Rozzell Sykes (December 25, 1931 – December 18, 1994) was an American artist, based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He is best known as the founder of St. Elmo Village, an urban renewal project.

Early life

Rozzell Sykes was born in

Aberdeen, Mississippi Aberdeen is the county seat of Monroe County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,612. Located on the banks of the Tombigbee River, Aberdeen was one of the busiest Mississippi ports of the 19th century. Cotto ...

, the son of Anna Bell Clay and Cleveland Sykes, although he gave various accounts of his origins over the years, frequently mentioning a childhood in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. He lived in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

and

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

before moving to Los Angeles in 1961.

Career

In the mid-1960s, Rozzell Sykes was a working painter, noted for a series featured in

Life magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

. In 1969, he and his nephew Roderick Sykes acquired a small group of bungalows in mid-city Los Angeles, in the 4800 block of St. Elmo Drive where they lived, to save the dwellings and develop the neighborhood as a creative experiment. St. Elmo Village was incorporated in 1971, and showcased the Sykes' vision of a colorful, multi-ethnic cultural space. Rozzell Sykes executed several large murals for the community, and secured funding through the assistance of Tom Bradley, then a city councilman. "I don't think he allowed anything to go unpainted," said Bradley in 1995. "He was a man of uncommon vision. He often said it didn't matter whether you lived in a shoe box or a mansion, you can be all you want to be." The neighborhood became the site of the annual St. Elmo Festival, organized by Rozzell Sykes to bring attention to the project and celebrate the arts. Roderick and Rozzell Sykes received a Human Rights Award from the Baha'is of Los Angeles County in 1971, in observance of United Nations

Human Rights Day Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Right ...

, for their work in St. Elmo Village.

Personal life and legacy

He was married to Erma Sykes, a nurse, and the couple raised five children together, among them music producer

Benny Medina Benny Medina (born January 24, 1958) is an American record executive, talent manager, and television producer. Early life and education Medina was born in East Los Angeles, California, of Dominican parents into a poor family. The death of hi ...

. He died in late 1994, age 63. His funeral was held at

First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles (First A.M.E. or FAME) is a megachurch in Los Angeles, California, United States, part of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. It is the oldest church founded by African American ...

. St. Elmo Village remains active as an arts space, under director Roderick Sykes."St. Elmo Village A Credit to Human Spirit," ''Los Angeles Sentinel'' (December 15, 2005): B4.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, Rozzell African-American artists American artists People from Aberdeen, Mississippi