Illuminating Black California

Join UCSB History Associates in partnership with the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation for a fascinating talk from public historian and UCSB alum Alison Rose Jefferson, Ph.D. ’15. In “Illuminating Black California: Stories from the Jim Crow Era,” Dr. Jefferson will share stories about how African Americans from the 1900s to 1960s created recreational and relaxation spaces at Southern California beaches and other places. In the process sometimes, they were able to form community and created business projects at these sites. These stories are drawn from her recent book, Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era and other work. She will also share how some of these stories are being used in contemporary public history remembrance and public policy actions.

As leisure was gaining centrality as part of the American Dream, Black Californians were working to make it an open, inclusive reality for all. African Americans fought for dignity, equal access and the full range of human experiences and fulfillment in exploration of California’s offerings as they contributed to the state’s development and the broader freedom rights struggle in the United States.

Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 5:30pm at Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, Alhecama Theatre, 215 A East Canon Perdido St in El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park. This event is free and open to the public. Join us for light refreshments after the talk! RSVP to historyassociates@ia.ucsb.edu.

About the speaker: Alison Rose Jefferson is a publicly engaged independent historian and heritage conservation consultant. Among her current projects, she is a guest curator on the “Black California Dreamin’: Claiming Space in America’s Leisure Frontier” exhibition which will be on display until late summer 2024 at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. She recently finished other Applied History projects drawing on her research of Southern California locales that feature historical significance as well as contemporary consequence to elucidate the African American experience during the Jim Crow era in Long Beach, Santa Monica and Los Angeles, California. Her most recent book is Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era. You can learn more about her work with a visit to her website, alisonrosejefferson.com.