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. Dr. John Somerville (standing) at a dinner table at a hotel with six people seated on either side.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f10_019a.tif ark:/21198/z1gj1239
Subject
African American civil rights workers African American businesspeople African American dentists Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
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