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. Pictured is City Councilman Billy Mills at the Angeles Mesa Elementary School, attending a tree planting event. Mills can be seen holding a mini shovel in one hand and handing a tree seed to a little girl with the other. There are other children, both seated and standing, watching Mills and their teacher (to the left) and an unidentified man (to the right) smiling at the children. Angeles Mesa Elementary School is currently located at 2611 W. 52nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90043. Photograph dated February 1, 1972. See images 00119424 through 00119435 for additional photos in this series.
Type
Image
Format
1 color negative : safety ; 10 x 13 cm. Photographic safety negatives
Mills, Billy G Angeles Mesa Elementary School (Los Angeles, Calif.) City council members African American politicians African American teachers African American women African American men Elementary schools Tree planting Shovels Children Women Men Los Angeles (Calif.)
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