Dr. 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. 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. Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin was an American suffragist, civil rights activist, organization executive, and community practitioner whose career spanned over half a century. Lampkin’s effective skills as an orator, fundraiser, organizer, and political activist guided the work being conducted by the National Association of Colored Women (NACW); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); National Council of Negro Women and other leading civil rights organizations of the Progressive Era. [Wikipedia] Gilbert W. Lindsay was on the board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1953 to 1958. He became Los Angeles's first black council member in about 1963, and served in that capacity for 27 years. Dr. Vada Somerville, in her capacity as the local chairman of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), greets Daisy Lampkin at an airport, along with Dr. John A. Somerville and Gilbert Lindsay, who shakes hands with Ms. Lampkin. Photographer's stamp on back of photo: Simpson Photo / 2508 So. Central Ave. / A.D. 19661
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f10_052a.tif ark:/21198/z16x0v5n
Subject
African American civil rights workers African American dentists Shaking hands City council members Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973 Lampkin, Daisy E. (Daisy Elizabeth), 1882-1965 Somerville, Vada, 1885-1972 Lindsay, Gilbert W. (Gilbert William), 1900-1990
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