On November 24, 1965, Louis Smith & Robert Hall launched an organization called Operation Bootstrap on 4161 South Central Avenue in Watts. It would work to enhance the educational and professional skills of residents and connect them to the career networks that eluded them in South L.A. Fifty-four years after Operation Bootstrap began, the project is most remembered for starting a variety of businesses — namely Shindana Toys — that put community members to work and allowed them to witness economic empowerment through an African American lens. While Operation Bootstrap ended in the 1980s, its contributions to black life reverberate today. The organization emphasized the importance of black entrepreneurship and used its business initiatives to shift public perception of black identity and uplift the community.

Robert Hall (Left) and Louis Smith (Right)