. See Richard White, "Race Relations in the American West," American Quarterly 38, no. 3 (1986): 396 - 397. On the multiracial origins of Los Angeles, see Lawrence B. De Graaf and Quintard Taylor, "Introduction," and Jack D. Forbes, "The Early African Heritage of California," in Lawrence B. De Graaf, Kevin Mulroy, and Quintard Taylor, eds., Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001).
2. Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (New York: Vintage Books, 1971).
3. Gareth Davies, From Opportunity to Entitlement: The Transformation and Decline of Great Society Liberalism (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996).
4. Jill Quadagno, The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); and Judith Russell, Economics, Bureaucracy, and Race: How Keynesians Misguided the War on Poverty (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).
5. Lawrence B. De Graaf, "The City of Black Angels: Emergence of the Los Angeles Ghetto, 1890-1930," Pacific Historical Review 89 (1970): 328 - 328; Quintard Taylor, In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528-1990 (New York: Norton, 1998), 300 - 301; Leonard and Dale Pitt, Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and County (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 5 - 5, 40 - 40, 303 - 303, 306 - 306, 413 - 413; and Kevin Allen Leonard, "In the Interest of All Races: African Americans and Interracial Cooperation in Los Angeles during and after World War II," in De Graaf, Mulroy, and Taylor, Seeking El Dorado, 379 - 379. For an insightful look at the growth of the Los Angeles NAACP in the 1940s, see Josh Sides, "Rethinking Black Migration: A Perspective from the West," in Scott E. Caspar and Lucinda M. Long, eds., Moving Stories: Migration and the American West 1850-2000 (Reno: Nevada Humanities Commission, 2001), 200 - 204.
6. Raphael Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993), 36 - 46; and Gregory Payne and Scot Ratzan, Tom Bradley: The Impossible Dream (Santa Monica, CA: Roundtable Publishing, 1986), 58 - 61.
7. Ibid., 56-57. Josh Sides makes this point about class differences in L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), as does Douglas Flamming in Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005). Quintard Taylor and James Grossman make the point about old-timers versus newcomers in Seattle and Chicago, respectively. See Taylor, The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle's Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994); and James R. Grossman, Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners and the Great Migration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989). On African American suburbanization, see Andrew Wiese, Places of Their Own: African American Suburbanization in the Twentieth Century (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).
8. Becky M. Nicolaides, My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 307 ff - 307 ff.; and "Citizens Mobilize to Fight Prop 14," Los Angeles Sentinel, August 6, 1964.
9. J. David Greenstone and Paul E. Peterson, Race and Authority in Urban Politics: Community Participation in the War on Poverty (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1973), 31 - 31; and Dale Rogers Marshall, The Politics of Participation in Poverty: A Case Study of the Board of the Economic and Youth Opportunities Agency of Greater Los Angeles (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971), 15 - 15.
10. "War on Poverty Status Pointed Out by Hawkins," Los Angeles Sentinel, July 22, 1965, 2D, col. 4; "Rev. Brookins Blasts Mayor," Los Angeles Sentinel, May 6, 1965, A 1 - A 1, 3 - 3; Marshall, The Politics of Participation in Poverty, 15 - 16; Rodolfo F. Acuña, A Community under Siege: A Chronicle of Chicanos East of the Los Angeles River 1945-1975 (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984), 131 - 132; and Gillis Long to Larry O'Brien, August 30, 1995, White House Central Files (hereafter WHCF), Box 25, "HU2/ST5 8/24/65-9/11/65." It was at this time that Yorty started a file on Brookins, highlighting his "connections" to the Left. See Watts Disturbances, Box C-1925, Yorty Collection, Los Angeles City Archives.
