Title created 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.; H. Claude Hudson (1886-1989), was a dentist, lawyer, banker and civil rights leader. Hudson earned a degree in dentistry from Howard University in 1913, and by 1921 was an early president of the first branch of the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) serving in that capacity for 10 years. In 1927 at the age of 41, he enrolled in the four-year evening program at Loyola Law School while actively practicing dentistry throughout his law school career, and in 1931 became the first African American to graduate from that school. Though he never practiced as a lawyer in the traditional sense but rather, studied the law to provide services to the NAACP in bringing about justice and fighting for inequality, and is also credited with desegregating Los Angeles beaches. In 1946 Hudson founded Broadway Federal Savings and Loan, the nation's second largest black savings and loan association, and served as chairman of the board from 1949 to 1972. He was one of the most revered Civil Rights leaders in Los Angeles, and earned the title "Mr. NAACP" from Los Angeles locals who recognized him as the city's most respected Black leader who dedicated 60 years of his life to civil rights. Henry Claude Hudson died in 1989 at the age of 102. Orthodontist Dr. Ruth Durley Carter (center), her daughter Ann (fourth from left, black dress), her mother Bertha Sharpe Durley (third from right, black suit), and Dr. H. Claude Hudson (first on the right) are pictured with an unidentified group of women on the occasion of Dr. Carter receiving a resolution on January 11, 1968 from City Hall. Dr. Carter was recognized as someone "who has participated and held office in numerous professional and community organizations and who is a life member of the NAACP and is included in Who's Who Among American Women, 1967, for her valuable contributions to her fellow man and her profession and wishing her continued success and happiness." See images 00130026 through 00130038; 00143668, and 00143669 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Hudson, H. Claude--(Henry Claude),--1886-1989 Los Angeles City Hall (Los Angeles, Calif.) African American men Men African American women Women African American dentists Women dentists Dentists Political activists Civil rights leaders Civic leaders Mothers Daughters City halls Award presentations Award winners Awards Resolutions Posing Smiling Los Angeles (Calif.)
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