Trending Topics

Museum in L.A. honors black firefighters

It offers museum-goers the ability to gain a better understanding of the struggles and successes of black firefighters

CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — A museum in downtown Los Angeles is honoring those who have broken barriers in the world of firefighting.

As CBS2’s Stephanie Simmons reports, the walls of the African American Firefighter Museum on Central Avenue depict years of service and dedication.

“Our last four fire chiefs have been black,” said Jimmy Smith, who was once a fire safety director. He now serves as a docent to the museum, which is free to the public, and a first of its kind in the United States. Smith says the man who paved the way for black firefighters in L.A. was Sam Haskins, who was formally a slave in Virginia. No known pictures of him exist.

Full story: Museum In Downtown L.A. Honors Trailblazers In World Of Firefighting