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.; Wilson Riles (1917-1999) was the first African American to be elected to statewide office in California, as well as the first to be elected to as State Superintendent of Schools in the nation. Riles held the seat of California State Superintendent of Public Instruction for three terms, serving from 1970-1982. Wilson Riles is shown with an unidentified woman and her child inside the Magnificent Bros Hair Salon 2, located at 1568 E. 103rd Place, where he was conducting an ultimately successful campaign to be elected as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Photograph circa 1970. See images 00125568; 00134116; 00134131 through 00134134; 00134180; and 00141885 through 00141892 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Riles, Wilson C Magnificent Bros Hair Salon African American men Men African American women Women Toddlers African American politicians Politicians City council members Mother and child Political campaigns Political participation Political candidates Business districts Stores & shops Salons Smiling Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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