Dr. John A. Somerville at a microphone (right), with others, at a meeting of the Circus Saints and Sinners Club. 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. The Circus Saints and Sinners Club of America is a national organization that raises money for local charities.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f10_029a.tif ark:/21198/z1612hdf
Subject
African American businesspeople African American dentists African American civil rights workers Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973 Circus Saints & Sinners Club of America
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