History Resources

Inside the Vault: Black Land Ownership and the American Dream in the Jim Crow Era

by Gilder Lehrman Institute Staff

Our children are entitled to a place in the great open spaces where they can play and have fun unrestricted by race prejudice and oppression. 
—Sidney P. Dones, founder of Eureka Villa

In the 1920s, businessman Sidney P. Dones traveled to Black organization meetings across the country to promote his Eureka Villa real estate project in southern California. He promised not only sunshine and a sublime landscape but also a dream of community, agency, and leisure for Black families facing racism and discrimination under Jim Crow.

On March 6, 2025, our curators discussed a 1926 pamphlet advertising homes in Eureka Villa, California, to Black families with historian Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson.

Download the slides from the presentation here.

FEATURED DOCUMENTS

USE THE TIMESTAMPS BELOW TO JUMP TO THE TOPIC YOU WANT TO VIEW

0:00–3:12: Today’s Document
03:13–07:23: African American Leisure and Resorts
07:24–14:58: The California Dream
11:23–14:24 The Beginnings of Eureka Villa
14:25–18:27: Sidney P. Dones
18:28–20:49: Real Estate and Eureka Villa
20:50–28:06: Becoming Val Verde
28:07–32:32: Events and Community
32:33–39:51: The Evolution of Val Verde
39:52–44:09: Cost of Land
44:10–47:24: Black Land Ownership Pre-1930
47:25–49:52: The Great Depression and Eureka Villa
49:53–46:09: Generational Wealth
58:59–1:02:26: Honoring Eureka Villa

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