Asa Philip Randolph was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, the American labor movement, and socialist political parties. Group portrait of participants in the visit of Jesse Vann to the Pilgrim House. Left to right: Mrs. Vann Johnson, unidentified man, Jesse Vann, A. Philip Randolph, Dr. Vada Somerville, Dr. Harold M. Kingsley and Lillian Evanti. Lillian Evanti was an opera singer. Jessie Matthews Vann succeeded her husband, the late Robert L. Vann, as owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier in 1940. It became one of the most circulated and powerful Black newspapers in the country. Vada Somerville (born Vada Jetmore Watson) of Pomona graduated from USC, married dentist John Alexander Somerville (1912), was the first African American woman and the second African American person to graduate from USC School of Dentistry (1918), and was the first African American woman certified to practice dentistry in the state of California. She was a civil rights activist, highly involved in several civic and community organizations. Harold M. Kingsley was a Congregational minister and political activist. Born in Mobile, Alabama, he was the son of a wealthy white man and a poor black woman. He graduated from Talladega College (1908), and Yale Divinity School (1911). He was the pastor of Bethel Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Union Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island (1911 to 1913), then with the American Missionary Association (AMA) (1913-1920). After serving as a pastor in Cleveland, Kingsley went to Good Shepherd Church in Chicago (1927-1943) where he led the church in providing social welfare services and encouraging community development. Kingsley then moved to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles where he served as director of Pilgrim House (1943-1951). He arrived when nearly all of the Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals were in internment camps, and was a vocal opponent of their incarceration and made strides to reintegrate the group into the community upon their return. Kingsley continued to be active in California race relations for the remainder of his life and actively promoted harmonious race relations between blacks, whites, Chicano, and Japanese. Photographer's stamp on back of photo: Photo by Hazel / 4206 Woodlawn Ave. / C. E. 2-3670
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f10_015a.tif ark:/21198/z10g5370
Subject
African American civil rights workers African American businesspeople African American dentists Opera singers Johnson, Vann, Mrs Somerville, Vada, 1885-1972 Pilgrim House (Los Angeles, Calif.) Vann, Jessie, 1885-1967 Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979 Kingsley, Harold M., 1887-1970 Evanti, Lillian, 1890-1967
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