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. An unidentified woman is pictured with athlete/actor/activist Jim Brown, smiling for the camera at the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner to benefit the California Democratic State Central Committee. The event was held on March 10, 1968 at the Century Plaza Hotel. See images 00125412; 00128528 through 00128536; and 00143556 through 00143572 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Brown, Jim,--1936-2023 Century Plaza Hotel (Century City, Los Angeles, Calif.) Democratic Party (Calif.) African American men Men African American women Women Actors Football players Athletes Political participation Political activists Political parties Fund raising Tuxedos Hotels Smiling Century City (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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