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Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African-American Newspapers

Los Angeles Sentinel - March 5, 1969

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March - Archived Posts
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March 1, 1947: Juanita Jackson Mitchell and Baltimore NAACP protest segregated seating at Ford’s Theater.
March 2, 1956: Tennis champion Althea Gibson trains for French Open and Wimbledon.
March 3, 1985: Atlanta Daily World columnist Dr. Carrie George on the start of National Women’s History Week.
March 4, 1893: Winter Park Advocate on town planning. Guest post by Dr. Julian Chambliss.
March 5, 1969: Bell Plastics’ ads for plastic sofa covers in Los Angeles Sentinel.
March 6, 1915: Chicago Defender on the death of Amanda Smith, founder of the Amanda Smith Industrial School for Colored Girls.
March 7, 1964: Norfolk Journal and Guide reports on “sleeper” antibusing amendment in 1964 Civil Rights Act.
March 8, 1965: Chicago Defender on Selma voting rights movement with reporting from Betty Washington.
March 9, 1957: Pittsburgh Courier celebrates Ghana’s independence with 32-page supplement.
March 10, 1945: Phyllis Daley, Navy’s first African-American nurse, in the New York Amsterdam News.
March 11, 1944: Women’s Army Corps advertisements in Cleveland Call and Post and Chicago Defender.
March 12, 1936: Marian Anderson sets sail for European tour.
March 13, 1954: Cleveland Call and Post on the Connie Morgan, Toni Stone, and Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, the three women who played Negro League baseball.
March 14, 1940: Los Angeles Sentinel on the unsolved murder of Dorothy Lee Gordon.
March 15, 1913: Baltimore Afro-American on the death of Harriet Tubman, “Queen of the Underground.”
March 16, 1991: New York Amsterdam News on International Women’s Day, featuring speaker Rosemari Mealey.
March 17, 1977: Gertrude Gipson profile of Richard Pryor in the Los Angeles Sentinel.
March 18, 1939: New York Amsterdam News on Hattie McDaniel and Gone with the Wind.
March 19, 1910: Ida B. Wells-Barnett letter to the editor of the Chicago Defender.
March 20, 1948: Rosa Lee Ingram case in Pittsburgh Courier.
March 21, 1982: Atlanta Daily World on convictions of Maggie Bozeman and Julia Wilder for voter fraud.
March 22, 1966: High school fencing champions in the Philadelphia Tribune.
March 23, 1957: “Hobo party” covered by Cleveland Call and Post society page, “Women’s Whirl.”
March 24, 1906: Classified ads for clairvoyants, astrologists, and readers in the Baltimore Afro-American.
March 25, 1939: Federal Housing Authority (FHA) discrimination in the New York Amsterdam News, Chicago Defender, and Los Angeles Sentinel and the black press. Guest post by Michael Glass, PhD student.
March 25, 1944: Amy Ashwood Garvey in the New York Amsterdam News. Guest post by Dr. Keisha N. Blain.
March 26, 1955: Claudette Colvin’s arrest reported in the Chicago Defender.
March 27, 1971: South Carolina civil rights activist Victoria DeLee runs for Congress.
March 28, 1946: Los Angeles Sentinel reports on employment breakthrough for black workers in auto production.
March 29, 1930: Tuskegee Institute women’s track team in Norfolk Journal and Guide.
March 30, 1942: Pianist Hazel Scott and Broadway’s “Priorities of 1942” in the Atlanta Daily World.
March 31, 1934: Philadelphia Tribune women’s basketball team in the Norfolk Journal and Guide.
March 5, 1969 On March 5, 1969, the Los Angeles Sentinel carried an advertisement from Bell Plastics for plastic slip covers. The ad promised that the custom-made slip covers, which came in crystal clear or pastel colors, would make your sofa “100% child proof.” This advertisement caught my attention because it reminded me of how my grandmother used to cover her couch with a plastic slip cover. When I searched for Bell Plastics in the database of historic issues of the Los Angeles Sentinel, I found dozens of other advertisements that revealed a surprising amount about the marketing, consumption, and economics of sofa protection.

The earliest Bell Plastics ad I found, from November 1963, touted that the plastic slip covers were “expertly made in our own factory.” It is not clear if this factory employed black workers or where this factory was located (the original store front was 4966 Whittier Blvd. in East L.A.). While I did not find any references to Bell Plastics in Josh Sides’ L.A. City Limits: African American Los Angeles from the Great Depression to the Present, my hunch is that production of these slip covers relates to the manufacturing opportunities that were available to black workers and which declined in the late 1960s and 1970s. In November 1967, Bell Plastics opened a second location in Compton at 241 East Compton Blvd., and in 1966 Bell Plastics advertised in the Sentinel for experienced salesmen.

An April 1964 ad promoted a “Credit Sale”: “When others want cash, Bell Plastics will cover your fine funiture on your willingness to pay and PAST CREDIT RECORDS!!” This meant that customers could get a plastic cover for their sofa for $6.32 down and $6.53 monthly.

Why would a customer pay for a sofa cover in installments? A January 1965 ad made the case to Sentinel readers: “Child Proof Your Furniture! School time and fall weather are here again. The children are back in the living room with their studies and T.V. (Big Adult Kiddies Too!!) Protect Your Fine Furniture from the Ravages of Milk and Cookies, Jam & Jellies, Scotch & Soda. Hoping and praying that your living room set will not be RUINED, is fine. BELL PLASTICS custom made plastic slip covers are INSURANCE. CREDIT TERMS CAN BE ARRANGED—CASH TOO!!! CALL TODAY FOR FREE ESTIMATE!”

Two December 1966 ads featured satisfied customers, Carrenthia Ingram and Anna Belle Pearson.

Finally, a November 1971 ad promised customers would receive Blue Chip Stamps, an early customer loyalty program where stamps could be redeemed at a range of participating stores. (An interesting side note: Warren Buffett’s investment company Berkshire Hathaway began investing in Blue Chip Stamps in 1970).

All of these advertisements taught me more about what it meant to make, buy, and invest in plastic slip covers, and they made me think about my grandmother and her pristine plastic-protected sofa in new ways.