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Title
Employees win case
Alternative Title
Shades of L.A. Photo Collection;
Contributor
Shades of L.A. is an archive of photographs representing the contemporary and historic diversity of families in Los Angeles. Images were chosen from family albums and include daily life, social organizations, work, personal and holiday celebrations, and migration and immigration activities. Made possible and accessible through the generous support of the Security Pacific National Bank, Sunlaw Cogeneration Partners, Photo Friends, California Council for the Humanities, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation
Date Created and/or Issued
Circa 1946
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and educational use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/orderinguse.html for additional information.
The contents of this collection are restricted to personal, research, and non-commercial use. The Library cannot share the personal and/or contact information of the donors, their descendants, or associates who contributed photographs and oral histories to the collection.
Description
Image is a reproduction.
Walter Lear Gordon, Jr. was born in Santa Monica, California, on June 22nd, 1908. He was African American. He grew up in Shutson Park (now called Rose Hill Park), near Pasadena, and attended Rose Hill Grammar School and then Lincoln High School. The neighborhood and grammar school were almost entirely white. After high school, he attended USC for two years before attending Ohio State University In 1936 he graduated from Ohio State Law School. After graduation, Walter and a friend moved back to California where they promoted shows and held dances under the name “Gordon and Nickens.” In 1948 Walter was married and practicing law in Santa Monica when both of his parents were murdered during a robbery. He defended Billie Holiday in several lawsuits and worked mainly in divorces and criminal defense. Most of his clients were also black. He was married five times and had three children with his second wife, Anne Franklin. He ran for a Republican seat in Congress in 1954-55 but was unsuccessful. He continued to work as a lawyer well into the 1990s.
Eight employees pose outside the Edison Building (later One Bunker Hill Building), located at 601 W. 5th Street in Downtown Los Angeles. Seven of them are holding checks, but attorney Vince Monroe Townsend, Jr. holds a brief case. Townsend fought on behalf of the Edison employees to help them secure higher wages.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;20 x 26 cm.
Photographic prints
Identifier
00025259
Shades of L.A. Collection; Shades of L.A.: African American Community;
S-001-374 120
CARL0005061120
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/81060
Subject
Southern California Edison Company
Southern California Edison Company--Employees
One Bunker Hill Building (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Wages--Electric industry workers--California--Los Angeles
Office buildings--California--Los Angeles
Lawyers--United States
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Art deco (Architecture)--California--Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Shades of L.A. Collection photographs
Shades of L.A. African American photographs
Group portraits
Time Period
1941-1950
Source
Gordon, Walter

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