Transcripts For CSPAN2 Lynn 20240704

Barack obama talks about the daytoday workings of the presidency including history making about what he witnessed exploring the american story watch American History tv saturday o cspan2 and fd a full schedule under Program Guide or watch online anytime at cspan. Org history. Lynn hudson is a professor of history and affiliate faculty member of black Student University of illinois at chicago Peer Research focus the study of race and gender on the u. S. West. Shes the author of a black entrepreneur who in 19th century San Francisco which was awarded the prize from the western association of womennt historians. She was a fellow at the huntington library. Her new book is west of jim crow the fight against californias color line which covers a history of discrimination White Supremacy in california. You for being with us peer ongoing handed over to you and i will see you again for q a with the audience at the end. Thank you so much. I am just so happy to be here. Let me just get this going. First of all, i have big thank youse to give to the California Historical society. I frankly would not about a career as a historian without them. They have been helping me every single step along my career. I have visited them for my first book where i did much of my research about maryellen in the old library and the librarians, the curators, i just i cant say enough. I could spend all my time thinking of the librarian. I want to give a special shout out for Frances Kaplan for doing the publicity but also want to give a shout out to denver cost and come to the phone archivist who really want a chapter would not exist without her help. And allison gore who ive worked with for years. She was one of the people who gave me the idea for this book. She worked in the archives for many years and really encouraged me to write the chapter on the exhibition which launched the book so we wait big thanks and a lot of appreciation for you all to show appreciation for your. So lets get to it. I try to do in this book is to give a sense of the breadth and the depth of White Supremacy in california to reveal the expanse of jim crow and also antiblack practices. I also attempted to underscore the complex system and networks of resistance that have existed in this state, that involved networks of African Americans, mexicanamericans, africanamericans and other allies from stated to the Civil Rights Movement. From statehood and the Civil Rights Movement. One book does not document every instance of segregation. They spent time in Public Libraries from riverside to montana, lack of time and focus on six stories that show the contours of jim crow, many other scholars have documented the nuanced ways jim crow operated in the state, scholars like scott, Kelly Hernandez, to name a few. They help us understand the ways racism and segregation are paraded across the state. Chartering the beginnings of the system. With antiblack practices, how is it refined and established before the 1950s and the first roads we recognize as part of the Civil Rights Movement like montgomery bus boycotts and before that area. In chapter 5 of my book, the way allies pushed back against racially restrictive housing and that all of white supremacist and the ku klux klan in that story. It involved some figures that are wellknown to scholars in california history. The longest publishing black newspaper published out of Central Avenue in los angeles. A very important figure, some of you might know about her, the first black woman to run for Vice President in 1962 on the Progressive Party ticket but my interest in this story, shes one of the first to talk about the arrival of the ku klux klan and the most formidable. When you think about the ku klux klan, probably talk about the origins of the clan in American History after the civil war, forming the effort to stop africanamericans in their quest for freedom. You see the published in harpers weekly in 1974 showing the clan there. On the left is another White Supremacist Organization and you can see the words worse than slavery. We associate them with a moment of freedom with foundations in the south and the terror that promulgated across the south. My concern is the second clan of the 1920s that became particularly strong in the midwest. You might remember the clan was popular in ohio and indiana but was also strong in california and 1921, that year the clan arrived in Downtown Los Angeles and the california eagle ran front page headlines showing shall we entertain the clan and what should we do about the arrival, talking about the dangers of the clan held in Downtown Los Angeles in 1924. And while the strength of this plan, it did spread up and down, oakland and anaheim. The fledgling naacp founded the alarm and road to the national office, what do we know about this, what can we do about this . As soon as the clan arrived, africanamericans across the state organized against it, the reputation of being a more congressional professional clan meaning members of the professional class. A lot of california clan members in the 1920s ran for office on city council, were middleclass outstanding homeowners was up secured by the violence, one of the points i make about the clan in california is we cant be full by this portrayal of the second clan or the third clan i will talk about in a minute. The concern with africanamericans unlike the first clan targeting newly freed black americans is the second was more concerned about catholics in america and immigrants in america, there were concerns about African Americans and their presence was a threat to clan members. I want to say that. The clan of california received tremendous publicity in 1922 when it rated the home of a mexican family and inglewood. This is a picture of clans at a funeral, and being bootleggers, a constable was shot, the clan was been and there was a trial. Everyone might not have known about this but this episode became national news. After that trial, to investigate the membership of the clan, to the states. This led to a raid on clan headquarters. What the das office covered surprised the observer. The la headquarters of the ku klux klan revealed 3000 clan members in la county alone, 1000 