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Colored California
The charm and mystery of California lie in its very name. It was named from a romance and lay "on the right hand of the Indies, very near the terrestrial paradise," and was supposed to be peopled by Amazons and Griffins. It is bound up with the history of the United States and the world as a land of gold; with the history of the Negro race as a State whose decision to be free precipitated the great conflict which eventually led to Civil War and the freedom of the slave. In our day California has become the tourist's wonderland, a place of roses and lilies, of palms and giant redwoods; here are valleys like the Yosemite, bays like the Golden Gate, great mountains and beautiful rivers and cities like Los Angeles. One never forgets Los Angeles and Pasadena: the sensuous beauty

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MR. WALKER'S TAILOR SHOP.

COLORED CALIFORNIA 193
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MR. OWENS' BUSINESS BLOCK.

of roses and orange blossoms, the air and the sunlight and the hospitality of all its races lingers long.

The colored population of Los Angels has grown fast. It was but 2,000 in 1900, while in 1910 it was 7,500, and it has grown very rapidly since that. These colored people are pushing and energetic. They are without doubt the most beautifully housed group of colored people in the United States. They are full of push and energy and are used to working together.

The occasion of my coming to Los Angeles has was an assessment of $8,000 put by the city on a prominent colored church - Wesley Chapel. The money must be raised forthwith and the energetic pastor, E.W. Kinchen, set out to do it. Everything was arranged with thoughtfulness and business-like precision. The reception committee, with a procession of automobiles, met me at the station; a large theatre at night was filled with 2,300 people from the white, yellow and black races. There were receptions that were not stiff and formal; there was a jolly banquet and, above all, automobile rides about all the surrounding country. I spoke to 1,500 white students about liberty and democracy, such as should include all peoples; I visited working girls' homes and day nurseries, and, above all, I saw the business establishments of the colored people. There was a splendid merchant tailor shop with a large stock of goods; a furniture store; two real-estate companies; the largest junk-dealers' business in the State; a contractor who was putting up some of the best buildings in the city with colored workmen; physicians, lawyers and dentists with offices in first-class buildings and, above all, homes - beautiful homes.

To be sure Los Angeles is not Paradise, much as the sight of its lilies and roses