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. Percy Burnley, husband of Flossie Burnley (not pictured), is seen with their son, Terry, posing in front of a restored 1927 Ford Model T Sedan parked in the driveway at their home located at 2033 W. 77th Street in South Los Angeles. Mrs. Burnley, Executive Secretary to Council Member Billy Mills (not pictured) was the first African American in the city's history to be appointed an executive assistant to a council member. She joined Mills' staff in 1963 and worked her way up from senior clerk stenographer, to assistant secretary, to executive secretary. Photograph circa 1967. See images 00128621 through 00128644 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Ford Motor Company African American men Men African American boys Boys African American children Children Fathers and sons Families Dwellings Ford Model T automobile Automobiles Neighborhoods Streets Smiling Posing South Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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