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Council to Hear Bruce's Beach History and More

Aug 18, 2020 10:57AM ● By Jeanne Fratello
The hotly debated Bruce's Beach issue will have its first official presentation tonight at the Manhattan Beach City Council, with a staff report on the history of the controversial park.

The city has been in the public spotlight for the past few months over the contested history of Bruce's Beach and various groups' efforts to change the current plaque and give greater recognition and credit to the Bruce family for their contributions.

Tuesday night's meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. On the agenda is a staff report on the history of Bruce's Beach, taking information from the thesis of longtime Manhattan Beach teacher Bob Brigham, as well as from local historian Jan Dennis and historian Alison Rose Jefferson, whose book “Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era” features a chapter on Bruce's Beach.

"This is our first step," Council member Nancy Hersman told DigMB. "We’re all going to hear the history, and we’re all going to be on the same page, and then we can say, 'Now what are we going to do?'"

Jefferson had been scheduled to appear at an earlier meeting. After a disagreement with the city about how Brigham's thesis and her book would be presented, she declined to appear and will not present at tonight's meeting.


Women's Equality Day Preview


Also to be presented at the meeting is a preview of activities planned for Women's Equality Day, August 26. Women's Equality Day honors the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote.

The city council is expected to issue a proclamation honoring the day.

Manhattan Beach will join cities across the country in the "Forward into Light" campaign to recognize the anniversary by lighting up buildings and landmarks in purple and gold, the colors of the suffragette movement.

A series of events, coordinated with several local businesses, will be announced over the next week, and Equality Day banners will be appearing around town.

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