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.; 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 right is City Councilman Billy Mills holding the hand of an unidentified woman at Louis Armstrong's resolution receival on the 50th anniversary of his music career. No further information has been given. Photograph dated October 26, 1966. See images 00119441 through 00119447 and 00138046 through 00138049 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 color negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Mills, Billy G City council members African American politicians African American men African American women Handshaking Women Men Los Angeles (Calif.)
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