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Culled from a collection amassed by attorney Walter Lear Gordon Jr, these rare photographs depict the lives of successful black Los Angelenos - including clergymen, entertainers, politicians, professionals and "society" folk - from the 1920s to the 1950s.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure … or so the saying goes.
Now, one man’s treasure offers a glimpse into an often misrepresented, frequently marginalized part of Los Angeles history: the African American community.
Gordon was a practicing attorney in Los Angeles for more than 60 years. He was the Johnnie Cochran of his day – elegant, well-spoken and one of the most successful lawyers of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.
During those decades, Gordon was considered the foremost criminal lawyer on the West Coast and one of the most sought-after attorneys in the country – by both black and white defendants.
In 1937, Gordon opened his law practice in the front office of the California Eagle , the largest newspaper for black Angelenos at that time. Working in close proximity to this South Central mainstay, he befriended many of the staff photographers who, on assignment from the paper, shot numerous pictures of black social life in Los Angeles.
Although the photographs typically were thrown away after publication, Gordon regularly rescued the discarded prints of people, places or events that interested him, preserving them for future generations.
"My office was in the front of Charlotta Bass’s shop at 41st and Central,” said Gordon. “My chair was 10 steps away from her press room. After she finished with photographs, they would just lie on a table, sometimes in a stack that would fall to the floor. I could just go and get whatever I wanted."
Given to retired Superior Court Judge William C. Beverly Jr. in October 2002, the photographs capture a remarkable spirit of hope, determination and prosperity at a time when individuals dealt with restricted housing, subservient employment and a repressive civic atmosphere.
Beverly is the founder of Eighth and Wall, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the black community’s history. USC is working with Beverly to recover and document these rare glimpses of a nearly forgotten era.
The entire archive eventually will be cataloged and available for viewing online.
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