California Story Fund
“Re-Discovering Bronzeville"
Robey Theatre Company
Los Angeles
Project Director: Judith Bowman
This project will seek out, record and share stories of former residents of the multi-ethnic Los Angeles neighborhood of Bronzeville, now known as Little Tokyo.
The focus will be on the tumultuous World War II years, when Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes, when blacks flooded to Los Angeles for jobs in the defense industry, and when the Zoot Suit Riots erupted, a five-day assault by sailors and Marines stationed throughout the city primarily against Latino youths, recognizable by the zoot suits they favored.
“These events occurred 60 years ago, and many eyewitnesses to the history of that era have passed on.” Said Project Director Judith Bowman. “It is important that new generations learn of the common history between L.A.’s Mexican, African and Japanese Americans so that they, in turn, can keep those stories alive.
Bowman said that the project would enlist volunteers to find stories from original resource materials (court records, newspaper accounts, magazines, etc.), determine if individuals connected to promising stories are still living and then, if so, to interview them.
The project will publish a CD-ROM of the stories and post the stories on a project website along with photographs and music clips evocative of the era. A panel discussion featuring some of the interviewees and other individuals connected to the project will take place in conjunction with a free performance of a new Robey Theatre Company play exploring the same topic.