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.; Photograph included in the Exhibit: Firsts, Seconds and Thirds: African American Leaders in Los Angeles During the 1960s and '70s from the Rolland J. Curtis Collection. Actress Diahann Carroll's career began in some of the earliest major films featuring black casts. In 1962, she became the first African American to win the Tony Award for Best Actress and six years later broke an entertainment racial stereotype by starring in the television show Julia, where she played a professional instead of a domestic worker.; Elected in 1963, Billy G. Mills (1929-) was the third African American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, a seat he held until 1974 when he became a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. He was the first African American chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee, winning over fellow Councilman Tom Bradley by just three votes. Councilman Billy Mills meeting actress Diahann Carroll.
Type
image
Format
1 negative :safety ;10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Mills, Billy G Carroll, Diahann Actresses--United States City council members--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles (Calif.)
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