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. View of the 2nd annual Watts Christmas Parade, held on December 10, 1966 which ran along Central Avenue from El Segundo Boulevard. Pictured is an unidentified youth military group, possibly ROTC high school students, traveling along the parade route. The two young men at the center hold an American flag and a California state flag, and the two young men at either end hold rifles against their shoulders; several more young men stand at attention directly behind them. A large crowd of spectators are gathered along the street as the parade passes through. See images 00053373; 00053409; 00053433; 00119205, 00119206; 00125550; 00128938; and 00141769 through 00141796 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print : b&w ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic prints
African American boys Boys African American young men Young men African American youth Youth Military uniforms Military weapons Rifles Cadets Flags Parades Christmas--Miscellanea Spectators Automobiles Streets Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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