s. Including the da staff, and two names on the list spoke volumes, the la chief of police and la county sheriff were both members. The messenger put it in their report on the raid the same courageous thinker would contend that negroes can rely on police and the authorities when the evidence reveals the police and authorities are members of the ku klux klan. One would think this episode would put a end to the california clan but after the trial was botched, you can read about that in chapter 5 in which all these clan members debated their attack the local naacp, they continued to operate ever since the trial. What does this have to do with housing and segregation . Contrary to popular assumptions, this clan at a focus on africanamericans and catholics and others and another assumption i want us to get rid of and some believe that the clan disappeared during the 30s and especially world war ii, the tamping down of the second clan. Many believed that was the end of it for the clan to be spouting their own white supremacist ideology and they didnt go underground, in the war years 5, 46 for the resurgence of the clan, we call this the third clan and target is black and brown families moving into white and brown areas of the state. Is the clan i want to talk about. Photograph from north ridge. One of the things the plan hopes to stop is black and brown homeowners through previously white neighborhoods some of you might know that miller was a prominent attorney or later a judge and was the point person on legality unrestricted housing. Many of you are familiar with the term restricting covenants that this house, this property may never be sold. Miller was naacp person on and he would be instrumental in fighting against restrictive housing peer he would be one of the lead attorneys up and out the state for thousands dozens and dozens of cases where black folks moved into previously white neighborhoods. He also defends some of the most highprofile cases in the nation including the case of mcdaniel, the actress who won the oscar for gone with the wind. So he would be, he is also part of the story. Oh day short was a refrigeration engineer who lived and worked in los angeles 25 years by 1945. Like many black angelenos, heres frustrating by the housing shortage. His father of Young Children i do see his daughter and his wife, helen and they were of the desired neighborhoods by restrictive housing. The estimated about 80 of socal was tied up in restrictive housing. So that your had a lucky break and he got a job the plant from 1949. Many of you have heard of Kaiser Permanente clinic. In montana, the black workers in his shipbuilding yard in northern california. But this plant was in montana east of l. A. And fontana promoted itself as a place of jim crow restriction so his job as an engineer at this. , he felt like he won the lottery. It was a good job and the plan was the first facility for the products on one site. Its an international benchmark. The job was a boom for africanamericans and they labored in lower pain, lower status jobs. 1945 in december, oh day short and his family moved to a plot of land and fontana. The property was south of baseline street there was an area where no family could ever live. As soon as they moved into their house, they were visited by two white sheriffs and told him he is out of bounds. He moved to the black neighborhood on the other side of the road. December 3, the Real Estate Agent who sold short the lot fulltime, the Vigilante Committee had a meeting on your case last night, they are a rough bunch to deal with. If i were you, i get my family off this property. Oh day short was well aware the vigilante for clan members and he prepared for trouble did three things. First, he called his attorney, who was a law partner. Second, he contacted the fbi entered he contacted members of the flock press. California eagle and another black neighborhood. They have recounted the threats he received from the sheriff about the vigilante. Ten days later, it burst into flames. The fire that engulfed the property begin with the explosion and neighbors electrically. The family managed to escape the house but not before they were all severely burned. Nextdoor neighbors statement later to the press the neighbor said they didnt know was a black family because they assumed they were right. The little girl 15 minutes after she was admitted in the boy died the next morning as to their mother, having. Here is some coverage of the press. As soon as the fire subsided, reports circulated, white neighbors agreed the responsibility of the fire light with short. Mr. Short was lighting a lamp and it exploded. Black press wasnt having it. The california eagle suspected foul play and sent reporters to the scene of the crime, naacp and the l. A. Chapter also investigated the crime. As they began to investigate the crime, it became apparent that it was almost impossible for a lantern to cross that kind of explosion. Heres a picture of the eagle office because the walls of the house were knocked to the ground so the lamp or lantern theory, they should doubt on this theory. Now its a long investigation process, many months of investigation and i dont have time to do to help all of it but in the aftermath of the murder, there is an elaborate coverup of evidence that would have led to criminal conviction. The corner in his investigation refused to admit evidence that was set by vigilantes. The lantern itself so intact i supposedly blew up was not entered into the investigation and the District Attorney, it became clear in the midst of this coverup but there was also an organized resistance to the coverup and the efforts to seek justice for the family were also ongoing. 