Families gathered at the Crenshaw Farmers Market on Saturday for the first-ever Soul of SoLA: Honoring the Grandparents of the Great Migration festival, a free celebration presented by Edible Kids Art that ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Crenshaw and Slauson boulevards. The event honored the grandparents of the Great Migration.
The festival was framed as a tribute to the Great Migration. As CBS News Los Angeles reported, the event highlighted the decades-long movement that saw millions of African Americans flee the Jim Crow South in search of better lives.
A Market Built for the Neighborhood
The festival's home base, the Crenshaw Farmers Market, runs every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot beside historic Fire Station 54 at 5730 Crenshaw Boulevard. It's operated by the nonprofit Food Access LA and serves surrounding neighborhoods including Leimert Park, Hyde Park, and Baldwin Hills, per the organization's own account of the site.
The market's mission extends beyond Saturday programming. It accepts CalFresh EBT benefits and participates in Market Match, which matches SNAP dollars up to $20 daily so shoppers can stretch their budgets on fresh produce, according to Food Access LA. That food-access work is part of the market's role in the neighborhood.
The Migration That Reshaped South L.A.
The festival's framing draws on a much larger historical arc. Between 1910 and 1970, roughly six million Black Americans moved from the rural South to cities across the North, Midwest, and West to escape Jim Crow laws and racial violence, according to the National Archives. Los Angeles was one of the migration's major destinations during its second wave.
Spurred by World War II defense jobs, the city's Black population grew during the period. The migration helped reshape Los Angeles.
Literature and Public Art Echo the Theme
Los Angeles history also provided context for the festival.
Public art nearby offers another cultural reference. Destination Crenshaw is a 1.3-mile open-air outdoor museum along Crenshaw Boulevard, according to Destination Crenshaw.
A Newer Migration, in Reverse
The festival celebrated the arrivals of decades past and highlighted Los Angeles history.
Nearby, historic Fire Station 54 — whose lot hosts the market every Saturday — was selected for a roughly $11.5 million conversion into the Manchester Junior Arts Center by the L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs, a project designed to build dedicated youth arts space along the Destination Crenshaw corridor.
