The California experience of East Bay African Americans and Los Angeles American Indians was similar in terms of opportunities, but culturally unique. This article will compare and contrast the experiences of African Americans in the East Bay during World War II, based on readings of "Permanent Courage: African American Migrant Women and the East Bay Community" by Gretchen Lemke Santangelo, and American Indians in Los Angeles, as described in Nicholas G. Rosenthal's “Reimaging Indian Country, Native American Migration and Identity in the Twentieth-Century Los Angeles.” It will be argued that African Americans and Native Americans managed to develop highly urbanized conditions. functionally similar, but culturally and ethnically distinct communities. The various similarities and differences between the two groups from the East Bay and Los Angeles will be discussed, including the motivations of these groups for moving to California; how both groups were able to discover collectivism and community; how there was a progression from the first generation to the second; and the overall cultural impacts these groups left in California. The motivations of African Americans in the East Bay and Native Americans in Los Angeles to settle in California were much the same. For Native Americans, the motivation was economic opportunity, whereas during World War II there was significant prejudice, discrimination, and racism, and life on reservations offered very little, if any, social mobility or ascending economy. The reservation offered very little hope of achieving economic or social freedom, and was rife with alcoholism, poverty, and limitations, all problems that were very well known to those born... . middle of paper ......ican East Bay Americans were politically active in seeking to create equality of opportunity in the workplace, in housing, in welfare, and in other social issues. Native Americans were ultimately also active in civil rights issues by participating in “efforts to operate within and transcend or subvert racialized hierarchies.” African Americans and Native Americans managed to develop highly urbanized communities that were functionally similar, but culturally and ethnically distinct. There were various similarities and differences between the two East Bay and LA groups, such as these groups' motivations for moving to California; how both groups were able to discover collectivism and community; how there was a progression from the first generation to the second; and the cultural and other impacts these groups left in California.