Deep Cut #3: Black Los Angeles, Family Values, & Moesha (Patreon)

Hey, are you excited for some regional history and a pop culture deep dive?

What is the story of black people in Los Angeles and California BEFORE the 1992 riots? How were hallmarks of SoCal culture embedded in Moesha, the first television show from a black teenage girl's point of view? How did Brandy dominate the 1990s? What was black television like during the decade? This video will deepen your understanding of black American culture in unexpected ways, and ties in to both Black Life In the 90s and Growing Up 90s. 

Enjoy this video! Youtube blocked this video in ALL countries because of the Living Single theme song (of all the music in this video lmao), so sorry I couldn't include that in there the way it was intended.

Sources and Further Reading

Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities (Various Authors)

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-03-mn-1946-story.html

https://ew.com/article/1996/04/19/moesha/

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/26/arts/television-radio-upn-s-moesha-the-nonwhite-hit-nobody-knows.html?auth=login-google1tap&login=google1taphttps://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/11/tv/cover-story-brandy-pop-star-plays-a-teen-ager-though-not-just-any-teen-ager.html?pagewanted=2

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/02/arts/up-and-coming-brandy-at-16-her-debut-is-a-sweet-success.html

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/departures/the-center-can-hold-leimert-park-and-black-los-angeles

https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/4756-how-lapd-chief-william-h-parker-influenced-the-depiction-of-policing-on-the-tv-show-dragnet

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-10-ca-62364-story.html

https://bookriot.com/90s-franchise-and-tie-in-books/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/855780037/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-27/leimert-park-gentrification-land-trust-black-cultural-destination

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lyk1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=NTwDAAAAIBAJ&dq=brandy%20album&pg=4686%2C856921

https://www.newsweek.com/myth-cinderella-171266

https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a13138172/brandy-whitney-houston-oral-history-cinderella/

https://truthout.org/articles/the-red-scare-overlapped-with-another-state-sanctioned-panic-the-black-scare/

https://jacobin.com/2023/03/langston-hughes-red-scare-black-radicals-leftists-huac-red-baiting

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-04/los-angeles-1992-riots-uprising-venice-oakwood-gentrification-black-lives-matter

https://knock-la.com/venice-oakwood-black-neighborhood-history-a270785f0a04/

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/fbi-black-bookstores/553598/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/fight-to-save-one-hunndred-years-black-history-gentrifying-los-angeles

https://books.google.com/books?id=SsQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32&dq=moesha&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjis7bg-aeFAxX2FTQIHRPuAwAQ6AF6BAgCEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.newspapers.com/image/194625383/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/102353046/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-02-fi-39659-story.html

https://nypost.com/1999/12/07/moesha-fires-creator-brandy-ousts-her-wins-bid-to-shift-hits-direction/

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-02-28/south-central-los-angeles-mapped-black-history-beholdhttps://lithub.com/walking-with-the-ghosts-of-black-los-angeles/

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/city-rising/the-history-of-south-central-los-angeles-and-its-struggle-with-gentrification

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/the-unwritten-rules-of-black-tv/619816/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/upn-black-tv-the-wb-moesha-the-parkers-1235091212/

https://andscape.com/features/on-tv-a-fledgling-upn-tried-to-follow-nbc-and-fox-with-black-programming/

https://books.google.com/books?id=HDgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58&dq=moesha&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjis7bg-aeFAxX2FTQIHRPuAwAQ6AF6BAgIEAI#v=onepage&q=moesha&f=false

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/lost-la/segregation-in-the-city-of-angels-a-1939-map-of-housing-inequality-in-l-a

https://knock-la.com/venice-oakwood-black-neighborhood-history-a270785f0a04/

https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/08/23/cheers-for-brandy/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/day-of-the-dre-97921/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-30/investors-leimert-park

https://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/leimert-park/

https://books.google.com/books?id=bhAOri-bwB8C&pg=PA336&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-03-ci-41837-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-18-me-35458-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-08-11/white-people-used-police-brutality-los-angeles-most-segregated-city-in-america

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-06-24/bulldoze-la-freeways-racism-monument

https://web.archive.org/web/20120324122538/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F01%2F27%2FBAG8ANQ1OG1.DTL

https://books.google.com/books?id=AVslEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT72&lpg=PT72&dq=why+did+moesha+get+cancelled&source=bl&ots=5biypymzZQ&sig=ACfU3U01qxcDMp5fH3hjS5dv1tVPoPpRvg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQnOqvivOEAxVWHjQIHRWlAwE4ChDoAXoECAQQAw#v=onepage&q=why%20did%20moesha%20get%20cancelled&f=falsehttps://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-aug-16-me-ligon16-story.html

https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/ucla-library-miriam-matthews-californias-first-black-librarian

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/09/16/gangs-continue-to-terrorize-la-residents/65bdbc9e-086d-4b60-b2f4-bb9aacb77024/

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/lost-la/a-tale-of-two-commissions-watts-rodney-king-and-the-politics-of-policing

https://blackagendareport.com/observe-and-protect-community-alert-patrol-and-fight-against-police-terror-1960s

https://www.csusb.edu/inside/article/540991/conversations-race-and-policing-looks-back-work-community-alert-patrol

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-02/bruces-beach-manhattan-beach

https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/blog/huntington-beach-and-the-black-beach-club-erased-from-history/

https://www.businessinsider.com/huntington-beach-california-history-pacific-club-fire-segregation-2022-7

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/city-rising/the-history-of-south-central-los-angeles-and-its-struggle-with-gentrification

https://caamuseum.org/exhibitions/2012/the-legacy-of-the-golden-state-mutual-life-insurance-company-more-than-a-business

https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog?f%5Bmember_of_collections_ssim%5D%5B%5D=Miriam+Matthews+Photograph+Collection&page=1&per_page=100&sort=title_alpha_numeric_ssort+asc&view=gallery

https://la.curbed.com/2018/5/24/17350622/los-angeles-history-promoted-boosters-ads

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-california-and-florida-attracted-settlers-with-promises-of-a-perfect-climate-180982889/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/693553871/?terms=bruce%27s%20beach&match=1

https://tropicsofmeta.com/2014/07/03/fighting-for-leisure-african-americans-beaches-and-civil-rights-in-early-20th-century-l-a/

https://easyreadernews.com/what-happened-at-bruces-beach/

https://la.curbed.com/2018/2/22/16979700/west-adams-history-segregation-housing-covenants

https://laist.com/news/la-history/club-alabam-central-avenue-center-los-angeles-jazz-scene-history-vintage-black-culture

https://laist.com/news/la-history/club-alabam-central-avenue-center-los-angeles-jazz-scene-history-vintage-black-culture

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-02-08-mn-26654-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-03-mn-1946-story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1996/05/19/teen-pop-star-is-well-tuned-to-moesha/b43a6476-f090-47f9-90ad-cb2d5850621b/

https://laist.com/news/la-history/baldwin-hills-the-black-beverly-hills-the-life-and-times-of-the-community

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jul-07-ca-1304-story.html

https://library.csun.edu/SCA/Peek-in-the-Stacks/centralavenuedistrict

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/09/magazine/mcmillan-s-millions.html