MetaFilter posts tagged with California and race

Never look a gift park in the mouth.

mudpuppie — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:51:54 -0800

A 28-acre plot of unspoiled Sierra foothill forest is bequeathed to the Auburn (CA) Recreation District. The bequeath came with one condition: That the park be named "Nobel Laureate William B. Shockley And His Wife Emmy L. Shockley Memorial Park." You may remember Nobel winner Shockley as the co-founder of the transistor. Or you may remember his as the so-called Father of Silicon Valley. He also made a splash as one of the only admitted donors to the mythical Nobel sperm bank (real name: Repository for Germinal Choice). Or perhaps you remember that he once advocated offering "financial rewards for the 'genetically disadvantaged' [primarily blacks] if they volunteered for sterilization." The Auburn Recreation District was unaware of Shockley's other infamies, and is unsure now about how to proceed with the donated land.

"If I allow the fact that I am a Negro to checkmate my will to do, now, I will inevitably form the habit of being defeated".

matteo — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 09:25:12 -0800

The Jackie Robinson of architecture. An orphaned African American boy from downtown Los Angeles, Paul Revere Williams wanted to be an architect, and when he mentioned his career goal the high school guidance counselor ”stared at me with as much astonishment as he would have had I proposed a rocket flight to Mars... Whoever heard of a Negro being an architect?”. Therefore, Williams learned to read and draw upside down -- he knew that white clients would not sit next to him -- graduated from USC and in 1924 became the first certified African American architect west of the Mississippi. In a 50-year long extraordinary career, he designed landmarks like the Theme restaurant at Los Angeles International Airport (with Welton Becket), the LA County Courthouse, the Hollywood YMCA, Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, restored the Beverly Hills Hotel. Some of his most interesting buildings, like the La Concha Motel in Las Vegas have either been razed to the ground or, like the "Batman house", aka 160 S San Rafael mansion in Pasadena, have been destroyed by fire. Now, Williams' historic Morris Landau House has been cut into 21 separate pieces and sits in a Santa Clarita storage yard, rotting away. More inside.

2%

fugitivefromchaingang — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:33:59 -0800

2%. (bugmenot login fleeb@fleeble.com, password fleeble) That is the percentage of students in UCLA's incoming freshman class that self-identify as black. Only 96 students in an entering class of 4,852, and the lowest percentage since 1973. Many believe Proposition 209 is to blame, but some want to stop collecting this data altogether.

"I'd rather play a maid than be one"

matteo — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 13:31:33 -0800

Call her Madame. Among the old-timers, the story went like this: a woman known to everyone as Madame came to California from Kentucky with her children and her husband. But once they were in the Gold Rush State, her husband left her. Desperate to find work, she introduced herself to a movie director named D. W. Griffith. He not only cast her in his movie, but the two became friends for life. And with this woman, called Madame Sul-Te-Wan, what we now call Black Hollywood began -- as a new book by historian Donald Bogle explains. (more inside)

serafinapekkala — Wed, 23 Oct 2002 09:28:13 -0800

What's wrong with this teacher's comments? A Pasadena HS teacher circulated a letter with his complaint that African American students at the school are the reason for bad behavior and low test scores. He's now suspended...rightly? More inside...hoping to keep this civil, too...(thanks to Jim Romenesko)

kirkaracha — Tue, 05 Feb 2002 11:47:50 -0800

Little Girl Missing in California Is this front-page national news because she is the only missing child in America, or because she's a cute white girl from the suburbs?

revbrian — Tue, 01 May 2001 12:09:26 -0800

An initiative to force government to stop asking Californians what their race is. This from the people who brought you Proposition 209, the American Civil Rights Institute.