In 1964, Los Angeles was known as the most desirable city where African Americans could live, according to an Urban League survey. However, one year later, when racial tension reached a breaking point, the city was torched during one of the worst race riots in the nation's history. UCLA's Hammer Museum commemorates the Watts riots of 1965 with a lecture about how the city of Los Angeles came to such extremes.
On Wednesday, July 8, from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Billy Wilder Theater, Josh Sides, professor of history at California State University at Northridge, will discuss how L.A. came to embody both the best and worst of what urban America had to offer black migrants from the South. A specialist in urban history, the West, African Americans and California, Sides is the author of “L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present” and “Post-Ghetto: Reimagining South Los Angeles.”
The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are required and available at the Hammer Museum box office one hour before the program. One ticket per person; first come, first served. An early arrival is recommended. Hammer members receive priority ticketing and can choose their seats, subject to availability. For more information, visit the Hammer Museum website.
