The City Council approved a Public Works Committee Report designating the intersection at 51st Street and Holmes Avenue as “Bessie Burke Square.”
Bessie Bruington Burke was the first Black American teacher and principal hired by the Los Angeles public school systems. In 1911, she earned her teaching credential and began teaching at Holmes Avenue Elementary School in District 9. Seven years later, Burke was promoted and became the first Black principal in Los Angeles in 1918.
In 1938, after having served over two decades as a trailblazing educator, Holmes became the principal of Nevin Avenue School, becoming the first Black principal of a racially integrated school. She retired in 1955, but not before cementing her legacy as a trailblazer and advocating for the rights and representation of people of color and women.
To read the motion, click here.