1946, a leader of the Los Angeles Socialist Workers Party wrote and published this pamphlet. She distributed the pamphlet happened on the state across the country and she spoke about the short murder across the country. There was a forward by the sister of helen, his sisterinlaw. In addition to the workers party, the Labor Movement also pressured the governor, District Attorney San Bernardino to investigate the murders. Since it is a refrigeration engineer, hed also been a member of the Labor Movement and cio in particular put pressure on state officials to investigate the murder. State attorney general robert the murder in the client, he promised an investigation but nothing came of it much to the disappointment of the organized resistance. An editorial and deliberative summed it up. When any person propel with entire certainty, the shorts were a victim of jim crow. Theyre finding a home in Los Angeles Jim crow was a violator of Community Tradition and built his house on the lot he purchased, the deputy sheriffs and set them selves toward a plan to deprive american citizens of his constitutional right. All the shorts are dead, only jim crow is alive. The story doesnt quite and fair because jimmy in 1946 stepped up efforts to investigate the client. You have penny here on the far right with two members, and in 1946 the klan d up its efforts to terrorize black homeowners and this caused him to continue his investigation of the klan. That year in 1946 the klan burn crosses on the homes of many black homeowners across Southern California. It also burned crosses in front of the Jewish Fraternity at usc because the fraternity had supported an end [inaudible] and in the spring of 1946 he began calling clan members into his office. But again the results were disheartening to those seeking justice for the short spirit he found no evidence that socalled vigilante activity to be directed at the effort in American Community inso montanar against mr. Short personally. Now, many people wondered if his response to the murders was linked to his bid for governor that year. He went up againstng earl warren and was defeated. But what kinney did do was with the help of an l. A. Superior court judge is to revoke the charter of the ku klux klan thereby making it unlawful for the organization to hold meetings in theng state. She knew this was largely symbolic because in the 1950s, client activities continued. And you have a picture from 1962 52, the timelines in this photo was new racial intimidation fears and you can read the caption where the reporter is examining the letters kkk that were on the sidewalk in front of presumably a black family, and that the hope of a negro teacher in the vicinity was recently bombed. That teacher was William Bailey lived in southcentral l. A. And client attacks continued into the 50s. Now, we also know that brown v. Board of education in 1954 would inspire White Supremacists to push back against integration with new inspiration. So. While the client may have morphed into a different kind of organization in the 1960s, it had not disappeared. So im just going to close here. The threat that segregationists saw him in was many layered. They were educated men with good jobs. They could purchase property. They could vote they could inhabit public spaces and institutions. Lord miller, charlotta bascom of the california eagle and los angeles district mounted against housing discrimination and the klan was formidable but they never acted alone. Joined by the naacp, the cio, socialist workers party, the communist party and activists such as van marshall, californias movement against restrictive housing went broader and deeper individuals across the state few of them remembered because the color line and lifted her neighbors d into neighbors that we know to be watched by the kkk. Short and hisig family, and others, sounded the alarm against the client or white supremacist violence of the 1940s found expression in montana after the brand the board decision. The backlash against School Desegregation of the revival of the klan became so successful that by 1965 president Lyndon Johnson ordered an investigation to clamp down on the client activity. In 1963 in africanamerican captain in the air force bought a houseap in San Bernardino only to watch it destroyed arsonists before he and his family could movee in. Little had changed in the 17 year since the 7 years since the murders of the shorts. The golden state have long published, punished africanamericans who dare to challengepu segregation. Sum paid with their lives. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much. Thank you, lynn. I would invite anybody to put questions they might have in the q a box, and maybe all people are starting to do that i could get in my questions. Absolutely. I read a quote by you in an interview when you talkingng abt this and you said at school you learned about citizens in the south and you might learn about chicago but you dont hear stories about los angeles or about the west. Why do you think that is and you think that is changing . Rk thats a great question. Of course my recollection are dated and i think schoolteachers in the west and in california are doing so much to teach children about resistance and Civil Rights Movement in the west. I get to the question in a minute. I want to say first and foremost i know schoolteachers in the west are teaching about the west i personally didnt learn about the Civil Rights Movement in the west in california are you in my hometown. I grew up in, pasadena and a lot of what i learned about, i learned from acquaintances and teachers but not the approved curriculum. I learned from teachers like thomas, my eighth grade teacher who taught us about black history in a program those kind of extracurricular. Robinson who worked at my high school told stories about the Robinson Family so theres a lot of things that have changed in Public School but things that out of the story that its not involved with teaching, necessary, its about the textbook. The chapter on civil rights, its theee south, montgomery, alabama, maybe d. C. , maybe chicago. Maybe, right . So that also has to change. And, you know, with the work of these scholars thato i mentioned at the beginning of my talk, i think that its changing. But we also have are to start seeing the Civil Rights Movement and whitete supremacy as nationl phenomena, right . And the resistance against White Supremacy and something thats national. I have so many questions, im going to i just wanted to remind. You, well look at the chat box as well, if you can put them in the q and a, well be able to get through them in order. The first oneet from liz thomas, how did brown v. Board of education restrict housing for people of color, that