Central Avenue and Beyond

During the 1920s and ’30s, the Harlem Renaissance brought about a flourishing of African American literature, art, music, and social commentary. The New York neighborhood attracted scores of talented blacks, including many who fled the Jim Crow racism of the South. The same renaissance occurred in cities across the nation. In Los Angeles, a vibrant scene of jazz clubs, literary societies, and concert venues sprang up around Central Avenue, where African Americans nurtured their talents in an atmosphere of cultural energy.

To celebrate L.A.’s contributions to this dynamic era, The Huntington has joined forces with the Mayme A. Clayton Library, an emerging institution in Culver City, to present “Central Avenue and Beyond: The Harlem Renaissance in Los Angeles.” 

The exhibition draws from the collections of both libraries to tell stories of the black renaissance in Los Angeles, focusing on jazz, classical music, literature, journalism, social activism, film, and theater. Among the never-before-exhibited items from the Clayton collection are vintage photographs of such Central Avenue jazz performers as the California Cotton Pickers, the Top Hatters, and the Rajahs of Swing, plus a program from a performance by Duke Ellington. Photographs and interview clips tell the story of Marie Dickerson Coker, whose remarkable career as an entertainer encompassed singing, dancing, and playing both piano and string bass. She went on to become one of the first woman aviators, performing in air shows as a member of the “Five Blackbirds.”

The Clayton collection is based on the superb holdings gathered by the late Mayme Clayton, who worked for more than 40 years as a librarian at USC and UCLA. Clayton amassed one of the largest and most distinguished African American collections in the United States. The Clayton Library is not yet open to the public, and this is the first time any of the material has been publicly exhibited.

Items from The Huntington include the typescript of Dixie by Langston Hughes and Clarence Muse; an early treatment for the film Way Down South, starring Muse and Bobby Breen; and the libretto for the opera Blue Steel, a collaboration between composers Harold Bruce Forsythe and William Grant Still. Scarce issues of the periodical Flash, for which Forsythe served as an editor, represent examples of  black literary journals. Other materials highlight talents of the First Negro Classical Ballet, the extraordinary achievements of civil rights attorney Loren Miller, and the accomplishments of Juanita Miller, a founder of the League of Allied Arts.