11. "King Airs Views," Los Angeles Sentinel, July 15, 1965, 6A, col. 1; "32-Member Poverty Board Backed by King," Los Angeles Sentinel, July 15, 1965, A1 - A1, col. 2; "Mass Poverty Demonstrations," Los Angeles Sentinel, July 15, 1965, A1 - A1; City Council Minutes, 8 July 1965; and James S. Mize, Chief Deputy of the Board of Supervisors to Mayor Sam Yorty, 15 July 1965, Los Angeles City Council File #107082, Supplement #10, Los Angeles City Archives.
12. "Mills Backed on Poverty by Pastors; Debate Recall," Los Angeles Sentinel, July 22, 1965, A1-A1, 11-11.
13. The official report by the Governor's Commission on the Los Angeles riots (the McCone Commission Report) downplayed the incidence of poverty and inadequate housing in Watts. Scholars since have noted that the commission report was written in such haste that the commissioners ignored or missed evidence that suggested most residents of Watts were either unemployed, underemployed, or underpaid and that Watts contained by far the most overcrowded housing in Los Angeles. See "Violence in the City - An End of a Beginning? A Report by the Governor's Commission on the Los Angeles Riots, December 2, 1965"; Robert M. Fogelson,"White on Black: A Critique of the McCone Commission Report on the Los Angeles Riots"; and Robert Blauner, "Whitewash over Watts: The Failure of the McCone Commission Report," in Robert M. Fogelson, ed., Mass Violence in America (New York: Arno Press, 1969).
14. Morrison quote is from Los Angeles Sentinel, August 19, 1965. J. Stanley Sanders quote is from Sanders interview for Watts '65 Oral History Project, October 2, 1990, Southern California Library for Social Research. See also David O. Sears, "Political Attitude of Los Angeles Negroes," in Nathan E. Cohen, ed., The Los Angeles Riots: A Socio-Psychological Study (New York: Praeger, 1970), 700 - 700.
15. The experience of blacks in Los Angeles apparently reflected the experience of African Americans in other cities. According to Kenneth Clark and Jeanette Hopkins, civil rights organizations in several major cities were not strong in poor neighborhoods and focused on racial segregation, not poverty. See Clark and Hopkins, A Relevant War against Poverty: A Study of Community Action Programs and Visible Social Change (New York: Harper & Row, 1969), 167 - 168. The term "racial nationalism" is from Gary Gerstle's brilliant American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001).
16. Quote regarding middle-class black leaders is from "Interview of Persons Arrested," 1965, box 6, 12a(8), McCone Papers, quoted in Gerald Horne, Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995), 209 - 209, also 50 - 51, 105 - 106, 126 - 126. Quote regarding shift towards nationalism is from Gerald Horne, "Black Fire: 'Riot' and 'Revolt' in Los Angeles, 1965 and 1992," in Lawrence B. De Graaf and Quintard Taylor, eds., Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001), 389 - 389. For information on Nation of Islam activities in Los Angeles, see Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998), especially chap. 1; and Jerry Cohen and William S. Murphy, Burn, Baby, Burn! (New York: E. P. Dutton Company, 1966), 249 - 249. See also CBS Reports: Watts, Riot or Revolt, prod. Jack Beck, originally aired December 7, 1965 (New York: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2000).
17. Collins to Shriver, August 23, 1965, WHCF, Box 25, "HU2/ST5 11/ 22-63-8/23/65," LBJ Library; Ramsey Clark telegram to Califano, August 30, 1965, WHCF, Box 25, "HU2/ST5 8/24/65-9/11/65," LBJ Library; and "Collins' Proposal Rejected," Los Angeles Sentinel, August 26, 1965, A1 - A1, A8 - A8.
18. Joseph A. Califano, The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), 63 - 64.
19. Collins to LBJ, n.d., WHCF, Box 25.
20. "Staff Report of Actions Taken to Implement Recommendations of Governor's Commission," Ramsey Clark Papers, Box 76, "Watts August 1965," LBJ Library; "Outsiders Running War on Poverty," Los Angeles Sentinel, May 27, 1965, A11 - A11; and Myrna Oliver, "Watts Activist Ted Watkins, Sr. Dies at 71," Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1993, B-1 - B-1, 4 - 4.
