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The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach

The Exhibition

The Port of Long Beach and the Historical Society of Long Beach present : The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach exhibit.

San Pedro Bay has been a center of trade and commerce for thousands of years, from Indigenous people to the Spanish and then through development from early shipyards to a modern port complex.

This exhibit looks at the people who made it possible: longshore workers, skilled tradespeople, mariners, Navy personnel, and many more – the laborers who shaped the Port of Long Beach and keep cargo moving today.

Exhibition Hours

Tuesday 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Thursday 1:00 – 7:00 pm
Friday 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Admission is Free!

How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach

An exhibition highlighting and celebrating the contributions of labor throughout the Port of Long Beach’s 114-year history returns next week at the Historical Society of Long Beach’s museum in Bixby Knolls.

“The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach” re-open Tuesday, March 25. This special exhibition in partnership with the Port of Long Beach, which debuted in 2024 at the Port Administration Building, brings together historical photos and artifacts to look at the people who made the ports of the San Pedro Bay possible: longshore workers, skilled tradespeople, mariners, Navy personnel and many more – the laborers who built the Port of Long Beach and keep cargo moving.

“We often talk of the great environmental progress the Port of Long Beach has made and our world-class facilities,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “The people who have made us successful have always been the men and women who work in the harbor. This exhibit honors them, and it’s our way to appreciate the laborer who has made us a great port complex.”

“We’re thankful this exhibition will live on at the Historical Society of Long Beach,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Bonnie Lowenthal said. “It’s an important legacy to preserve – the workers who built the Port of Long Beach laid the foundation of an economic engine that today powers 1 in 5 jobs in the city.”

“The story of workers in the harbor demonstrates the tremendous feat of transforming muddy tidelands into a global economic engine and a source of employment for generations of local residents,” said Historical Society of Long Beach Executive Director Julie Bartolotto. “We are pleased to collaborate with the Port of Long Beach to bring this history to light.”

Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program

Educational Opportunity Program Webinar Series

The Game Changer

Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: The Game Changer
Description: What is the EOP? Who were the founders? How did they create the program? And why?

Civil Rights activist Ella Baker once said, “Give people light and they will find a way.” Were she alive today, Ella Baker would applaud enthusiastically the light that is the Educational Opportunity Program, and the thousands upon thousands of students who have found a way to success through EOP.

The first in a series of four webinars on the origin of EOP at California State University, Long Beach is brought to you by the Black Student Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach. The BSUEA is composed primarily of retired CSULB African American alumni, mentees of Dr. Joseph L. White and his colleagues, and former BSU members. This webinar series was inspired by the BSUEA collection, “Legacy, Celebration and Remembrance,” a stunning visual display of minority faculty and student activism during the mid-1960s into the early 1970s.

In this webinar, we will introduce you to the Godfather of EOP, the late Dr. Joseph L. White. To help us learn more about the man and his mission, we will talk with individuals who knew Dr. White and ask them to share their personal memories of the lasting impact the remarkable educator and mentor had on them.

Moderator: Dr. Gayle Parker
Panel Speakers: Brett Waterfield and Dr. Willie Elston

Click Here To Watch the Webinar for Free

Remembrance of Things Past 1954-1965

Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: Remembrance of Things Past 1954-1965
Description: Background on the national political scene, and how EOP derived from “hinge events” such as the sit-in movement, uprisings in US cities, and calls for greater minority representation on campuses.

The second in a series of four webinars on the origin of EOP at California State University, Long Beach is brought to you by the Black Student Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach. The BSUEA is composed primarily of retired CSULB African American alumni, mentees of Dr. Joseph L. White and his colleagues, and former BSU members. This webinar series was inspired by the BSUEA collection, “Legacy, Celebration and Remembrance,” a stunning visual display of minority faculty and student activism during the mid-1960s into the early 1970s.

In this webinar, we will talk to Dr. Alex Norman, professor emeritus of Social Welfare at the University of California Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs. Dr. Norman is co-founder of Rethinking Greater Long Beach, a community-based think-tank that conducts research in education, public safety, and urban demography.

Dr. Norman will provide background on the national political scene and “hinge events” between 1954-1965. Why was there a need for EOP? Past US history offers at least a partial answer.

Moderator: Dr. Craig Hendricks

Speakers:
Dr. Alex J. Norman
Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely MPH

Click Here To Watch the Webinar for Free

Resistance, Resilience, Reimagination

Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: Resistance, Resilience, Re-imagination
Description: Student activism leads to the creation of the Black Student Union and Ethnic Studies.

This is the third in a series of four webinars on the origins of the Educational Opportunity Program at California State University, Long Beach, brought to you by the Black Student Union Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach. Resistance, Resilience, Reimagination highlights a time when a small, vocal group of African-American students and faculty made campus history.

“I came up with EOP concept but students and faculty came up with the BSU and Black Studies.” Those are the words of the late Dr. Joseph L. White, Godfather of EOP at CSULB, giving credit to Black students.

