L.A. wildfires destroy Black community birthed from Civil Rights era
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A couple looks at the charred remains of their home burned in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, Calif. Photo: Zoë Meyers / AFP via Getty Images
A historic Black community that grew out of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s is among the communities wiped away by devastating wildfires charring through Los Angeles County.
The big picture: The Eaton Fire has all but flatted the many Black-owned homes and businesses in the unincorporated area of Altadena, California, in San Gabriel Valley and the Verdugos regions.
Zoom in: The community of 42,000 residents — 18% are Black — has been among the hardest hit by wildfires that so far have claimed 24 lives and burned away over 12,000 structures across the county.
- The Eaton Fire alone charred more than 1,000 structures and killed at least five people in Altadena, per the Los Angeles Times.
Octavia E. Butler, the late-pioneering Black science fiction novelist who wrote about a wildfire from climate change starting on February 1, 2025, in her novel "Parable of the Sower," is buried in an Altadena cemetery.
- The cemetery caught fire, the LA Times reports.
Zoom out: Satellite images of burning buildings in Altadena examined by Axios show that last week, a large portion of the community was in flames or burned to ash.
- The images give clues to how quickly the fire moved to long-protected communities because of high winds and drought conditions.
- The whole community was ordered to evacuate when the Eaton Fire began last week and has since claimed many of the community's churches, landmarks and much of its downtown.
State of play: Much attention on the wildfires has focused on the destruction of homes in wealthy areas and of celebrities, but Altadena's devastation shows how middle-class areas and communities of color were also hit.
- In the days after the Eaton Fire started, Black residents returned to homes passed down by family members only to see them gone as the fire burned block.
- The community, where 58% of residents are people of color, also saw many Latino and Asian American residents return to rubble.
Among those returning to ash in Altadena was Shawn Brown, a Black homeowner. She told The Associated Press she lost her home and a charter school she founded.
- She had a message for fellow Black homeowners in the wake of despair: "I would tell them to stand strong, rebuild, continue the generational progress of African-Americans."
Flashback: In 1960, 95% of Altadena's residents were white, according to Altadena Heritage, a nonprofit organization that seeks to preserve the community's history.
- After President Lyndon Johnson signed several civil rights bills, including The Fair Housing Act of 1968, Altadena's Black population grew from 4% in 1960 to 27% in 1970.
- Altadena was one of the few communities offering housing and loans to Black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. As a result, it became a popular community for a growing Black middle class seeking to escape discrimination elsewhere.
Stunning stat: Before the fire, the Black homeownership rate stood at 81.5% — nearly double the national rate for Black homeowners, per the AP.
What we're watching: Recovering and rebuilding efforts typically overlook communities of color, who struggle amid the maze of insurance bureaucracies and federal disaster relief programs.
- Communities like Altadena near wildfire-prone areas may consider building fire-prevention walls or barriers, as Octavia E. Butler foresaw in her futuristic novels.
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