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). He served on the Police Commission 1949-1953 Dr. John A. Somerville at the inspection and review of auxiliary policemen at the Los Angeles Police Academy. Dr. John A. Somerville (front row center) with police officers are on each side of him. Herman Selvin was a Los Angeles attorney who served as the president of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners from 1952 to 1953.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f15_004a.tif ark:/21198/z14t82gj
Subject
African American civic leaders African American civil rights workers African American dentists Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
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