Oral Histories

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1. Interview of Ernie Andrews

Topic:
African American History
Music
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz, blues, and pop singer.

2. Interview of Lester O. Bankhead

Topic:
African American History
Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Design
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series African American Architects of Los Angeles document the work of selected African American architects who have enhanced the built environment, principally in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Influenced by earlier pioneers such as Paul R. Williams, these individuals ...
Biographical Note:
African American architect who designed homes and churches in Los Angeles, including Chapel of Faith Baptist Church, Greater Life Missionary Baptist Church, and Greater New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church.

3. Interview of Chuck Berghofer

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
6.1 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Jazz double bass player.

4. Interview of Gil Bernal

Topic:
Latina and Latino History
African American History
Music
Length:
4.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz tenor saxophone player, vocalist, and bandleader.

5. Interview of Joseph Bihari

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
6.7 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Music producer. Co-founder and co-owner of Modern Music and Independent Record Distributers.

6. Interview of Rene Bloch

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
3.75 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz saxophone player.

7. Interview of A. V. Blodgett

Topic:
African American History
Community History
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series Allensworth Community feature recollections of the descendants of Allensworth (California) residents and founders. The town was established in 1908 by Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth (1842-1914), at that time the highest-ranking African American officer in histor...

8. Interview of Bobby L. Bradford

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
12 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Cornet and trumpet player. Bandleader and composer.

9. Interview of Thomas Bradley (1984)

Topic:
Politics and Government
African American History
Length:
9.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Biographical Note:
Mayor of Los Angeles from 1973 to 1993.

10. Interview of Leo Branton

Topic:
African American History
Language:
English
Audio:
Biographical Note:
Lawyer and civil rights activist.

11. Interview of Eugene Brooks

Topic:
African American History
Community History
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series Allensworth Community feature recollections of the descendants of Allensworth (California) residents and founders. The town was established in 1908 by Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth (1842-1914), at that time the highest-ranking African American officer in histor...

12. Interview of Hadda Brooks

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
5.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz pianist, vocalist, and composer.

13. Interview of Joseph Brown

Topic:
African American History
Sports
Length:
2 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
This project is designed to document the lives of Negro League baseball players whose careers spanned the heyday of the league (1920s-1950s) and who grew up in Southern California, who played in the West Coast Professional Baseball League or the California Winter League, or who eventually migrate...
Biographical Note:
African American baseball player.

14. Interview of Clora Bryant

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
6 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz trumpet player.

15. Interview of David Bryant

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
4 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz bass player.

16. Interview of Larry Bunker

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
9 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Jazz drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist. Timpani player for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

17. Interview of Yvonne Brathwaite Burke

Topic:
Politics and Government
African American History
Length:
1.75 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Biographical Note:
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979. Member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from 1979 to 1980 and 1992 to 2008.

18. Interview of Carl Burnett

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
8 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Latin jazz drummer.

19. Interview of Reuben Cannon

Topic:
African American History
Film and Television
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series African Americans in Entertainment and Media are designed to document African Americans in television, radio, theater and film and aims to better understand how they overcame bias and discrimination and were trailblazers who opened doors for other African Americans in...

21. Interview of Kinshasha Holman Conwill

Topic:
African American History
Art
Length:
2.65 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series African American Artists of Los Angeles document significant African American Artists and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture. The series was made possibl...
Biographical Note:
African American artist. Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem.

23. Interview of Alonzo Davis

Topic:
African American History
Art
Length:
11.25 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series African American Artists of Los Angeles document significant African American Artists and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture. The series was made possibl...
Biographical Note:
African American artist. Co-founder of the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles.

24. Interview of Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje

Topic:
UCLA and University of California History
African American History
Music
UCLA Faculty
Length:
5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Biographical Note:
UCLA professor of ethnomusicology. Director of UCLA’s Ethnomusicology Archive.

25. Interview of William Douglass

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
5.85 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz drummer.

26. Interview of John Ewing

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
3 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz trombone player.

27. Interview of Art Farmer

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
2.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz fluegelhorn and trumpet player.

28. Interview of Henry Franklin

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
4.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Jazz double bass player.

29. Interview of Vinny Golia

Topic:
African American History
Music
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Woodwind player and composer.

30. Interview of William Ernest Green

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
1.8 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz saxophone, clarinet, and flute player. Music educator at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Arts and owner of a music education studio in Los Angeles.

31. Interview of Robert Guillaume

Topic:
African American History
Film and Television
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series African Americans in Entertainment and Media are designed to document African Americans in television, radio, theater and film and aims to better understand how they overcame bias and discrimination and were trailblazers who opened doors for other African Americans in...

32. Interview of Marvin Harden

Topic:
African American History
Art
Length:
3.3 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series African American Artists of Los Angeles document significant African American Artists and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture. The series was made possibl...
Biographical Note:
African American artist. Co-founder of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (LAICA).

