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). Norman O. Houston was the president of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, at one time the largest black-owned business west of the Mississippi. He was the son of a pioneer California family, grew up in Oakland, and was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. Houston was a lieutenant in World War I and was a captain of the California state guard, reserve. Group portrait of a gathering of over 180 people, members of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and their families, in a meeting hall at the Hotel Statler Hilton (sw corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Figueroa) during the 26th Biennial Grand Boulé. Attendees include Drs. John and Vada Somerville (front row, seated, left), Norman O. Houston (front row, seated, 3rd from right). 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. Sigma Pi Phi (ΣΠΦ) is the first successful and oldest African-American Greek-lettered organization.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b25_f01_001.tif ark:/21198/z1kw708c
Subject
African American Greek letter societies Houston, Norman O. (Norman Oliver), 1893-1981 Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973 Sigma Pi Phi Somerville, Vada, 1885-1972 Hotel Statler Hilton (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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