Miriam Matthews, Los Angeles’ first Black librarian, died June 23rd:
Committed to preserving black history and heritage, [Matthews] began promoting the observation of Black History Month, then known as Negro History Week, in Los Angeles in 1929.
She became interested in black history after discovering a small cache of books about blacks while working as a city librarian. She then started building her own collection of materials and researching blacks’ role in California’s history.
Matthews also helped create a monument listing all 44 of the city’s founders by name, race, sex and age_26 blacks, 16 Native-Americans and two whites_ for the city’s bicentennial on Sept. 4, 1981. She was widely known for her research writings, including “The Negro in California from 1781-1910: An Annotated Bibliography,” and a collection of works by black artists.
Complete article from the San Jose Mercury News.
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