Author Archives: katesinger4

IT WAS HER CLOTHES I NOTICED FIRST: Silver lamé sweater, deep purple velvet skirt — even though it was July at the 11am church service. The clothes looked big on her, but I could imagine they once fit just right. She wore them now as I imagined she wore them then, with great confidence. ThisContinue reading “Amen and Hallelujah: A Brief Story of Edythe Mae Espree”

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” -Karl Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte” SUCH IS THE FARCE REPEATING ITSELF NOW. History is certainly repeating our society’s rocky relationship with the media. For many of us on the left, we are indignant at the complicity and bent knees we see in today’sContinue reading “Yet Another Moses”

WHEN YOU KEEP HEARING THE SAME NAME in others’ stories, it’s time to check out that name! Alma Hightower is one of those names. Listening to and reading interviews of musicians, their parents, and just regular ol’ people who took music lessons as kids, Hightower was THE music teacher for African Americans in mid-20th-century LosContinue reading “She Brought the Music”

SOME CALL IT THE “MINORITY TAX.” These are the unreasonable expectations placed upon people of color to do the extra work wherever they may be. I have witnessed this firsthand in academia. The women, especially, are often expected to perform service way outside the requirements and responsibilities of their positions. A Forbes article from twoContinue reading “Documenting Black Culture”

AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACTRESSES WERE ALL OVER HOLLYWOOD in the 20th century, yet their names are rarely spoken. While most of us know the interesting and inspiring story of Hattie McDaniel, there were other Black woman taking on the very white – and very male – Hollywood scene, too. Today you’re going to get to know aContinue reading “Cheerfully, but with Argument”

AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND JAPANESE-AMERICAN HISTORIES collide in this upcoming story. And as per usual, a Black woman is central to the telling. Mollie Wilson Murphy (or Molly, sources differ) grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. Born on January 6, 1926, Mollie lived on Boulder Street between Evergreen and Sloat, just north ofContinue reading “Executive Order 9066”

As our so-called government actively works to bury and dispute any history that includes people of color, queer citizens and the poor, my activity of Great Migration story-gathering sometimes feels futile. Like trying to swim against a giant ocean wave. (Which I would never even come close to doing because I’m scared of those things).Continue reading ““The Horn Has Always Gotten Me Into a Lot of Trouble””

IF YOU EVER GO SWIMMING AT THE ROSE BOWL, you’ll see that the Recreational Pool deck has a plaque with a name on it. Do you know whose name that is? Well, the pool is named after Dr. Edna Griffin who, among many things, was the first Black female physician in Pasadena. But why wouldContinue reading “Come On In, The Water’s —”

SHE WAS NOMINATED TO BE PASADENA’S 1959 “MISS CROWN CITY,” but Joan Roberta Williams never rode a float in the Rose Parade, though that was the tradition. Because there wasn’t one. When city officials found out that the twenty-six-year-old woman who was to represent their fair city was a Black woman, they declined to enterContinue reading “Rain on the Parade”

CLUB ALABAM WAS ONE OF LOS ANGELES’ MOST FAMOUS NIGHTSPOTS ON CENTRAL AVENUE. Formerly the Apex Club, it started up in the early 1930s and was still going strong in 1952, when Josephine Baker performed there. When talking about the heyday of Central Ave, Club Alabam was the name on every musician’s and partier’s lips.Continue reading “On the Avenue”