connection there . Okay. So very quickly at the end there when q i was reading from my bo, the backlash against brown was phenomenal across the country. Right in that unanimous decision thatmo segregation request was t equal, is so we know that it didnt necessarily get implemented in the ways that folks might have liked, we know that the backlash against brown was phenomenal. And its actually something were till living with still living with today. Hose of you that are interested might want to look at nancy mcleans book democracy in chains whereoo he charts the was that think tanks and scholars and politicians who were part of the backlash against brown, who were against brown v. Board and fighting integration, the way they so deceived the modern conservative movement. So what youre asking is the links between brown and restrictive housing. So what i was suggesting is that its not always called the [inaudible] the part of that broad conservative back hash against segregation against e integration, against brown v. Board, right, and that violence that was experienced in 1963, right, when you bought a house in San Bernardino only to see it goou up in flames, thats stilla part of the backlash against the civil rights brown and backlash against the Civil Rights Movement and their successes, right . Somo the connection is just that black homeowners and brown homeowners were targets of violence and intimidation and jim crow policies if not laws after brown, obviously. Yeah. Theres a couple about your book, im actually going to jump to this one because its a little bit related. Could the rise of the second klan california be tied to the great migration . Oh, yes, thank you. I cant believe i did the that whole talk and didnt say the term great migration. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Absolutely, i mean, really what i was talking about, right, its the third klan, its that 1940s klan that i was talking about [audio difficulty] and that is directly linked to influx of black migrants and the great migration. Absolutely. For those of you who read isabel wilkerson, you know about the history of of the great migration. The great migration transformed california, right . It was astounding how many africanamericans came from the south, especially from louisiana and from texas. You know e. V. Rollins is a part of that great migration. So, yes, absolutely. And that is also a part of the klans anxiety. Thank you so much for asking that, right in the klan is targeting those homeowners because those are the folks moving into the allwhite neighborhoods, right . Some of these black families have been there the for generations, but many of them are migrants, right . Not o. J. Short, right in hed already lived in los angeles for 25 the years, so he was a recent migrant but, yes, absolutely, this white supremacist activity that we see is absolutely linked to the great migration. So thank you. Uhhuh. Just quickly from one person, they wanted to know about o. J. Short. He actually passed away yeah. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Talk about leaving off an important sentence in my talk there. Sorry. Yes, ian left that sentence out. Thank you. Yes. A few days after his family i died, he was told that the hospital and his friends and sporters were trying supporters were trying to not tell him. He was in the hospital with severe burns, and they were trying not to tell him that his hifamily had died. But the the d. A the v. A. Staff went in to question him which now would have certainly been illegal under his condition, and he said i am not in any shape to answer any of your questions, can and hay informed him that his two children and his wife had died, and then he soon passed away. Im to sorry i left that out. Many in my excitement to get to the end and finish on time, i left out that important information. Yes, it was really tragic. I mean, i think to be honest we could talk for goaling to two talk for two hours and not cover anything. Based on your research, what is the relationship between private property and white supremacist, racismsm and domestic terrorism . Weve got two questions there. Theres a relationship between, i guess, the destruction of private property, which is what the klan was, one of their tactics. Yeah. So one of the things, i mean, theres so many angles there. One of the things i think is so important about the property that we were talking about tonight s is that it was particularlys threatening to White Supremacists that africanamerican men were owning property, right . If you think about that first klan, right, one of the things that the first klan targeted were newlyfreed black menwomen who were voting and who were free and trying to carve out a piece of land for themselves, all right . So if you know anything about that first klan, you know that they often targeted black entrepreneurs. So if you know anything about id a da b. Wells can ida b. Wells and the b moss brothers wo with sewned owned a Successful Grocery Store and the klan murdered them, and that was one of the things that the inspired her to leave the south and come to chicago. So in some ways this is not new, the fact that the klan targeted in california black property owners, it actually is a continuity there between the first and the second and third klan, right . We just dont associate that with california. So thats one thing i wanted to say about c property, is it hadt particular resonance that black men because, of course, its associated with masculinity, right in and if you think about the gendered roles of the 50s and the 40s, right, for a man a home is his castle, and black men are now buying a home, you know, buying property, building a home, that was to claim masculinity for yourself for black men, right . And that was also threatening. You know, one of the things the khan was very concerned about was klanou was very concerned about was major where gender roles. Soh the second and the third kln were very active in policing gender roles. They would, you know, anything they heard about women smoking, women in cars, right, flappers, voters, feminists, those were all on the klans list of people who were violetters, right . Violaters, right . So thator was one thing. Now, the other thing was how does this past of resistance Going Forward finish. This book or this work. The book, sorry. