Skip to main content

Image / Eleventh Boulé of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Los Angeles, circa 1940

Have a question about this item?

Item information. View source record on contributor's website.

Title
Eleventh Boulé of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Los Angeles, circa 1940
Alternative Title
Boule, Sigma Pi Phi fraternity
Date Created and/or Issued
1940
[circa 1940]
Contributing Institution
UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
Collection
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
Rights Information
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Description
A. J. "Kelly" Williams was a civic leader and vice president public service officer at Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Group portrait of fifteen members of the Los Angeles chapter of Sigma Pi Phi, in a garden or park.
Dr. Alva Curtis Garrott married Lillie Dejarnette in 1893. Dr. Garrott earned degrees in Pharmacy and Dentistry at Howard University in Washington, D. C. before bringing his family to Los Angeles in 1901, becoming this city's first Negro dentist.
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).
Dr. Wilbur Clarence Gordon was a physician. He was born in Ohio and practiced medicine in Los Angeles.
Dr. Henry R. Butler graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1926; studied internal medicine at London Hospital on a Rosenwald Fellowship; headed a 1,000 bed military station hospital at Fort Huachuca, Arizona; and established his practice in Los Angeles in 1946. He was married to Reba Butler.
Ivan J. Johnson III was a Los Angeles attorney. He was one of the first African Americans to letter in track at USC and UC Berkeley. He was a charter member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Shortly before his death, he was honored by the Langston Law Club as the dean of local attorneys. He was married to Dorothy Vena Johnson.
Sigma Pi Phi (ΣΠΦ) is the first successful and oldest African-American Greek-lettered organization.
Written on back of photo: Xi Boulé, Los Angeles. Seated from left: A. J. "Kelly" Williams, Dr. Henry Butler, Jr., Dr. Alva C. Garrott, Dr. John Alexander Somerville, DDS, Atty. Clarence Jones, Dr. B. A. Jordan, DDS. Standing from left: Dr. Gordon, M.D., Eugene Johnson, Pharmacist, Dr. Chas. A. Jackson, M.D., _____, _____, Dr. Henry McPherson, M.D., _____, Ivan J. Johnson, Atty. at law, Willis O. Tyler, Atty. at law.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b25_f01_002a.tif
ark:/21198/z1g467jz
Subject
African American Greek letter societies
Jones, Clarence, 1886-1948
Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
Johnson, Ivan J., III, 1903-1975
Jordan, B. A. (Benjamin Arnett), 1885-1959
McPherson, Henry Arthur, 1908-1987
Williams, A. J. (Arthur Joseph), 1903-1966
Johnson, Eugene G., Sr., 1893-1974
Sigma Pi Phi
Gordon, Dr
Tyler, Willis O. (Willis Oliver), 1880-1949
Butler, Henry R., Jr., 1899-1988
Jackson, Charles A., b. 1880
Garrott, Alva C. (Alva Curtis), 1866-1952
Source
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.

Explore related content on Calisphere: