Image / Dr. John A. Somerville, and Lester B. Granger, Los Angeles, 1950s

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Title: Dr. John A. Somerville, and Lester B. Granger, Los Angeles, 1950s
Alternative Title: John Somerville as candidate for L.A. City Council and founding member of NAACP
Contributor: Smith, Irving C.
Date Created and/or Issued: [1950s]
1950/1960
Contributing Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
Rights Information: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Description: 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.
John A. Somerville standing (left) and Lester Granger (right) during Somerville's campaign for City Council, 10th District.
Lester Blackwell Granger was a social worker and civil rights and labor rights activist who organized the Los Angeles chapter of the National Urban League (NUL) in 1930 and headed the league from 1941 to 1961. [BlackPast.org]
Photographer's stamp on back of photo: Please credit / photo be: / Irving C. Smith
Type: image
Identifier: uclalsc_1889_b14_f14_003a.tif
ark:/21198/z15q6d55
Subject: African American civic leaders
African American civil rights workers
African American men
African American businesspeople
African American dentists
Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
Granger, Lester B. 1896-1976
Source: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
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