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 man who is walking along the parade route; he wears a dark suit, dark tie, white shirt and dark sunglasses. A young man holding a camera and smoking a pipe can be seen behind him along the right, and a multitude of spectators that have gathered to watch the parade line the street. See images 00053373; 00053409; 00053433; 00119205, 00119206; 00125550; 00128938; and 00141769 through 00141796 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
African American men Men African American women Women African American boys Boys African American girls Girls African American children Children Parades Christmas--Miscellanea Spectators Pipe smoking Cameras Posing Smiling Streets Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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