A mural painted on the wall of a convenience store in South Los Angeles features Martin Luther King, Jr., the Virgin of Guadalupe, and César Chávez. The mural was commissioned by building owner Abel Jimenez and painted by an artist named Saul (last name unknown). 2009.

“Celebrating Community” banner, Central Avenue, South Los Angeles. 2007.

Storefront advertising school uniforms in English and Spanish, Market Street, Inglewood. 2009.

Vennie Mac Meat/ Carniceria, Inglewood. 2009.

Jazz musicians mural, Central Avenue, South Los Angeles. 2009.

A storefront on Central Avenue in South Los Angeles advertises international calling cards in Spanish. 2009.

Thomas Jefferson High School, South Los Angeles. Jefferson is now a predominantly Latina/o school and has frequently been a site of sensationalized media coverage of Black-Latina/o student conflict. 2009.    

Detail of convenience store mural depicting Martin Luther King, Jr., the Virgin of Guadalupe, and César Chávez, South Los Angeles. Mural commissioned by Abel Jimenez and painted by an artist named Saul (last name unknown). 2009.

A Baptist church and the Iglesia Adventista del Séptimo Día (Seventh Day Adventist church) share a space in South Los Angeles, as a plane passes overhead en route to Los Angeles International Airport. 2009.

“Bring the Change Home from D.C. to South L.A,” Community Coalition, South Los Angeles. Nonprofit and social justice organizations are an essential part of South Los Angeles’s landscape. 2009.

“Hope,” a mural by Miguel Ramirez depicting Catholic religious figures, Black civil rights leaders, and images of Central American political struggles, St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church, Watts, South Los Angeles. In recent years, Irish pastor Peter Banks, who gives services in English and Spanish, has made efforts to bring together local Black and Latina/o populations, in particular those who live in the nearby Nickerson Gardens housing projects. According to the artist, the mural, completed in 2000, was intended to bring the people of Compton “hope and dreams” at the opening of the new century. 2009. Copyright Miguel Ramirez.

Noni Olabisi’s 1995 mural “To Protect and Serve,” painted on the wall of a building in Crenshaw that is also home to a barber shop and a hair salon. The mural (commissioned by SPARC and paid for by private funds after city funding fell through), illustrates violence and injustice against Black people in the US, and the militant and community-serving aspects of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP), ending with a listing of the BPP’s Ten-Point Program. 2008. Copyright Noni Olabisi.

Empty lot, Market Street, Inglewood. Empty lots are scattered throughout South Los Angeles due to lack of municipal investment. 2009.

Broadway Federal Bank, Inglewood. With several branches throughout South Los Angeles, Broadway Federal is a Black-owned bank that has served the community since 1946. 2009.

Three young teens enjoy skateboarding at Rogers Park in Inglewood. Graffiti tags declare the presence of the MS-13 (or Mara Salvatrucha) and Avalon Crips gangs. 2009.

The Los Angeles County Jail (Twin Towers Correctional Facility) looms over pedestrians and businesses providing bail bonds in downtown Los Angeles. African Americans and Latinas/os are strikingly overrepresented in the prison system. 2009.

Street of single-family homes off of Vermont Avenue, South Los Angeles, with a mix of Black and Latina/o residents. 2009. 

“Apartment for rent/ Se renta.” Apartment buildings off of Figueroa Street, South Los Angeles. 2009.

Japanese-style landscaping in Crenshaw serves as a visible remnant of the area’s past as a predominantly African American and Japanese American neighborhood. 2006.