The Second Life of Bruce’s Beach

Posted June 17, 2021

External Article: Easy Reader

Douglas Flamming, professor in the School of History and Sociology, was quoted in the article, “The Second Life of Bruce’s Beach,” published on June 9, 2021, in Easy Reader. The article explores the history of Bruce’s Beach, oceanfront land in Manhattan Beach, California, that was bought by a Black family – the Bruce family –  in 1912, and their loss of the land through the City of Manhattan Beach’s racially motivated use of eminent domain in 1927.

Excerpt: 

“Black Los Angeles, or at least its leaders and its boosters, embraced the notion of the West as a land of opportunity,” Flamming said. “Although we don’t think of LA much as the West now, it certainly was a Western city then. People talked about it as such, people praised it as such, with the idea that the West was that last best chance, an open place for opportunity.”