Legacies of the Street is an event that will explore on June 9 the legacies of the I-10 Santa Monica Freeway construction through the West Adams/Mid-City community. The highway ripped through a thriving African American neighborhood. This forever changed the neighborhood by dividing it in two and subjecting residents to the noise and pollution of major traffic.
The event, scheduled from 3 to 6 p.m. at New Los Angeles Charter Middle School, 1919 Washington Blvd., invites those within the community and beyond to learn this history and share their stories. Attendees will consider how to build a transportation justice movement that remembers past injustices and draws on community strengths.
The history of transportation is as much a story of exclusion, isolation, and destruction as it is one of connection and growth. These histories need to be a part of contemporary conversations about transportation investment, policy, and change. This event seeks to begin that conversation by connecting community members, transportation activists, urban planners, mobility justice strategists and academic researchers.
The West Adams / Mid City event has been developed and organized by Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, urban sustainabilist / mobility strategist, and Dr. Adonia Lugo, urban anthropologist / mbility strategist. Legacies of the Street has been made possible through grant funding from California Humanities and the collaboration of Drs. Sarah McCullough and Adonia Lugo, whose research on bicycling led them to question the absence of racial history as a core topic within sustainable transportation
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information on California Humanities, visit www.calhum.org. Dinner is included at the event. RSVP at tinyurl.com/mobility-justice.
