“You’re standing on hallowed ground,” said retired Los Angeles County Fire Department Captain Brent Burton to youth from the Los Angeles Chargers Impact Fund’s Bolt Academy program – an innovative program, in partnership with the Inglewood Unified School District and Brotherhood Crusade, that focuses on leadership, life skills, and job training.

The program offers young people the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in various fields of work.

The “hallowed ground” was the African American Firefighter Museum (AAFM), founded in 1997 in what was formerly Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Station 30. The Bolt Academy students had the chance to visit the museum and learn about the often-overlooked history of Black firefighters in Los Angeles.

Guided by Burton, students explored the life of Sam Haskins who was the first known Black firefighter in LAFD history. Haskins moved to LA in 1880 after being born into slavery in Virginia and became an on-call firefighter in 1892, working part-time and filling in for firefighters who were sick or on vacation. Haskins tragically became the first LAFD firefighter to die in the line of duty in 1895. His story remained hidden until 2002, when the LA Times uncovered an old article documenting his death.

The AAFM preserves stories like Haskins’s that might have otherwise been forgotten. As students moved through the museum, they learned about George Bright, who became the LAFD’s first full-time Black firefighter in 1897. His success was the unfortunate catalyst for segregation.

Bright was promoted to Lieutenant, but the Department concluded that he could not hold a leadership position over white firefighters. In what was considered a solution at the time, the LAFD rounded up the few Black firefighters on the job and formed the city’s first “colored” fire company at Station 30 under Bright’s command. LAFD Fire Station 14 became the second all-Black fire station when Fire Station 30 became overcrowded.

As if moving through time itself, the students followed along the walls of the AAFM, observing pictures and hearing stories about the various Black firefighters that held “colored-only” leadership positions during the segregated decades of the Department.

The museum not only highlights Black history in the fire service but also features early firefighting tools and apparatus. Students saw an original 1890 horse-drawn hose wagon, unique to the museum, and tried handling a heavy fire hose from the 1880s.

Upstairs on the second level of the museum, Burton showed students the dormitory where the Black firefighters of Station 30 once lived. Leaning against the pole that students had first glimpsed downstairs, featuring a Black mannequin, Burton explained that Black firefighters in Chicago invented the very first fire station pole. The students listened intently as these rarely highlighted stories came to life before their eyes, some even seeing themselves in them.

“That’s why this history is so important,” Burton emphasized. “We’re connecting to our ancestors, our elders.”

After hearing empowering stories about the first Black LAFD fire chiefs, the first Black female firefighters, and other fire service trailblazers, the tour then shifted to a darker chapter in LAFD’s history —integration.

After the 1954 Supreme Court decision ending “separate but equal” legislation in schools, the Los Angeles city attorney at the time decided that the same ruling should be applied to fire stations. Unfortunately, the integration of Black firefighters into all-white stations led to hostility and discrimination. Burton explained how Black firefighters were often ignored, forced to bring their own cookware and eat separately, and had to endure mistreatment in the workplace.

“There was no workplace harassment policy. There weren’t even Black elected officials at the time. You just had to deal with cruelty,” Burton shared.

These stories were not just folklore that had been passed down by generations. Burton shared the story of LAFD Firefighter Reynaldo Lopez, who exposed a “white adults only” sign that was placed on the kitchen door at his fire station. Lopez’s courage led to news coverage and public outcry, shedding light on the systemic racism that was prevalent in the LAFD at the time.

“All the firefighters that withstood the bigotry, racial hatred, and vicious ‘pranks,’ are why this museum exists – to share their stories and to never forget,” Burton emphasized.

“This is a place of remembrance for what those firefighters had to endure.”

George Weaver, who helped coordinate the Bolt Academy field trip, highlighted the significance of the museum visit. “The Chargers are dedicated to ensuring that young people know who they are, where they come from, and the power they possess,” Weaver said.

By the end of the trip, some students were considering careers in firefighting, while others, like one student pursuing a career as a registered nurse (RN), were deeply inspired by the history they learned. “I didn’t know until today that the fire department was ever segregated,” one student shared.

“The museum highlights the sacrifices that were made for them to succeed,” Weaver added. “These stories are powerful, and many people do not know them. It’s a beautiful thing to see this history brought to life.”