Reverend Canon Lewis Penrose Bohler, Jr., was the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in West Adams for 35 years, from about 1961-1996. One of the few African American Episcopal priests in Southern California during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, Bohler participated in dialogues and demonstrations in Los Angeles and made two trips to Selma, Alabama in 1965 during the civil rights marches. Bohler was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education and served on the State Board Of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District Board. Juanita Ellsworth Miller was the Deputy Director of the Department of Social Welfare for the State of California, a chartered member of the Allied Arts League and a life member of the NAACP. She was married to judge Loren Miller. Dr. John Somerville, born in Jamaica, was the first black graduate of USC School of Dentistry (1907). He married Vada Jetmore Watson (1912), who also became a dentist. He built the Somerville Hotel (1928), was instrumental in the founding of the Los Angeles chapter of NAACP (1914), and served on the Police Commission 1949-1953. Dr. William E. Bailey received his medical degree from the University of Iowa Medical School and opened his medical practice in Los Angeles in 1927. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the Charles Drew Medical Association and the County Medical Association, and was active in Los Angeles civic affairs. From left: Juanita Miller, Dr. John A. Somerville, Judge Loren Miller, Dr. William Bailey, and Lewis Bohler. Loren Miller was an American journalist, civil rights activist, attorney and judge. Miller was appointed to the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (1964-1967). Miller's primary civil rights concerns were housing discrimination, police brutality, and discriminatory hiring practices in the police and fire departments. Miller argued some of the most historic civil rights cases ever heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was chief counsel before the court in the 1948 decision that led to the outlawing of racial restrictive covenants. He purchased the newspaper, The California Eagle, from Charlotta Bass (1951) and he began writing for the Eagle, which earned him a reputation in the black community as an articulate and outspoken defender of African Americans. Under Loren Miller's stewardship, the California Eagle continued to press for the complete integration of African Americans in every sector of society, and to protest all forms of Jim Crow. He also contributed numerous articles to such journals as The Crisis, The Nation, and Law in Transition. Governor Edmund G. Brown of California appointed Miller to the Superior Court (1964) of California, where he served until his death. Photographer's stamp on back of photo
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f14_004a.tif ark:/21198/z1224bv2
Subject
African American physicians African American women civil rights workers African American civil rights workers African American women civic leaders African American dentists Miller, Juanita, 1904-1970 Miller, Loren, 1903-1967 Bohler, Lewis P. (Lewis Penrose), 1927- Bailey, William E., 1897-1977 Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
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