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 A. Somerville (standing, center) and Dr. Ruth Temple (standing, center) at a gathering in a room with benches and an American flag. Norman O. Houston (possibly) is seated against the wall on the right. Ruth Janetta Temple, the first African American woman to graduate from College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University), was a leader in providing free and affordable healthcare and education to underserved communities in Los Angeles, California. She and her husband, Otis Banks, a real estate developer, established the Temple Health Institute in East Los Angeles, which became a model for community-based health clinics across the country. She completed an internship in maternity service at the Los Angeles Health Department (1923-28). In 1941 the Los Angeles Health Department offered her a scholarship to pursue her Master’s degree in public health at Yale University. Despite the prevailing racial prejudices, Temple was on the teaching staff of White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles where she taught white medical students. She held many prominent positions with the Los Angeles Public Health Department from 1942 to 1962 and received numerous awards and honors.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f10_026a.tif ark:/21198/z1k94rnd
Subject
African American physicians African American civil rights workers African American dentists Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973 Temple, Ruth Janetta, 1892-1984
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