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.; James Walter Carter (1923-1994) was a three time world lightweight boxing champion between 1951 and 1955. Carter made his amateur debut at the age of fourteen, and began his professional boxing career in New York in 1946. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000, with a professional boxing record as follows: 85 wins (34 by knockout); 31 losses; and 9 draws. Jimmy Carter, as he was known, died of a heart attack at the age of 70. Council Member Billy Mills (second from left) is pictured in conversation with lightweight boxing champion Jimmy Carter (second from right), and three unidentified men. The location is unknown and no further information has been provided. Photograph circa 1966. See images 00130017 through 00130021 for additional photos in this series.
Type
image
Format
1 negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Mills, Billy G Carter, Jimmy African American men Men African American boxers Boxers (Sports) African American politicians Politicians City council members Smiling Los Angeles (Calif.)
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