We invite you to join an intimate conversation with Black residents, professionals, students and visitors to El Segundo. Black in Mayberry was born from the protests held in El Segundo by El Segundo for Black Lives (ESBL) following the murder of George Floyd. The film’s producer, Tanya Taylor, was the events and community education coordinator for ESBL. The director, Mark Knight, documented these protests through photography and video. As the two began to collaborate on the documentation of the protests in El Segundo, a dialogue opened up about what’s not usually said between Black and white people. Starting with that conversation, Tanya and Mark approached ESMoA for an artistic partnership and a liberating space to give birth to Black in Mayberry, a 13-part short film series.

Through Black in Mayberry, Black people in El Segundo have set aside their inhibitions and made themselves vulnerable in order to share their truth. We hope that these short episodes (each 3-4 minutes) on topics rarely discussed publicly will create a safe and unfiltered opportunity to learn more about what it is to be Black in El Segundo and in America in 2020.