Friday, August 30, 2024

Black California beach culture: fashion

Maybe we should treat Blacks better, right, Queen Bey? Some are music Illuminati
But some are treated as if we were in the Deep South on Slave Patrol in the Jim Crow Era
Verna Deckard Lewis (later Williams) and Arthur Lewis in front of the Casa del Mar beach club fence, Santa Monica, California, Aug. 2, 1924 (courtesy of Arthur and Elizabeth Lewis/LAist.com)
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World's richest man was Black Musa not white Musk
By the mid 20th century, the clothing, accessories, and look of people enjoying Southern California beach culture was beamed across the country and around the world through photos and films. But the vast majority of those images did not include African Americans.

The exhibit “Black California Dreamin’: Claiming Space at America’s Leisure Frontier” at the California African American Museum (CAAM, caamuseum.org) includes photos of early 20th century African Americans doing what’s natural in Southern California: relaxing on a sandy beach.

But behind many of those smiles were experiences of racist taunts and dirty looks. “African Americans contested any kinds of activities that were attempting to inhibit them from using public beaches here in Southern California,” said Allison Rose Jefferson, the curator of the exhibit.

The exhibit joins historical photos, pamphlets, and films with contemporary portrayals of African Americans at leisure. And in doing so, it paints a broad picture of African Americans’ efforts to have access to leisure activities and spaces that most non-African Americans take for granted.

Black surfers
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Whatcha lookin' at, Boy? - Me?
The show includes photos of Bruce’s Beach, a Black-owned resort on the Manhattan Beach shore that sold refreshments and changing booths.

“The white folks cordoned off the beach to keep the Black people from being able to get to the water,” Jefferson said.

Bruce’s Beach has been a focal point in recent years around efforts to redress Jim Crow policies in California.

Elected officials used public policies to take the property away from its owners. The land was recently returned to the family’s descendants. Racism on the beach hasn’t disappeared.

No Blacks on the beach or street. Stay home.
Nearly a decade ago, Kayiita Johansson was in his mid '20s living in New York. During the summers he loved heading to the beach on Long Island to surf and hang out.

“Everyone in the water was super friendly. The waves were small, but they were fun,” Johansson said. He’s Black and the group of friends who went to the beach included other African Americans as well as white, Chinese, and Indian friends. He says he never experienced a racist incident on the beach there.

Hey, we can swim. We swim just fine. We love swimming. Caps keep the hair good.
The most beautiful Black man in the media, handsome criminal with white fan babymama
Euro Beauty Queen: My Brother has gone urban and tribal. It's jungle fever. Go Anglo, Bro!





Love is colorblind. Love is blind period. We love whom we love, Sister. Deal with it.

Could Black women start ruling the beach and bikini contests?
A gallery at the California African American Museum (Elon Schoenholz/CAAM/LAist.com)
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Even Ginger Vikings have a Black [sand] Beach
But that changed when he moved to California for graduate school at Stanford University. He remembers surfing in Santa Cruz when a surfer, who was Asian, cut him off. “He paddles towards me… he says, 'Why were you on my wave?' And I'm like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I was in the spot for priority.’ And he calls me a monkey,” Johansson said. More:

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