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.; Thomas J. "Tom" Bradley (1917-1998) was a popular Los Angeles mayor that served in office from 1973-1993. Bradley's five-term tenure (20 years), marked the longest tenure by any mayor in Los Angeles city's history - surpassing Fletcher Bowron (15 years in office). Bradley's career started in 1940 when he joined the Los Angeles Police Department where in a short period of time, he reached the rank of lieutenant - the highest rank held by an African American police officer at the time. While working on the force, Bradley attended night school at Southwestern University School of Law, and in 1956 he passed his bar exam and received his law degree. From 1963-1972 Bradley served on the Los Angeles City Council - 10th District, and while in office, challenged incumbent mayor Sam Yorty for the 1969 mayoral seat, which he lost. He again ran in 1973, and this time successfully unseated Yorty to become the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles. Nine years after his mayoral win, in 1982 and again in 1986, Bradley ran for Governor of California, but was defeated both times by Republican George Deukmejian. During his record-breaking tenure, Mayor Bradley hosted the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, was a driving force behind construction of the Los Angeles' light rail network, pushed for the expansion of Los Angeles International Airport and the development of the terminals in use today, and was elected for a fifth mayoral term in 1989. He chose to leave office in 1993, rather than seek election to a sixth term. In 1996 Bradley suffered a heart attack and underwent triple bypass surgery; the following day he suffered a stroke which left him unable to speak clearly for the rest of his life, and his condition limited his public appearances. Sadly, in 1998 at the age of 80, Tom Bradley suffered a fatal heart attack while at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. He is interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery. Mayor Bradley was the first - and to date the only - African American mayor of this city.; Arnett Hartsfield, Jr. was a Serviceman, Firefighter, Instructor and while employed as a firefighter, became an attorney to continue to work against injustice and inequality. Hartsfield was appointed to the LAFD in 1940 and served for 20 years. He worked at Station 30 in East Los Angeles. While firefighting, he used his GI Bill to go back to school and attend both UCLA and USC and earned a law degree in 1955. That same year, Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters received the notice to desegregate all of the fire houses. Hartsfield, who had been a firefighter for 15 years and had just passed the bar exam, was the first to join a white station in order to begin desegregation. He recalled, "the captain met me at the door and gave me a direct order never to enter the kitchen when the white firemen were eating, to use my own pots and pans and to shower only when no whites were using the washroom. I was already an attorney, and every day I came to work and scrubbed toilets." Arnett Hartsfield, Jr. retired in 1961 to practice law fulltime. Councilmember Tom Bradley (at left) is pictured with attorney Arnett Hartsfield Jr., a former fire fighter of over 20 years, who played a significant role in integrating the Los Angeles Fire Department. The event and location where the men are photographed is not known and no further information has been given. Event occured circa 1971. See images 00119525 through 00119530 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Bradley, Tom,--1917-1998 Hartsfield, Arnett City council members African American politicians African American lawyers African American fire fighters African American men Men Los Angeles (Calif.)
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.
