Watts Neighborhood

The neighborhood of Watts is located in South Los Angeles. In the 1940s, Watts transformed into a working-class African-American neighborhood when thousands of migrants left segregated states for California. By the early 1960s, whites in the area fled to new suburbs outside of the central city, and industrial jobs disappeared, leaving Watts in economic and racial isolation.

In August 1965, Marquette Frye, a young African American motorist, was pulled over and arrested by a Los Angeles police officer. The outbreak of violence that followed Frye’s arrest touched off a larger-scale riot centered in the commercial section of Watts. The Watts riots lasted for six days, and led to wide-scale destruction, injuries, and deaths. In the late 1970s and 1980s, the drug epidemic hit the country and Watts saw a significant increase in gang related violence. In 1992, the L.A. riots erupted after the four Los Angeles policemen who beat Rodney King were acquitted. The day before the riots, rival gang leaders formalized a truce in response to decades of policing and systemic injustice. The terms of the peace agreement called for investments from local authorities to rebuild the community. Since then, the truce has had a measurable impact on reducing the number of gang related crimes.

Currently the racial demographics of Watts has shifted to more than 70 percent Latino. The increase shapes Watts’s current social and political landscape, as Latinos advocate for greater civic participation alongside black leaders. Today, cross-racial coalitions continue working towards the empowerment of the Watts community.

Women’s Amateur Boxing

In 1888, Olympic-style boxing became an organized sport in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The sport’s popularity spread worldwide and was included for the first time in the International Olympic Games in 1904. Since then, United States boxers have won 111 Olympic medals, leading the all-time medal count in the world.

At first, women were not included in the sport. In the 1904 Olympics, women’s boxing was only a display event and not an actual competition. It wasn’t until the 1970s that women who trained seriously for the ring were acknowledged, but they had a difficult time gaining acceptance by the boxing establishment. Since women did not have the right to compete in amateur matches, gender discrimination lawsuits helped to facilitate the rise of women’s boxing. In 1993, USA Boxing lifted its ban and sanctioned amateur boxing for women.

It wasn’t until the 2012 Olympic Games in London that women’s boxing became an official Olympic sport. The resilience, perseverance, and determination throughout this history has opened doors of opportunity for women boxers and athletes.

Mexican Immigration in California

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Mexicans immigrated to California in large numbers to escape the violence of the Mexican Revolution. Despite changes to U.S. immigration policies since then, the demand for labor in the U.S. fueled Mexican immigration.

These immigrants became the backbone of California’s workforce, and they established permanent Mexican neighborhoods, referred to as barrios in urban areas and colonias in rural areas. These neighborhoods created communities through the development of churches, organizations, sports teams and activities, and businesses.

In the 1960s, a radicalized Mexican-American movement, called the Chicano Movement or El Movimiento, advocated for social and political empowerment. Mexican-Americans had endured decades of discrimination in the U.S., and leaders in the movement pushed for labor rights, education reform, and the restoration of land grants that were denied by the U.S. government. Youth activism was also a critical component of the movement, and included groups like student protestors at high schools and colleges demanding educational equity and cultural recognition. The movement gave rise to increased political representation in future decades, and also generated a cultural renaissance. Other Spanish-speaking immigrants have joined Mexican Americans in California, making Latinos the largest ethnic group in California.

Today, foreign-born immigrants including naturalized U.S. citizens (more than half), refugees, and lawful permanent residents are an integral part of the fabric of California. They account for over one-quarter of California’s population and comprise a third of the entire labor force. Immigrants are neighbors, business owners, taxpayers, and workers. They are an integral part of California’s diverse communities and make immeasurable contributions that benefit all.