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.; Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (1905-1996) had an early interest in speaking and politics. He skipped college and earned an LL.B. degree from San Francisco Law School in spring 1927, studying at night and working during the day. Brown ran as a Republican Party candidate for the State Assembly in 1928, but lost badly; he moved to the Democratic Party in 1934. His second attempt at election to public office came in 1939, running for District Attorney of San Francisco, but he lost again. And finally, on January 8, 1944, Brown was sworn into office as San Francisco's District Attorney, and was reelected to the office in 1947. In 1946 Brown lost the race for Attorney General of California. He ran again in 1950, and won that election, and was re-elected in 1954, serving two terms. In 1958, Brown was elected Governor, winning by more than 1 million votes, becoming the 32nd Governor of California. His first term as governor was very successful, and he ran again in 1962. Brown was reelected governor, beating his opponent, Richard Nixon. Brown's decision to seek a third term as governor, resulted in losing the 1966 election to Ronald Reagan. During his term, four new University of California campuses were built, as well as seven new California State University campuses. His monumental infrastructure projects, building aqueducts, canals, and pump stations, established new fertile lands in the Central Valley. Governor Brown died as a result of a heart attack. He was 90 years old.; Born in Trinidad, Mervyn Dymally (1926-2012) moved to the United States at the age of 19 and became a citizen in 1957. In 1962, he became the first foreign-born black lawmaker elected to the Assembly. In 1966, he was the first African American elected to the state Senate, and California's first African American Lieutenant Governor in 1974. Dymally had amazing staying power. In 2002, he found himself dissatisfied with the candidates for his original Assembly seat and chose to run again, winning back the seat he'd left, at the age of 76.; Perle Yvonne Watson (1932-) is an American politician and lawyer who was the first African-American woman to represent the West Coast in Congress. She attended the University of California, Berkeley from 1949 to 1951, and then transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles where she received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1953. In 1956 she was one of the first black women to be admitted to the University of Southern California Law School, where she subsequently earned a Juris Doctor degree. In 1957 Yvonne Watson married Louis Brathwaite, taking his last name and becoming Yvonne Brathwaite; they divorced in 1964. Ms. Brathwaite was elected to the California State Assembly in 1966 representing Los Angeles' 63rd District. In 1972 she married William A. Burke and again took her husband's last name, becoming Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. She served as vice-chairperson of the 1972 Democratic National Convention, and was the first African American as well as the first woman of color to hold that position and also the first woman to chair the Congressional Black Caucus. In 1973, became the first Congresswoman to give birth while in office and be granted maternity leave while serving Congress. She did not seek re-election to Congress in 1978, but instead ran for Attorney General of California, though she ultimately lost. Mrs. Brathwaite Burke's tenure in U.S. Congress is as follows: Member of the California State Assembly from the 63rd district: January 2, 1967 – January 3, 1973; Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California: January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979; Member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: January 3, 1979 – December 2, 1980; Member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: December 8, 1992 – December 1, 2008; and Member of the Amtrak Board of Directors: January 1, 2013 to present. Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown (seated, center) is shown speaking into a microphone during a campaign event for his re-election. Supporters pictured with Governor Brown are: Assemblywoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (standing, left); California State Assembly Member Mervyn Dymally (seated at left); and two men, both unidentified. This photo was possibly taken at a "Youth Stands Up for Pat Brown" rally during Governor Brown's re-election campaign. Photograph circa 1966. See images 00128469; 00128470; 00128475; 00128476 and 00143487 through 00143489 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Brown, Edmund G.--(Edmund Gerald),--1905-1996 Burke, Yvonne Brathwaite Dymally, Mervyn M.,--1926-2012 African American men Men African American women Women African American women politicians Women in politics Governors Legislators Political campaigns Political candidates Politicians Political participation Microphones Recording instruments Reflections Los Angeles (Calif.)
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