Danny J. Bakewell Sr. left New Orleans for Los Angeles in 1967, at the tail end of the Great Migration. A college dropout with a wife and children living in an era when black prospects were bleak.
He’d take any job here that would pay the bills. What Bakewell didn’t expect was that the community organizing job he’d get would get him started path to poweras a civil rights leader, real estate developer, business tycoon and publisher of the city’s legendary black newspaper, the Los Angeles Sentinel.
Discover the change-makers who are shaping every cultural corner of Los Angeles. This week we bring you Civic Center, featuring a groundbreaking mayor, a housing advocate, a food provider and other L.A. mainstays. Come back every Sunday for another issue.
When the South became segregated, it didn’t take long for Bakewell to realize that the City of Angels had its own racial hierarchy—a hierarchy that trapped blacks in shabby enclaves with under-resourced schools and brutal policing.
Bakewell’s motto was self-determination, and he began rallying residents around this ideal in the late 1960s. “We don’t want anyone to give us anything,” he said. “We are willing to work on this and we are willing to rely on each other for our future.”
A few years later, he was hired to lead the Fraternity Crusade, a grassroots organization that refused to accept government funds and funded its self-help programs through: Voluntary salary deduction Salaries from black people.
“Of course I support black people. That’s who I come to the table to serve.
— Danny J. Bakewell Sr.
The high-profile role raised Bakewell’s profile across the city, earning him license to operate from the halls of power to the city’s most troubled neighborhoods.
He had the attention of politicians, including Mayor Karen Bass, and the respect of the community, and he wouldn’t allow himself to be ignored.
“Danny always asks, ‘Brothers and sisters, what can we do to help?'” said Khalid Shah, director of the Foundation to Stop Violence and Promote Peace.
Bakewell, 77, helped legitimize a movement that turned gang members into peacekeepers who helped fight violent crime. He brought commercial development to Compton’s decadent downtown. For 18 years he has hosted Crenshaw’s Taste of Soul, the West Coast’s largest family-friendly food and music festival.
Still, Bakewell’s climb up the civic ladder wasn’t easy. His single-minded focus on black issues and refusal to compromise made some people uncomfortable.
“I have nothing against anyone,” Bakewell has always insisted. “But I am for Definitely black. This is who I come to the table to serve…because I see that we are always left out, always left behind.
“If I’m going to take on any leadership role, I want it to improve the lives of Black people.”
