New Book Details History
Of City’s African-Americans

By Amy Bentley-Smith
Features Editor

The timing could not have been more perfect.

To start Black History Month, the African American Heritage Society of Long Beach has released a book on African-Americans in Long Beach. This Saturday at the Main Library downtown, editors Aaron L. Day and Indira Hale Tucker (who co-founded the society) will be on hand to sign copies.

“It was a coincidence,” Day said of the release in February, adding that it was originally due out last year but the scope of the book pushed the date back.

But one year was nothing in a project that had been years in the making, spans generations and likely will have several more volumes.

The idea for writing a book on the African-American experience in Long Beach came about when Day was doing research on his family.

“Many of the libraries (I visited across the country) have extensive information about African-Americans, not so in Long Beach,” Day said he discovered.

Day was a board member of the African American Heritage Society of Long Beach, which formed to ensure the city’s libraries remained stocked with books about African-American heritage and now also focuses on genealogy, and mentioned this omission to the board. They talked of putting together a binder of information, but the board ultimately decided to go all the way with a book.

“We started in 2003,” recalls Day, who is currently vice president of the society. “One thing led to another. We sent information out to different churches, genealogical groups. People started to respond. It kept growing and growing. ... We can’t get the history of our people in one book; that would be an insult. We’ve decided to do volumes.”

This first book, “The Heritage of African Americans in Long Beach: Over 100 Years, Vol. 1,” just begins to scratch the surface — at 302 pages — on the story of African-American contribution and experience here, Day said.

In 10 chapters, the book touches on African-American churches, organizations, community leaders, pioneers in arts and entertainment, education, politics, business and sports, features on a few interesting African-American residents, and a brief history of the African American Heritage Society of Long Beach, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It ends with census data from the early 1900s, as well as city directories from the early decades to help individuals research their family history.

“With this book, we hope to encourage people to start documenting their history, to preserve that history,” Day said.

He added that the book also aims to showcase the contributions made by African-Americans in the city and the strength of those who were here early on, and by doing so create a sense of belonging in today’s African-American community.

“There is a sense of pride knowing who you are and where you came from,” Day said.

“The Heritage of African Americans in Long Beach” retails for $25. It will be sold during the book signing Saturday at the Main Library, 101 Pacific Ave. The signing will take place from 3 to 5 p.m.

Two other book signings are scheduled for February: from 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 10, at Village Treasures, 146 Linden Ave., and from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at Shore Books, 4817 E. Second St.

For more information about the new book or to learn more about the African American Heritage Society, e-mail Day at adaydec@aol.com.