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well,ing thank you, thats a great question. You know, writing this book i for a long time lived for a long time, and this chapter in particular, with white supremacist violence. Also violence perpetrated by Police Departments. I mean, as those memberships show as early as the 20s, the lapd was filled with klan members. And the constantly told your readers if the police knock on your door in the middle of the night, do not answer your door, right in so they warned their the readers that the police and the klan could be the same. Soul i have been, you know, studying this and one of the way that informs my concern, obviously, is Police Violence with whats been happening in our country in the last 18 months with the with the deaths of george floyd, breonna taylor, you know, as historians were trying to understand this kind of violence but also to understand the history of it. That and the resistance to it. Neither one of these things are its not new, right . If she was here today, she would tell us this is not new, right . So we need to be sharper many many our understanding of it, and inrs our understanding of it, and i guess thats how it informs me, i guess. I try to Pay Attention to how its changed and how its, how it hasnt changed, right . The change and continuity. Things arent the same in 2021 as they were in 1921 or in 1945 and 46. But theres a lot of continuity, yeah. I theres a couple of questions about your book, in particular, are you on a reading list . Because, again, that is way too [inaudible] i dont know yet. Because it hasnt been out for a year yet. But i do know its going to be on a reading list of some college courses. But i dont know about that was my, one of my hopes when i wrote the book. I hoped very much that it would be something that i taught for many, many years at calpolySan Luis Obispo, and i taught a lot of teachers and folks that were going to be going into the classroom, and i hope very much this book might be taught in the cal state system for teachers. Thats what i hoped. Another question along that line, theyre curious if you [inaudible] northern california, you were just talking about one particular chapter in your book. Also does the book encompass the civil rights protest in the early 1960s especially in San Francisco and the bay area . No, it does not. Many other folks have been working on those books. So what i said at the beginning is, you know [inaudible] and many others, gretchen lindsey and a host of scholars have really written about the long Civil Rights Movement and the black freedom struggle. That was not what i set out to do. What i wanted to know is because ii think, you know, a lt of my students, they know about the Civil Rights Movement. But they dont know that jim crow has a long history in the west and that it has a long history in california before those protests. So thats what i set out to do, was to set up what did it look like in 19600, you know, where do these systems of jim crow and segregation and antiblack practices come from, right . They didnt spring out of nowhere. So i actually dont cover those the important protests in San Francisco, all of those protests, of course, the black Panther Party and all of the ways that california was a part of the long Civil Rights Movement and freedom struggle. That is not what is in this book. Yeah. Somebody point out that regarding educating students, many u. S. Textbooks are published in texas that are not focusing on california. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for that question about the state as a whole, i will say that, you know, i do have a whole chapter about San Francisco and the bay area and the international exposition. So my first two chapters are about f the bay area are, and i also have a chapter about an allblack community in the middle of the state. So i, again, i dont cover i certainly couldnt cover all of the instances of jim crow up and down the state, but i dont the book is not solely about Southern California. Uhhuh. Thank you so much for asking all these questions. Despite the end of restrictive cover in and abouts, many now covenants, many now realize thad segregation. What hope do you have for zoning changes that might mitigate segregation in. Yeah. I dont know about that. I wish i knew more about that, you know . I dont live there anymore. Im in chicago. I dont know how the zoning, i dont know how thats going to go two for you all. But i will say that thank you for that question because one of the t things that i guess, you know, question about how has this research shaped my current thinking. And i guess, i guess and i encourage my students we need to gett better at seeing how segregation, antiblack practices, White Supremacying how it morphs and changes, right . If so, yeah, we dont have restrictive covenants anymore. Theyre not legal thanks to the work of Lauren Miller and the naacp, right . We have segregation because of tax codes, right . Property taxes. Segregation works in different ways now, right . Public transportation. You know, neighborhoods that, you know, theres no jobs and so i guess, i guess thats something that we all, and i encourage my students, we all are students of this. How does it work now. And if we want to fight it, what kind of things do we with need to fightng for or fight against . Because it obviously doesnt look the same, you know, but we can see it all around us. Yeah. People make the connections also between, for example, antichinese sentiment many california in california and also are strong from 1850 on. And so one person asks did the klan grow out of the same roots as the ugly antichinese movement in california . Oh, thats a great question. Wow, that would be a great question for an exam. So, yeah, the antichinese movement is in the first chapter of my book, freedom claims, where i talk about reconstruction and the ways in which the antia. [inaudible] antichinese sentiment coalessed, and there was a lot of overlap there, right . The fear of africanamerican men getting the society due to the 15th amendment is very much linked to