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. Standing on a staircase at the Somerville home, (left to right): Dr. John A. Somerville, Ursula Murrell, Dr. Vada Somerville, Carol Brice and Reverend George Garner. Their home at 2401 Harvard Blvd. where the Somervilles lived from 1944 to 1950/51. Gilbert D. Olmstead was a black Pittsburgh-based photographer who received a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1946. He lived in Los Angeles starting in the 1940s. Ursula Pruitt Murrell received a BA and MA in education from USC and was a music teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 30 years. A member of several civic, cultural and charitable organizations, she was known for her involvement in civic work. 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. Carol Brice was an American contralto. She studied at Palmer Memorial Institute, Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama (BA, 1939), and the Juilliard School of Music (1939-1943). She attracted considerable attention for her role in a production of The Hot Mikado at the New York World's Fair (1939), where she worked with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Brice made her recital debut in 1943, that year becoming the first African-American to win the Walter Naumburg Award. Her concerts often featured the piano accompaniment of her brother, Jonathan Brice. George Garner was a tenor vocalist (and first African American to sing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and conductor.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f11_014a.tif ark:/21198/z18p7hnn
Subject
African American music teachers Opera singers African American dentists African American civil rights workers Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973 Brice, Carol, 1918-1985 Murrell, Ursula Pruitt, 1905-1995 Somerville, Vada, 1885-1972 Garner, George, 1892-1971
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