Beach Culture & Access
In this lesson students examine four secondary documents and create a DBQ poster that will answer the the inquiry question: What internal and external factors shaped African-American South Central between the 1920's and 1950's? Between the 1920's and 1950's South Central was a neighborhood in which African-Americans were both welcomed and confined. Escaping the oppression of the South, black folks fled to Los Angeles, among other cities, for a better life. Before WWII, the black residents of Los Angeles had the highest rate of urban home ownership. Black intellectuals, politicians, athletes, artists and musicians from around the country flocked to South Central. Central Avenue became known as “Little Harlem.” Although Los Angeles was a space of refuge from the South, it was not free of institutional and interpersonal oppression. Housing discrimination and work discrimination were prevalent. Civic engagement was the response. The first west coast NAACP convention was held in the Somerville Hotel on Central Avenue. The Somerville Hotel was founded by the first black male and female USC dental school graduates.
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Lesson: How can we make the beach culture in Socal equitable for all?
Content Standards
11.8.8: Discuss forms of popular culture, with emphasis on their origins and geographic diffusion (e.g., jazz and other forms of popular music, professional sports, architectural and artistic styles).
CCSS Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on- one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
The Lost LA Curriculum project is a collaboration among PBS SoCal, USC Libraries, the UCLA History-Geography Project and the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
