Skip to main content

Image / Leon Ralph testimonial dinner

Have a question about this item?

Item information. View source record on contributor's website.

Title
Leon Ralph testimonial dinner
Alternative Title
Los Angeles Photographers Photo Collection;
Creator
Curtis, Rolland J
Contributor
Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation
Date Created and/or Issued
1966
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Description
Title supplied by cataloger.
Rolland Joseph 'Speedy' Curtis was born in Louisiana in 1922. After serving three years in the Marines during World War II, he and his wife, Gloria, relocated from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1946. Curtis served four years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but resigned from the force in order to pursue both a Bachelor's and Master's degree from USC. He later became involved with city politics, as an associate of Sam Yorty, and later a field deputy to City Council Members Billy Mills and Tom Bradley. He was briefly director of the Model Cities program in 1973. Rolland J. Curtis died in his home in 1979, the victim of a homicide. An affordable housing complex on Exposition Blvd. near Vermont Ave. was named in his honor in 1981, along with a nearby street and park.; Elected in 1963, Billy G. Mills (1929-) was the third African American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, a seat he held until 1974 when he became a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. He was the first African American chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee, winning over fellow Councilman Tom Bradley by just three votes.
Leon Ralph, the Democratic Assembly candidate in the 55th District, holds a trophy at the podium during his testimonial dinner at the International Hotel with Assemblyman Reverend F. Douglas Ferrell (standing at left) and Councilman Billy Mills (seated) on October 12, 1966. See images 00053366; 00120490; 00128577 through 00128580; 00138728 through 00138733 and 00138736 through 00138767 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm.
Photographic safety negatives
Identifier
00138735
Rolland J. Curtis Collection
RC_0100.08
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/136833
Subject
Ralph, Leon D
Ferrell, Frederick Douglas,--1944-1982
Mills, Billy G
International Hotel (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Political candidates
City council members
Clergy
Politicians
Legislators
African American clergy
African American politicians
African American legislators
African American men
Men
Interiors
Awards
Award presentations
Podiums
Microphones
Flowers
Signs and signboards
Westchester (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Time Period
1960-1969
Source
Curtis, Gloria

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.

Explore related content on Calisphere: