KCET's 'Departures' Documents Latinoization of Highland Park

"Brown and Proud," the fourth segement in the KCET Departures series, documents the demographic shift that took place in Highland Park in the 1950s and continues to define the community today.

From "Brown and Proud"

In the 1950s, Mexican immigrants and their American-born children began owning and renting in Highland Park in earnest, claiming the neighborhood as their home. This demographic shift coincided with the dawn of the Civil Rights era, and a series of aligned events-- school segregation, a burgeoning protest movement and intense community organizing--began to reshape the East Side and create new vocabularies of resistance and pride within L.A.’s Latino and Mexican communities.

The seven-part documentary series delves into the social, cultural, political and artistic movements that defined the Arroyo.

As previously reported on Patch, KCET's Highland Park documentary is the latest in a series that has featured historic communities throughout Los Angeles, including Chinatown, Richland Farms and Venice. The Los Angeles River has also gotten the Departures treatment from KCET.

Click here to see the fourth installment of the Departures series

The "Brown and Proud" segment features an interactive map with clickable links to information about property rights, the Chicano movement and Franklin High School's impact on the civil rights movement.