Opinion: An L.A. Black civil rights pioneer finally gets the recognition he deserves

George Mallory, left, G. Bernard Brown, George Fatheree, John Meigs Sr. and Charley Hames Jr. gather at the dedication of Willis O. Tyler Square at 2nd and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles on Monday. Although most people would not know his name, Tyler was an extraordinary Black civil rights pioneer in Los Angeles a century ago, and the battles he won leave a legacy for Angelenos today. Two years ago, during my representation of the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce in an effort to return the Bruce’s Beach property to the Bruce family, I learned that Tyler had represented the Bruce family and several other Black families in the early 1920s, against Manhattan Beach’s racially motivated seizure of property. Tyler’s law office stood at the intersection of 2nd and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles, the heart of the city’s civic life.