21. First quote is in letter from Reuther to President Johnson, June 26, 1964, White House Central Files, WE-9, LBJ Library. Second quote is from Testimony of Paul Schrade, October 6, 1967, Kerner Commission Transcripts, Box 4, LBJ Library. On the UAW's involvement in the War on Poverty and its concomitant representation of a new constituency, low-wage disenfranchised workers, see Vernon Coleman, "Labor Power and Social Equality: Union Politics in a Changing Economy," Political Science Quarterly 103, no. 4 (Winter 1988-89): 687 - 705.
22. Quoted in "Watts Union Workers Form Action Committee," Los Angeles Sentinel, August 26, 1965, 4A-4A.
23. "Labor Group Urges Action Programs," Los Angeles Sentinel, September 9, 1965, 8A - 8A; "Kennedy, Murphy, Clark Want Visit Watts Projects," Los Angeles Star Review, May 8, 1967, I-1 - I-1; Watts Labor Action Committee Gets Praise, $260,806 Grant from OEO," Los Angeles Sentinel, July 13, 1967, A1 - A1; and Harry Bernstein, "Labor-Backed Group in Watts Given 260,806," Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1967, II-1 - II-1, 3 - 3.
24. Los Angeles City Council File #104020, Supplement 11, Los Angeles City Archives; and "The Watts Labor Community Action Committee," brochure, in "Watts 1960s" folder, Southern California Library for Social Research.
25. Robert Perrin to Seymour Brandwein, Dept. of Labor, November 1, 1966, WHCF, LBJ Library; and "Staff Report of Actions Taken," August 18, 1967, Ramsey Clark Papers, Box 76, "Watts August 1965," LBJ Library.
26. Testimony of Paul Schrade, October 6, 1967, Kerner Commission Transcripts, Box 4, LBJ Library; Jack Jones, "Watts Job Effort Pays Dividends," Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1968, II - II, 1 - 1; and Robert Bauman, "From Tuberculosis Sanatorium to Medical Center: The History of the Olive View Medical Center, 1920-1989" (unpublished master's thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1989), 210.
27. Los Angeles City Council Resolution, November 22, 1966, Los Angeles City Council File #129596-1; Los Angeles City Council Resolution, 21 February 1968, Los Angeles City Council File #13800, Los Angeles City Archives; Horne, Fire This Time, 276 - 278; and Jack Jones, "Watts Job Effort Pays Dividends," Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1968, II-1 - II-1, 2 - 2. See also William L. Van DeBurg, New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992).
28. Horne, Fire This Time, 241 - 241; George J. Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); U. S. Census Bureau, U.S. Census of the Population, 1950. Special Reports. Persons of Spanish Surname (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1953); and U. S. Census Bureau, U.S. Census of Population, 1960. Subject Reports. Persons of Spanish Surname. Final Report PC (2)-1B (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1963).
29. Edward Banfield, Big City Politics (New York: Random House, 1965), 87 - 90; Horne, Fire This Time, 102, 260 - 261; Juan Gómez-Quiñones, Chicano Politics: Reality and Promise, 1940-1990 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1990), 95 - 95; Benjamin Marquez, LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American Political Organization (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993), 7 - 7; John H. M. Laslett, "Historical Perspectives: Immigration and the Rise of a Distinctive Urban Region, 1900-1970," in Roger Waldinger and Mehdi Bozorgmehr, eds., Ethnic Los Angeles (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1996), 56 - 56, 67 - 67; Sides, "Rethinking Black Migration," 204 - 208; Leonard, "In the Interest of All Races," 311 - 311, 326 - 327; Charles P. Henry, "Black-Chicano Coalitions: Possibilities and Problems," Western Journal of Black Studies 4, no. 4 (Winter 1980): 222 - 232; and Elizabeth Sutherland Martinez and Enriqueta Longeaux y Vasquez, Viva La Raza! The Struggle of the Mexican-American People (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974).
