When: Wednesday, July 15th, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Where: El Pueblo de Los Angeles RSVP: Click here to register
The Editor of #EmergingUS, Jose Antonio Vargas, will moderate this month’s book club and help us explore these topics through Ms. Madison’s personal journey in Finding Samuel Lowe. Please join me, Jose and author Paula Madison on July 15, at the historic El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, the birthplace of the city.
For our next Publisher’s Book Club pick, we’re delving into the topic of the emerging American identity and one woman’s journey to piece together her family’s history and heritage across races, spaces and time. Paula Madison’s Finding Samuel Lowe chronicles Ms. Madison’s pursuit of her long-lost grandfather, the exploration of her Jamaican and Chinese roots, and her dream to know her family.
As our nation grapples with clashing identities and cultures – be it over immigration policies or #blacklivesmatter - this topic is timely and important.
It is especially relevant for Los Angeles, a city where the world comes to see its future. Although the city was founded under the Spanish flag and drew its settlers from nearby provinces in Mexico, the initial group of settlers, Los Pobladores, exemplified the diversity which is our hallmark.
The late William Mason discussed Los Pobladores in his 1975 op-ed piece for the LA Times. "Of the 44 original pobladores who founded Los Angeles, only two were white," Mason wrote. "Of the other 42, 26 had some degree of African ancestry and 16 were Indians or mestizos [people of mixed Spanish and Indian blood].” The founders also included a family of Filipino descent.
Indeed, before the term “diversity” was even coined, a 1780s Los Angeles, in the form of a pueblo consisting of 44 individuals, embodied the term.
Today, the city boasts more concentrations of numerous nationalities outside of their home countries than any other city in America, including Mexicans, Filipinos, Iranians, Salvadorans, Koreans, Thais, Guatemalans, Armenians, and Vietnamese.
At a time of changing demographics, our ability and struggles to learn, accept, and embrace each other’s cultures and histories are vital to the next chapter of our collective history as a city and nation. Those are among the topics that will be looked at by #EmergingUS, an upcoming digital magazine of the LA Times.
The Editor of #EmergingUS, Jose Antonio Vargas, will moderate this month’s book club and help us explore these topics through Ms. Madison’s personal journey in Finding Samuel Lowe. Please join me, Jose and author Paula Madison on July 15 at the historic El Pueblo de Los Angeles, the birthplace of the city.
— Austin Beutner Publisher and CEO, Los Angeles Times
Get your copy of Finding Samuel Lowe — called a "remarkable journey about one woman’s path to self-discovery" — at the LA Times Store.
To keep up on our Reading L.A. monthly selections and events, sign up at latimes.com/bookclub.
