(Carson, CA) California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) 3rd annual South Bay Symposium, entitled “Compton 1969: The Changing Face of Politics, Dreams of Our Fathers,” will take place Nov. 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in CSUDH’s University Library North, 5th floor. The program commemorates the 50th anniversary of the election of Douglas F. Dollarhide, the first African American mayor of the City of Compton.
Focused on “untwisting the legacy of Compton’s history,” the symposium will feature remarks by Los Angeles County Supreme Court Justice Hon. Kelvin D. Filer, and USC Law Professor Jody Armour, and include a panel discussion about the former mayors of Compton.
“Mayor Dollarhide’s election was a pivotal point in the ascension of black political power in Southern California,” said Robert Lee Johnson, author and Compton 125 Historical Society board member. “Dollarhide’s election ushered in the first black majority city council and school board in California, which led to the first black school superintendent, police chief, and fire chief in the state of California.”
The symposium is hosted by the Gerth Archives and Special Collections at CSUDH and the Compton 125 Historical Society, in conjunction with the Sepia Artist Collective and CSUDH’s Mervyn M. Dymally African-American Political and Economic Institute.
“By commemorating the legacy of progress and black political success in the City of Compton, we challenge the legitimacy of the negative portrayals of the City of Compton in the mass media, and in the minds of many who have no idea of the true history of the city and its legacy,” said Greg Williams, director, Gerth Archives and Special Collections, CSUDH.
Other sessions at the symposium will focus on the Dominguez Rancho Adobe family homestead, and the Rancho San Pedro, the first Spanish land grant in California, as well as the contributions of Hispanics in the South Bay. The Sepia Art Collective will present an excerpt from the upcoming film, “Compton’s Finest,” by filmmaker Cle Sloan.
The 3rd Annual South Bay History Symposium will take place in CSUDH’s University Library North, 5th floor, located at 1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747. Click here for a campus map. For more information, contact Greg Williams at (310) 243-3013.
