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 in 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. A man speaks from the Spring Street steps of City Hall during the community rally on December 11, 1969. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people have come out to protest the deteriorating relations between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Black Community. Protesters claim that officers applied excessive force during their raid on the Southern California Headquarters of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, 4115 S. Central Avenue, three days before.
Type
image
Format
1 negative :safety ;10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Black Panther Party Black Panther Party.--Southern California Chapter Los Angeles City Hall (Los Angeles, Calif.) Demonstrations--California--Los Angeles Black power--United States Black militant organizations--United States Public speaking--California--Los Angeles African Americans--Social conditions--1964-1975 Men--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles City halls--California--Los Angeles Microphones Public buildings--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Spring Street (Los Angeles, Calif.) Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Austin, John C. W.(John Corneby Wilson),1870-1963 Parkinson, Donald B.(Donald Berthold),1895-1945 Parkinson, John,1861-1935 Martin, Albert C.,1879-1960
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