Local Resources: Black Resource Center

By Beverly Mateer Taylor

Black Resource Center
150 E. El Segundo BLvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90061

Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 10am to 8pm
Friday, 10am to 6pm
Saturday 10am to 5pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
Telephone: (310) 538-3350
Website: http://www.colapublib.org/libs/bilbrew/

With the help of federal grants, the Los Angeles County Public Library created four ethnic resource centers in the late 1970s. Other articles in the "Local Resources" series describe the collections of the Chicano Resource Center at the East Los Angeles Library and the American Indian Resource Center at the Huntington Park Library.

In a recent conversation with the librarian at the Asian Pacific Resource Center at the Montebello Library, I learned that their focus is on the literature and history of various Asian countries and many of the books are in Asian languages. The librarian indicated that they do not own or collect materials that are needed primarily by genealogists.

Information on the fourth resource center, the Black Resource Center at the A.C. Bilbrew Library, follows.

The Black Resource Center is located in the A.C. Bilbrew Library, which was designed by African-American architect Vincent Proby and named for Madame A. C. Bilbrew, a community leader, musician, and poet. It was established in 1978 to provide information about the social, historical, musical, and cultural aspects of the "Black Experience."

Genealogical questions are welcomed by the library staff.

Books that provide how-to information about African American genealogy include "Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree," by Tony Burroughs, and "Black Indian Genealogy Research," by Angela V \Valton-Raji. Other titles in the collection that provide information about individuals are the numerous diaries and slave narratives, census indexes, and books about blacks in various geographic areas. A sampling of these books follows:

• Free Black Heads of Household in the New York State Federal Census, 1790-1830, by Eichholz and Rose.
• African American Frontiers: Slave Narratives and Oral Histories, by Alan B. Govenar.
• Voices From Slavery: 100 Authentic Slave Narratives, edited by Norman R.Yetman.
• The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives, edited by Baker and Baker.
• The Slave Narratives of Texas, by Tyler.
• Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies, edited by Blassingame.
• Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor, edited by Gould.
• Time for Liberation: Timeline of the True History, Identity, and Role of the Seed of Joseph, developed by Sooty-face.
• Black Baltimore, 1820-1870, by Ralph Clayton.

The library also has a collection of black newspapers, local and otherwise. Among the titles held are:

• California Eagle, 1903-1964, on microfilm;
• Chicago Defender, 1910-1997, microfilm 35mm, and 2001-2003 hardcopy;
• Los Angeles Sentinel, 1934-1998, 2000-2001, microfilm 35mm, 2001-present hardcopy.

As with most newspapers, the older issues are not indexed. The few indexes that are available include major black newspapers throughout the United States:

• Black Newspaper Index, 1985-2002;
• Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986;
• Index to Black Newspapers, 1977-1984.

An area of strength in the collection is music with books of slave songs and music from the history of Los Angeles' African American community. Information on entertainers and musicians, famous and obscure, can be found here.

The Center's Webpage includes links to several other sites that lead to information useful to genealogists, such as "The African-American Mosaic" (Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture covering nearly 500 years of black experience in the Western Hemisphere); "The Universal Black Pages" (an early African-American site designed to present a complete and comprehensive listing of African diaspora-related webpages); "Taking The Train To Freedom -- The Underground Railroad"; and the "African American History and Heritage Site."

The collection is available online as part of the catalog of the County of Los Angeles Public Library.

© Beverly Mateer Taylor. Used with permission.