Title supplied by cataloger. Rolland Joseph 'Speedy' Curtis was born in Louisiana in 1922. After serving in the Marines during World War II, he and his wife, Gloria, relocated from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1946. Curtis served for four years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but resigned from the force in order to pursue both a Bachelor's and a 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.; Gilbert Lindsay (1900-1990) was born on a cotton plantation in Mississippi where he later picked cotton for 50 cents a day. In 1928, he moved to Los Angeles and became a janitor for the Department of water & Power. By 1963, at the age of 62, Lindsay became the first African American to join the City Council. Appointed to fill a vacancy, he was reelected consistently until his death in 1990.; 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. Pictured at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the grand opening of the White Front store, located at 7651 South Central Avenue are, from left to right, actress Pat Becker, comedian Bill Cosby (back row), Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, actor Rick Jason (back row), White Front Vice President and General Manager Harry Epstein, actress Carole Cole, Councilman Billy Mills, and an unidentified man (extreme right). The event occurred on March 30, 1967. See images 00053398; 00118760; and 00139487 through 00139497 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Becker, Pat Cosby, Bill,--1937- Lindsay, Gilbert Hahn, Kenneth Jason, Rick Epstein, Harry Cole, Carol Mills, Billy G White Front (Firm) African American men Men African American women Women African American politicians Politicians African American comedians Comedians African American actors Actors African American actresses Actresses Television actors and actresses County officials and employees City council members County council members Businesspeople Executives Discount houses (Retail trade) Department stores Stores & shops Dedications Scissors and shears Posing Smiling Los Angeles (Calif.)
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