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. W. E. B. Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After completing graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. (Wikipedia). He also founded The Crisis magazine. Photograph published in The Crisis Magazine in 1913 showing Dr. John A. Somerville (3rd from left), and William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois (4th from left), standing behind a row of cars on a commercial street. The building on the right is the Y.M.C.A.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b17_f08_008a.tif ark:/21198/z1w683xd
Subject
African American authors African American civil rights workers African American sociologists Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963 Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
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