30. Acuña, A Community under Siege, 124 - 124, 132 - 132; and Raphael Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993), 85 - 85.
31. Andy Hilton to Shriver, October 14, 1965, Boutin Papers, Box 3, "FA California," LBJ Library. Hernandez is quoted in Julie Leininger Pycior, LBJ and Mexican Americans (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997), 163 - 163. See also Acuña, A Community under Siege, 132 - 133.
32. Quoted in Jack Jones, "Irate Mexican-American Units Demand Poverty War Equality," Los Angeles Times, September 25, 1966, A3-A3. See Pycior, LBJ and Mexican Americans, 153-163.
33. "Opal Jones Fires Aide for 'Ineffectiveness,' " Los Angeles Sentinel, October 6, 1966, A1-A1, A3-A3; and Greenstone and Peterson, Race and Authority in Urban Politics, 211-212.
34. Art Berman, "Latin-American Quits Antipoverty Job in Row," Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1966, I-32-I-32; Jones, "Irate Mexican-American Units Demand Poverty War Equality"; and Greenstone and Peterson, Race and Authority in Urban Politics, 211-212.
35. Ernesto Chávez, ¡Mi Raza Primero! Nationalism, Identity, and Insurgency in the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles, 1966-1978 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 43-47; and Ian F. Haney López, Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 178-182.
36. Quote is from Edward J. Escobar, "The Dialectics of Repression: The Los Angeles Police Department and the Chicano Movement, 1968-1971," Journal of American History 79, no. 4 (March 1993): 1483-1514. See also Manuel G. Gonzales, Mexicanos: A History of Mexicans in the United States (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1999), 208-215.
37. Pycior, LBJ and Mexican Americans, 158 - 161, 208 - 208; Pitt and Pitt, Los Angeles A to Z, 130 - 130; and Vicki L. Ruiz, From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth Century America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 114 - 114. This article does not address community organizations, such as the United Neighborhoods Organization (UNO), that were not directly connected to the framework or programs of the War on Poverty. The UNO was a joint venture of Catolicos Por La Raza (a group formed out of the Chicano movement) and the Catholic church in East Los Angeles. See Isidro D. Ortiz, "Chicano Urban Politics and the Politics of Reform in the Seventies," Western Political Quarterly 37, no. 4 (December 1984): 564 - 577.
38. Quote is from Ruiz, From Out of the Shadows, 114-114. See also Acuña, Occupied America, 403-403.
39. John R. Chávez, Eastside Landmark: A History of the East Los Angeles Community Union, 1968-1993 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998), 2-3, 33-39; and Marguerite V. Marín, Social Protest in an Urban Barrio: A Study of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1974 (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991), 173 - 174. Quote is from Chávez, Eastside Landmark, 39-39.
40. "The East Los Angeles Community Union," Community Development Corporation Oral History Project (New York: Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development, 2000).
41. Marín, Social Protest in an Urban Barrio, 174-175; and Chávez, Eastside Landmark, 35-37, 59-64.
42. Chávez, Eastside Landmark, 95-106, 168-193; and Marín, Social Protest in an Urban Barrio, 187-195.
43. "The East Los Angeles Community Union."
44. Chávez, Eastside Landmark, 39-45, 87-88.
45. The board member quote is from Marín, Social Protest in an Urban Barrio, 179 - 179. The Lizzaraga quote is from "The East Los Angeles Community Union."
46. Quote is from UAW Report, quoted in Chávez, Eastside Landmark, 29-29.
47. Chávez, Eastside Landmark, 259-264.
48. For a similar multiracial perspective on the War on Poverty in another community in the West, see the excellent article by William Clayson, " 'The Barrios and the Ghettos Have Organized!': Community Action, Political Acrimony and the War on Poverty in San Antonio," Journal of Urban History 28, no. 2 (January 2002): 158 - 184.