Bound for Freedom
Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America
Chapter One
Southern Roots, Western Dreams
One way to get free is to get gone. Move. Leave someplace bad for
someplace better. Americans have always moved incessantly, looking for
greener pastures, better jobs, broader opportunities, freer conditions, a
place in the sun, a new start. At the turn of the twentieth century, Los
Angeles offered all of that, which explains why it lured dream chasers
from all over the nation and, indeed, the world. For white
midwesterners-the majority of the newcomers during and after the real
estate boom of the 1880s-Los Angeles promised freedom from harsh winters
and the latest best bet for the big break. For Mexican exiles who surged
north during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, Los Angeles offered
escape from political violence and economic dislocation. For Japanese
immigrants crossing the Pacific, Los Angeles meant opportunities for
status and wealth that seemed no longer available in their homeland.
For African Americans, moving to Los Angeles ha ... read full excerpt from Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America ebook