the fear of chinese immigrants. And there were, you know that you can see at the California Historical society that say, you know, do you want a chinaman and a negro to be voting on your ticket, things like that. Outrageous cartoons and racist memorabilia from reconstruction california. The roots of the klan are not, i dont see a direct line there, but there are very many, so many ideological connections, right . The sort of link between antiimmigrant sentiment, native ofist sentimentme and antiblack sentiment is all over the place in reconstruction california and in the klan. Is so absolutely we dont see Dennis Kearney becoming president or klan member. We dont have records that show that, but its also a different generation. But, absolutely, the linkages this is such an important point between antiimmigrant sentiment and antiblack with sentiment. And, obviously, the national history, right . And in the second klan, so obvious. And the third klan, so obvious, right . Yeah. Did you find similar case of mexicanamerican families experiencing this brutality . Yes, absolutely. Mexicanamerican families werety victims of the klan like the couple that were attacked and tried do kidnap i didnt have time to explain all this, but they tried to kidnap in this family andth take them to a locl jail, but theyre not admit canned. And there are reports in some l. A. Papers that they had the woman of the couple [inaudible] so, absolutely, mexican families were terrorized by the klan. And mexican homeowners crosses in front of their houses, absolutely. And in the last chapter or of my book when i talk about [inaudible] mexicanamerican families were also grouped with black families and asian families in the segregation policies that allowed them to only one day a o week. That day was called negro day and then it was changed to international day. So, yes, absolutely thats a part of my research. I didnt talk very much about it tonight, but yes with, uhhuh. Oh, my gosh, the questions are coming in so strong. Here it is. As a white person myself, i think its necessary to examine what it is the about our psychology. To be honest with you, its difficult tofe stomach. The book is, you know, you read it, and its devastating, but its so, its so informative and its also, its also so important to have those stories that have gone unheard or have been hidden for arent part of the sort of public domain. These are peoples names who we should absolutely know about. How do you think this legacy of the klan in california informs white l supremacy in the state today . Thats a great question. Well, as i said, one of the things that i think answer happens there is that we see that the klan kind of comes in and out of focus, right . And one of the things about focusing on the klan,n, and i sd this earlier, i hope, and i want to repeat it that theres this one group of White Supremacists who are particularly visible, right . Particularly because of their costumes and because in l. A. , but there are many groups, white supremacist groups, that have names like the White Citizens Council that sprung up in response to the Civil Rights Movement, right . So one of the things that i mention is that, you know, during brown and the Civil Rights Movement folks, some folks that were members of the klan or even after the raid and their membership was revealed, many thousands of klansmen and women scurry around to get their names off those lists because some of them were going to get fired, right . So they dont there were lots ofre folks who became, who were committed segregationists who might noteg have been cardcarrying klan members hawaii thats so important to recognize. And that happens more and more as the 50s progress and into the 60s, right in the folks that were pushing back against the successes of the black freedom struggle were not always klan members, all right . So i think the connection is that White Supremacy morphed into something that became more respectable. It wasnt respectable to be a klan member maybe if you had is certain jobs in theor 1960s, but you could be a member of other kinds of clandestine organizations or just members of your Homeowners Association that was still trying to prevent black people from moving in in other ways that got around the law,n right . So i guess thats one of the connections, right, is that it changes shape, and we need to look for these other ways that white have supremacy operates. White supremacy operates. Its the not always someone in a white hood. Right. We have a person asking was [inaudible] also widespread in california . You know, thats another great question. I looked and looked for i tried to find an example of one that might organize a chapter around, and, you know, thats another thing where, you know, some downtowns its sort of world of mouth in some of these towns, right . You, theyre not always documented. But there were certainly places in the state where black people knew and brown people, all right, knew all people of color knew could be dangerous, certain neighbors. I mean, i know that from growing up in l. A. , right in i knew where teenagers shouldnt be after it got dark right in and as a white teenager, right . That if i was in a car with students of color, right, they knew where you dont want to what neighborhood you dont want to be in. But i didnt actually write about any sundown towns, i didnt really find any towns. However, the success of restrictive covenants in the state meant that there were towns where became that a became infamous for arresting people of color that drove through. When i was growing up, glendale had that reputation. Dont go to glendale, all right . With brown v. Board of education and its enforcement in the 1960s, then that that meant that there was [inaudible] and there were certain areas of Southern California that were known, you know, white families are moving to la canadafingerprint ridge. So thats flintridge. Thats kind of the california version. Another question, does your book talk about californias [inaudible] looking at 64. Again, i dont get to the 60s, right . I love that story and i want everyone to learn about rumsford and his history. I read some of his papers at the bancroft and that law, such an important part of