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Jan 7, 2023 · It's been almost 100 years since the city of Manhattan Beach, an ocean-side community outside of Los Angeles, seized Bruce's Beach from the Black couple who owned it.
- Overview
- A source of inspiration
- A landmark decision
The historically Black beach in California is now only the second in the country owned by African Americans.
Bruce’s Beach once belonged to Willa and Charles Bruce, who purchased the parcel in 1912 and established a popular resort for Black families. Today, a plaque at the top of a hill informs visitors of the beach’s history.
When Kavon Ward walks onto Bruce’s Beach in Manhattan Beach, a wealthy, predominately white coastal enclave in southern California, she keeps her focus on the ocean. Looking elsewhere gets her blood boiling.
“I feel disgusted. When I look straight ahead into the water I am fine, but when I look right or left and see all these big homes owned by white people, I get mad,” she says.
Her anger stems from last year’s movement to return Bruce’s Beach to the heirs of Willa and Charles Bruce. The couple had purchased the property in 1912 as a haven for African Americans barred from swimming at or enjoying seashores designed for whites only. In its heyday, the property included a resort called Bruce’s Beach Lodge, with a hotel, beach house, restaurant, and dance hall.
“I just remembered being so angry and so upset [that the property was taken]. I had no plans on being an advocate or anything. I just put it out there: ‘I want the land given back,’” says Ward, who founded Where Is My Land last year, after taking up the cause for Bruce’s Beach. “My spirit told me this is what I was supposed to do. I knew it.”
The dispute over Bruce’s Beach dates to February 1924. Acting on a petition by disgruntled members of the predominantly white community, the Manhattan Beach Board of Trustees illegally condemned the Bruce family property and that of four other Black residents under the guise of creating a public park.
The properties sat vacant until they were turned over to the city in 1929, and then to the state in 1948. It wasn’t until 1956 that the city constructed a park behind Bruce’s Beach resort, according to court documents.
We have to get people to understand that it is right and necessary that we engage in acts of restitution to try to rectify some other past economic injustice. When I see [Bruce’s Beach] now, I think, ‘Hey let’s get back to work.’
ByGeorge C. Fatheree IIIAttorney
Last fall’s decision to return the property drew national attention. Members of the Bruce family suddenly found themselves in the middle of the media frenzy, with people from across the country reaching out to offer support. Other Black families wanted to pick their brains on how they managed victory, in hopes that they too might regain land taken centuries ago.
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Today, Bruce’s Beach, which currently houses the county’s lifeguard administrative offices, is the second historically Black beach in the U.S. owned by African Americans, after Atlantic Beach.
Late last year, the future of Bruce’s Beach was temporarily threatened, when attorney Joseph J. Ryan challenged the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ decision to return the property, on the grounds that the transfer would be unconstitutional, among other complaints. In a sweeping decision, the Los Angeles County Superior Court in March denied Ryan’s petition.
“When I heard the story [about the history of Bruce’s Beach] it made me angry,” says attorney George C. Fatheree III, who represented the Bruces pro bono in the original suit against the county. “It was another example—but a very real and a very poignant example—of … how Black people have been historically disenfranchised and systematically robbed of opportunities to generate wealth and pass it down on a generational basis.”
(Here’s how decades of racist housing policies have shaped American cities.)
The decision to return the beach is a landmark one, Fatheree emphasizes. “You hear about these stories in the South and in Tulsa, and this was something in my backyard,” he says. “What the history does is it counters the false narrative about how our economy works, [that] if you just work hard and apply yourself and make the effort, you can acquire success and make a better life for yourself and your family. For Black people, that is just not true.”
Now when Fatheree drives past Bruce’s Beach, he is struck by its historical significance. “It tears at me. It’s a heavy weight because we are not done,” he says. “We have to make sure [the Bruces’] story is told and understood.”
- Alison Bethel
Oct 10, 2021 · The historic Bruce's Beach case is inspiring social justice leaders and reparations activists to fight for other Black families whose ancestors were also victims of land theft in the United...
Feb 10, 2023 · The victory at California’s Bruce’s Beach, improperly seized 100 years ago, has reignited the conversation around land restitution for Black Americans.
Aug 2, 2020 · More than a century ago, his ancestors had turned this small corner of Manhattan Beach into a popular resort — one where Black people could dip their toes in the sand and bask in their own...
- rosanna.xia@latimes.com
- Staff Writer
Sep 28, 2020 · The first person in his family to be born after the abolishment of slavery, A. L. Lewis worked his way up from humble beginnings to help found and serve as President of the Afro-American...
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