Interview with Earl and Zoe Pedford conducted by Sharon Sekhon on September 4, 2020 at their home in Apple Valley. This interview was done for "Shouting from the Margins: Black Leadership in Orange County, 1960 - 1979."
Both of these individuals were born in Los Angeles and their families eventually moved to Pomona. Indeed, they both spent time at the pool at Exposition Park when they were young people but remained strangers until they met in Pomona. Earl moved there when he was in high school and met Zoe, an already very popular student. She was voted Homecoming Queen and Earl was her date, as he was president of the Black Student Union. This interview covers their time there and at California State University Fullerton. Both are singers and were involved in drumming groups, community outreach, and close parenting of their children.
Tags: African American; Black Americans; Civil Rights; Discrimination; Activism; California; Los Angeles; Interviews; 1960s; 1970s; Black Student Union; Pomona; CSU Fullerton; Violence; Poetry; Murals; Black Power; Black Pride; Police Profiling; Arrests; Prison; Martial Arts; Racial Tensions; African Activism; Earl Pedford; Zoe Pedford