Image / Honorary law degree of John Somerville, 1951

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Title: Honorary law degree of John Somerville, 1951
Alternative Title: Photo prints of documents relating to Somervilles
Contributor: Prominent Individuals and Families, 1885-1980
Date Created and/or Issued: 1951-03-21
March 21, 1951
Contributing Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
Rights Information: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Description: Honorary Doctor of Laws awarded to Dr. John A. Somerville by Bethune-Cookman College in Daytone, Florida.
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.
Type: image
Identifier: uclalsc_1889_b14_f09_002.tif
ark:/21198/z1b00nzd
Subject: African American businesspeople
African American dentists
African American civil rights workers
Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
Source: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
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