33. Interview of Augustus F. Hawkins (1992)

Topic:
African American History
Length:
10.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series were made possible by support from the UCLA Center for African American Studies, Institute of American Cultures. This is the first of several Oral History Program series focusing on social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of African American citizens in the Lo...
Biographical Note:
62nd district California State Assembly member from 1935 to 1963. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1963 to 1991 serving as the he first black politician west of the Mississippi River elected to the House of Representatives.

34. Interview of Neale Henderson

Topic:
Sports
African American History
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
This project is designed to document the lives of Negro League baseball players whose careers spanned the heyday of the league (1920s-1950s) and who grew up in Southern California, who played in the West Coast Professional Baseball League or the California Winter League, or who eventually migrate...
Biographical Note:
Member of the American Negro League. Shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs.

35. Interview of Mary Jane C. Hewitt

Topic:
UCLA and University of California History
African American History
UCLA Research Centers and Programs
Length:
7.4 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series include individuals who were instrumental in creating and guiding the Center for African American Studies at UCLA to a position of widely recognized excellence among the nation's African American studies departments, centers, and institutes.
Biographical Note:
UCLA director of minority recruitment. Involved in the founding of the UCLA Bunche Center for African American Studies.

36. Interview of John Lamar Hill II

Topic:
African American History
Business
Length:
7 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series were made possible by support from the UCLA Center for African American Studies, Institute of American Cultures. This is the first of several Oral History Program series focusing on social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of African American citizens in the Lo...
Biographical Note:
President of Angelus Funeral Home, a long-term black-owned business in Los Angeles founded in 1925. Founder and president of radio station KJLH.

37. Interview of Claude H. Hudson

Topic:
African American History
Language:
English
Audio:
Biographical Note:
Civil rights activist and president of branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Louisiana and Los Angeles.

38. Interview of Leroy Hurte

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
4.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz conductor, producer, and vocalist.

39. Interview of Harold Jackson

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
4.25 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz bass player.

40. Interview of Suzanne Jackson

Topic:
African American History
Art
Length:
9.2 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series African American Artists of Los Angeles document significant African American Artists and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture. The series was made possibl...
Biographical Note:
African American artist and founder of Gallery 32 in Los Angeles.

41. Interview of Maulana Karenga

Topic:
UCLA and University of California History
African American History
UCLA Research Centers and Programs
Length:
8 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series include individuals who were instrumental in creating and guiding the Center for African American Studies at UCLA to a position of widely recognized excellence among the nation's African American studies departments, centers, and institutes.
Biographical Note:
California State University, Long Beach, professor of Africana studies. Co-founder of the US Organization. Involved in the founding of the UCLA Bunche Center for African American Studies.

42. Interview of Jackie (Kelson, John) Kelso

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
9.65 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz clarinet player.

43. Interview of Celes King III

Topic:
Business
African American History
Length:
20 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series were made possible by support from the UCLA Center for African American Studies, Institute of American Cultures. This is the first of several Oral History Program series focusing on social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of African American citizens in the Lo...
Biographical Note:
Owner-administrator of King Bail Bond Agency and administrator for the Pepperdine University School of Business and Management.

44. Interview of Harold Land

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
6.62 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Jazz saxophone player and bandleader.

45. Interview of James H. Lark

Topic:
African American History
Community History
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
The interviews in the series Allensworth Community feature recollections of the descendants of Allensworth (California) residents and founders. The town was established in 1908 by Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth (1842-1914), at that time the highest-ranking African American officer in histor...

46. Interview of Ruben Leon

Topic:
African American History
Music
Length:
3.5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the spoken memories of individuals, mainly musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.
Biographical Note:
Jazz saxophone player.

47. Interview of Stanley Levey

Topic:
African American History
Music
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series extend the UCLA Oral History Program's "Central Avenue Sounds" series and preserve the spoken memories of musicians who were active in the jazz music scene in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. This series includes a broad range of interviewees, some of whom are we...
Biographical Note:
Jazz drummer.

48. Interview of James Lewis

Topic:
African American History
Sports
Length:
5 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Series Statement:
This project is designed to document the lives of Negro League baseball players whose careers spanned the heyday of the league (1920s-1950s) and who grew up in Southern California, who played in the West Coast Professional Baseball League or the California Winter League, or who eventually migrate...
Biographical Note:
Member of the American Negro League. Player for the Indianapolis Clowns.

49. Interview of Alfred Ligon

Topic:
African American History
Books and Fine Printing
Length:
3.25 hrs.
Language:
English
Audio:
Biographical Note:
Co-founder and owner of the Aquarian Spiritual Center and the Aquarian Bookshop, a black-owned bookstore specializing in materials relevant to African American politics and life.

50. Interview of Gilbert Lindsay

Topic:
Politics and Government
African American History
Language:
English
Audio:
Biographical Note:
9th district Los Angeles City Council member from 1962 to 1990.