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. Group portrait of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity members at a national boulé meeting. Dr. John A. Somerville is present (4th row back, 3rd from right).
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b14_f11_004a.tif ark:/21198/z1pv83g8
Subject
African American businesspeople African American dentists African American Greek letter societies African American civil rights workers Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973 Sigma Pi Phi
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