the story of california segregation. But again, i was trying to yeah. Roxanne ortiz and her work examines the white settler colonial nation to explain historical [inaudible] White Supremacy. How do you seete that analysis . Thank you so much for mentioning settler colonialism. Yes, i read about that in my first chapter where i write about the ways in which native americans were enslaved in the state. For those of you interested in that story, you should definitely check out the book about called freedoms frontier. The book is amazing. And i absolutely think that we need to make those linkages between the ways that native americans were enslaved, imprisoned, ways that that land was taken, how that land, again, and also the ways in which mexican landowners were disinvested of their property. I hope some of you have raze Kelly Hernandez cans book city of inmates, and i think the linkages that she shows are there are so clear between settler colonialism9 and the mission andnd how we get to humn caging in l. A. In the 2000s. I think its one of the best books that shows that you cannot think y about segregation, White Supremacy in the state if you do not start with settler colonialism. So thank you so much. I didnt talk about chapter one because i was in chapter five. Absolutely an important part of the story. Of the ways, the systems that get set up for taking land, the systems that get set up for caging, imprisoning, enslaving and just the practice of setting up segregation it was, of course, originated before statehood, obviously. But especially in the native american era. So thanks for asking can that. A point about the neighborhood they live in in San Francisco, it was a white neighborhood in world war ii [inaudible] and now were in a mixed neighborhood, but i dont know the history of restrictive covenants and how they work here. Ien wonder if the speaker knows. Maybe a little bit more about restrictive covenants, what they actually where where it was written in specifically. Right. So you can find online, you can find examples of these that have that covenant in it, right . It just means its a part of a a deed, right . So you buy a piece of property, you get a deed. The deed says though on this one i can never, i can never sell this property or even rent this property to. And Lauren Miller or was famous for bragging california. He was, had a great sense of wit, and he published a pamphlet about restrictive covenants in 1946 in p which he said e californians love to vote, and im going to vote about restrictive covenants because no one has better ones than california. So you could find restrictive covenants in the state california that say i cannot sell or lease this property or rent this property to, and then itnt was whatever, it could say, there were some that said a hindu, a mexican, an oriental. There were some that said a jew, all right . And so restrictive covenants also could be very expansive, but they almost always said negro. Now, remember, california isnt the only place. This is being crafted to perfection in the city i now live in, chicago, and the famous playwright lorraine [inaudible] tookht his case against restrictive covenants to the supreme court. So california doesnt get to have this honor all by itself. Though loren miller believed that it was the most successful using them, the state of california. Yeah. So if you, if you can find old deeds from your neighborhood, and some people my students have brought some in over the years. If you can find property deeds, you can find what they look like. You can find them online now, and im pretty sure that theres some librarians out there that can help find them. They can help you find them. And i think minute put into the q a that restrictive covenant was 1948 when it was . Thats right. Shelley verse finish. [inaudible] and that was loren miller was a part of the legal team that took that to the supreme court, yes. So one of the reasons that we have such an amazing record of the fight against those restrictive covenants is because as i said in my talk, the main point person on those laws, expert in the country, was a californian, right . He wasnt originally californian, but he moved to the state in the 20s, and he became an expert, and he became a part of this, right . The precursor to the Legal Defense fund of the naakp that fought naacp that fought those in the 40s and in the 50s. Huntington library, if you want to learn more about that. Were going, this one is going into the chapter a little bit on [inaudible] maybe you could answer quickly. Your chapter on the suggests you must encounter the presence of eugenics in your research. Eugenics is an important conceptual framing lens especially in light of the role played by so many california institutions. Its a few line in this text. They havent had a chance to read it, which is why theyre asking. Thank you so much for that question. And, yes, it is a through line. And it was one of the ones that i felt strongest about. I didnt know if i, how much i had encountered it in my research, i didnt know where it would come in the book, but it ended up absolutely being a through line. I cant tell you all the ways that it comes in, but i will say this, that not only, of course, was eugenics popularized [inaudible] and i write about it then, right,nd in chapter two. And you may know who asked this question. The Human Betterment Foundation was founded in pass edina, my hometown pasadena. It had its office on colorado boulevard. And the eugenics, the strength of eugenics in the state absolutely ties into the strength of the White Supremacists, the existenceth to integration, right . So, for example, in my chapter on pasadena and other pools in california, i write about how its no accident that pass dean a that has such a strong, organized resistance to their integrated pool, right or integrating pools because they also had a very, very strong you genesis community. So, absolutely, its very important. Anybody who wants to learn more about this should absolutely read eugenic nation. I know that people are also asking for your recommendations there. These two questions im going to combine because theyre talking about how extensive klan activity was in Southern California versus northern california. