Title supplied by cataloger. Rolland Joseph 'Speedy' Curtis was born in Louisiana in 1922. After serving three years in the Marines during World War II, he and his wife, Gloria, relocated from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1946. Curtis served four years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but resigned from the force in order to pursue both a Bachelor's and Master's degree from USC. He later became involved in city politics, as an associate of Sam Yorty, and later a field deputy to City Council members Billy Mills and Tom Bradley. He was briefly director of the Model Cities program in 1973. Rolland J. Curtis died in his home in 1979, the victim of a homicide. An affordable housing complex on Exposition Blvd. near Vermont Ave. was named in his honor in 1981, along with a nearby street and park.; Elected in 1963, Billy G. Mills (1929-) was the third African American to serve on the Los Angeles City Council, a seat he held until 1974 when he became a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. He was the first African American chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee, winning over fellow Councilman Tom Bradley by just three votes.; Born in Trinidad, Mervyn Dymally (1926-2012) moved to the United States at the age of 19 and became a citizen in 1957. In 1962, he became the first foreign-born black lawmaker elected to the Assembly. In 1966, he was the first African American elected to the state Senate, and California's first African American Lieutenant Governor in 1974. Dymally had amazing staying power. In 2002, he found himself dissatisfied with the candidates for his original Assembly seat and chose to run again, winning back the seat he'd left, at the age of 76.; Bill Greene (1930-2002) was a freedom rider in the South, during the violent years of the Civil Rights Movement. Having served a prison sentence for his part in the demonstrations in Mississippi, he escaped from a Louisiana jail after another arrest and became a fugitive, shortly before becoming engaged to his wife. "I spent most of our honeymoon sewing up his ragged clothes. He was one of the larger guys, and the police force always went for him first," his wife remembered. Greene began his career as the first African American clerk in the California Assembly. By 1967, he had succeeded Mervyn Dymally, taking over Dymally's Assembly seat, and again in 1975, claiming Dymally's recently vacated Senate seat. View of the 2nd annual Watts Christmas Parade, held on December 10, 1966 which ran along Central Avenue from El Segundo Boulevard. Pictured is Councilmember/Parade Chairman Billy Mills who is seated atop the backseat of a convertible Chevrolet Impala next to an unidentified woman, possibly a beauty pageant princess. Also seated in the automobile are Mills' wife, Rubye and their children (partially visible) as they travel along the parade route. A sign reading, "Parade Chairman - Councilman - Billy G. Mills - 8th Dist." is taped to the driver's side door. Assembly members Mervyn Dymally and Bill Greene can be seen following in an automobile directly behind them. A large crowd of spectators are gathered along the street and a group of young men can be seen sitting on the roof of a building housing the Astro Teen Post, located at 11408 S. Central Avenue. See images 00053373; 00053409; 00053433; 00119205, 00119206; 00125550; 00128938; and 00141769 through 00141796 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 color negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Mills, Billy G Dymally, Mervyn M.,--1926-2012 Greene, Bill,--1930-2002 Los Angeles (Calif.).--City Council--Officials and employees African American men Men African American women Women African American boys Boys African American girls Girls African American children Children City council members Legislators Politicians' spouses Husband and wife Couples Christmas Parades Christmas--Miscellanea Storefronts Stores & shops Spectators Automobiles, Convertible Automobiles Signs and signboards Streets Smiling Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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