South Central Rhapsody depicts events and issues in South Los Angeles during the
1980s, leading to the explosion of the 1992 uprising. You can see scenes from the novel below,
as well as selected images from the Southern California Library's collections. For more materials
from our collections, see our archives.
Click on each image below to see it in larger size.
Manual Arts High School, 1983
Photo from a 1958 Manual Arts Yearbook
Photo from a promotional pamphlet on Tom Bradley, during his tenure as Mayor of Los Angeles
A popular mass in El Salvador: Frontline Photo Collection
A "Justice for Janitors" strike in the early 1990s
Protesters against police brutality in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts Rebellion
Boys arrested for looting a bottle of aspirin during the Watts Rebellion, 2 of the 500
children arrested
A photograph taken by the L.A. Fire Department during the Watts Rebellion
A National Guardman during the 1992 Uprising
A tank on the street during the 1992 Uprising
A view of the Southern California Library after the 1992 Uprising, when everything else around it burned
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