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

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. 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 2020 census, the population was 4,961, down from 5,612 in 2010. Located on the banks of the Tombigbee River, Aberdeen was one of the busiest Mississippi ports ...

, 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 an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. He lived in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

and

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before moving to Los Angeles in 1961.

Career

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

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. 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 (HRD) is list of minor secular observances#December, 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 ...

, 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, into a poor family. The death of his mother and abandonment ...

. He died in late 1994, age 63. His funeral was held at First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. 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