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for that, you know . I read the the papers of the Western Division of the naacp at the bancroft, and i also realize a lot of the naacps patients at the library of congress in washington, d. C. And their correspondence on the klan from northern california. And for a while in this chanter chapter i did have stories about against black homeowners all across the bay area because it was absolutely important. It didnt end up making it in the book because just for the purposes of storytelling and the narrative, i stuck to this one area. But, absolutely, black homeowners were the victim of klan violence especially during the world war ii years. At the same time of [inaudible] yeah. I think its a very interesting question, do you think labor and socialist groups are intrinsic to did the nature of that resistance between california and california, i know in your book you talk about the fact was going to be also anticommunist right. Yeah. This coalition that i was talking about tonight between labor, the socialist workers party, the naacp, you know, a lot of times those fall by the wayside and we dont Pay Attention to those. And i think its its really important and the communist party was a part of that coalition that was pushing for justice. Ty one of thet reasons that we i absolutely, in answer to your question, i absolutely think the Labor Movement was essential for not only the story if in short, but in pushing for justice for people of color in the state and pushing against White Supremacy. One of the reasons that i think we dont see those connections all the time, we dont always talk aboutnn those coalitions, partly because we sort of, you know, we focus on one group, right, or one organization. But also because as francis mentioned, it has to do with the success of the anticommunist movement in california and the red baiting. Red baiting was very successful. The l. A. Times helped lead that brigade. And as you know up and down the state, hollywood ten. You know, really successfully, squashed, right, and not only that, not only communist activity, but also the naacp of the west coast was thought to be, right, communistinfiltrated. And that led to a lot of, you know, kind of anticommunist rhetoric coming out of the local naacp. So they sort of found themselves between a rock and hard a place there, right in and, you know, some a chapters, it was different from chapter to chapter. The l. A. Chapter, and you can read about this in the amazing book bound for freedom. You know, they were successfully red baited and really avoided any kind of coalitions as did the national naacp when the scottsboro boys were on trialthey were worried about taking up their case since the commune ifest party had been such a strong advocate for the men, the nine men who were arrested in alabama. So, yeah, thats a long story but with, yeah. Im not sure if we can get to every question before with we leave, and i wanted to ask im going to put my email in the chat box, and people can always seven me their questions and lynn will be able to answer them after this talk. But one of the theres so much we could speak about about how Law Enforcement reinforced jim crow in your book because i think its actually a very important part of it. Black with lives matter [inaudible] to be unrooted from the racist policing policies. Yeah. I just think theres no better piece of evidence that this has a long history than those membership lists where thousands and thousands and thousands of members of klan members lived up and down the state, and if almost every Single Police department had members on the list. So i didnt even get to talk about how in curran county, San Luis Obispo county, because this wasnt just the membership of l. A. The l. A. Office was a regional office. So klan members in Police Departments all across the state were revealed. And some newspapers publish their names. So i guess, i guess, you know, thats one of the reasons i picked that chapter tonight. I wanted to tell that story. Because i think the surprise, i think were way past being surprised about this, right . We know, we know that this is a history in the u. S. Of Police Practices and violence against africanamericans. And i think we need to move to this as the members of black lives matter have shown us, we need to move to new strategies. So i look forward to joining all of you in thinking about those strategies. I actually am hoping that you are will come back can if speak again, because i think if theres youve covered so much. You have a certain time range but, of course, in that time range theres so much. So i do hope everyone will join us. Maybe well end it on last question, would you consider health care oas, Homeowners Associations er hoa, as an iteration of covenants . Oh, absolutely. I didnt say Homeowners Association, but for any of you familiar with how these work, they were in the forefront of enforcing segregated housing, absolutely. Yeah. The story on segregated housing is a big story. It involves bank loans, it involves Homeowners Associations, it involves the klan i only focus on a tiny part of the story, absolutely, is so very successful in california, yeah. Well, thank you so much, lynn. I apologize to people whose questions we didnt get to, but again, we will try to answer them off this program, and this program will also be recorded just as a reminder, and it will be on our Youtube Channel in the upcoming days k. And also there will be a lunge to how you can purchase link the how you can purchase lynns book, west of jim crow, and thank you so much. We hope to have you here to talk again. We really appreciate your time. Thanks so much to everybody. Thanks for the wonderful questions, i really appreciate it. Ul yeah, incredible. Thank you for your time, everyone. . Weekends on cspan2 are an intellectual feast. Every saturday American History tv documents americas stories. And is on sun booktv brings you the latest nonfiction books and authors. Funding for cspan2 comes from these Television Companies and more including comcast. Are you thinking this is just a Community Center . No, its way more than that. 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