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. W. E. B. Du Bois (center) at a dinner at Pilgrim House with Lillian Evanti (left), Dr. Vada Somerville (2nd from left), and Lillian Evanti was an opera singer. William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor.
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image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f11_020a.tif ark:/21198/z1n02qm9
Subject
African American civil rights workers African American dentists Opera singers Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963 Somerville, Vada, 1885-1972 Pilgrim House (Los Angeles, Calif.) Evanti, Lillian, 1890-1967
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