Between 1966 and 1967, a loose-knit collection of Black students met on campus to discuss issues which they found important. The CSULB BSU is an outgrowth of that discussion group and chartered as a political club in 1967. The BSU remains a vital presence on campus in the 21st century.

In this webinar, we talk to students, original faculty, and community activists who were part of that discussion group that helped launched the Black Student Union, Black Studies, and their successors.

The speakers will briefly discuss their backgrounds and give us a rare glimpse of campus life from a unique Black perspective.

Moderator: Dr. Willie Elston
Panel Speakers:
Evelyn Knight
Edna Mayhan

Click Here To Watch the Webinar for Free

Linking CSULB Campus to the LB Community

Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: Linking the CSULB campus to the Long Beach Community
Description: Community Improvement League and Black churches invest in youth programs and encourage students to seek a higher education. Herb Smith grants access to Martin Luther King Jr. Park for BSU activities.

This final of four webinars on the origin of the Educational Opportunity Program at California State University, Long Beach is brought to you by the Black Student Union Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach.

If the CSULB campus could speak, we can speculate that it would tell us a great many things about the countless changes it has seen during its 73 years of existence. We don’t know quite how it would put it, but it’s likely it would tell us how it has gone from a bean field to a “city on a hill;” from a small teacher’s college to a sprawling urban university; from South Los Angeles-Orange County State College to California State University, Long Beach.

But if we listen closely, we hear other voices, however faint. We hear the voices of presidents, deans, administrators, coaches, professors, students, faculty, and guest lecturers; but there are still others, speaking from off campus. Perhaps, if we close our eyes and open our ears, we hear the echoes of Black voices from the central city of Long Beach, too.

A case can be made that EOP, Dr. Joseph White, the BSU and Black Studies would not have had the impact that they did, were it not for powerful voices from the inner city.

In this webinar, we give voice to some of the people from off campus who worked with Dr. White and with student leaders when their ideas were frowned upon on campus.

The speakers will briefly discuss their background and describe their roles in forming linkages between the university and the broader community.

Moderators: Erroll Parker

Speakers:
Ayoola Fadonougbo
Ahmed Saafir
Alfred Jones

Click Here To Watch the Webinar for Free

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:

BLACK STUDENT UNIVERSITY ELDERS ASSOCIATION FACEBOOK

BOOKS

The Psychology of Blacks: An African-American Perspective with Thomas Anthony Parham, Prentice Hall, 1990.

The Troubled Adolescent, Joseph L. White, Pergamon Press, 1989.

Black Man Emerging: Facing The Past and Seizing a Future, with James H. Cones, Routledge, 1999.
The Psychology of Blacks: An African-centered Perspective, with Thomas Anthony Parham, Adisa Ajamu, Prentice Hall, 1999.

Black Fathers: An Invisible Presence in America, with Michael E. Connor, Routledge, 2006.

Building Multicultural Competency: Development, Training and Practice, with Sheila Henderson, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

MAGAZINES

“Towards A Black Psychology.” Ebony, June 1970.

“Obituary of Dr. Joseph L. White: Trailblazing Founder of ‘Black Psychology,'” the new blackmagazine.com , December 21, 2017.

ONLINE

The Association of Black Psychologists

Joseph White (Psychologist)

www.thenewblackmagazine.com

Port Town

non-fiction, hardcover, 525 pages

Visit the book’s web page: https://porttown.polb.com/

The Authors:

George and Carmela Cunningham are husband and wife with a love of both history and books. George served in Vietnam as a paratrooper in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, received a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, and worked for twenty-seven years as a writer and editor at newspapers in Florida and California. Carmela is the author of Information Access and Adaptive Technology, the premier book for providing computer access and services to students with disabilities.

The Cunninghams were the founders and publishers of The Cunningham Report — a weekly newsletter on trade and transportation — which debuted in 1996 and closed fifteen years later. During that time, Carmela also worked as the chief operations officer for UCLA’s Institution for Digital Research and Education. George and Carmela live in Long Beach.

HSLB Supporter Membership

Membership Matters
Fulfilling our mission requires funding. We must pay for staff, building expenses, utilities, preservation materials such as archival files and boxes, office supplies, and exhibit and program costs. Memberships and donations represent nearly half our annual income. When you join the HSLB, you are ensuring that our history will never be lost; that the stories, photographs and documents of the city’s leaders, residents, landmarks and events will always be safe and available to the public to learn from and enjoy.

Member Benefits
Along with helping to preserve the past for the future, members enjoy benefits such as discounts on books and ticketed events, including our signature Annual Cemetery Tour, exhibit openings, and programs. You are entitled to do research here at no cost and receive staff help to locate photographs and documents. You will receive electronic newsletters and postcards regarding upcoming events, and you will be invited to attend our annual meeting where you can vote to elect our officers.

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