Drs. Vada and John Somerville holding a gathering in their backyard, Los Angeles, 1950s-1960s

Title: Drs. Vada and John Somerville holding a gathering in their backyard, Los Angeles, 1950s-1960s
Alternative title: Somerville community activities (1)
Date Created: [1950s-1960s]
Date: 1950/1970
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Description: Drs. Vada and John Somerville (standing, center) with others at a gathering in the backyard of their home at 2014 Virginia Road, where the Somervilles lived from 1952 to at least 1962.
Dr. Vada Somerville (born Vada Jetmore Watson) of Pomona graduated from USC, married dentist John Alexander Somerville (1912), was the first African American woman and the second African American person to graduate from USC School of Dentistry (1918), and was the first African American woman certified to practice dentistry in the state of California. She was a civil rights activist, highly involved in several civic and community organizations.
Dr. John Somerville, born in Jamaica, was the first black graduate of USC School of Dentistry (1907). He married Vada Jetmore Watson (1912), who also became a dentist. He built the Somerville Hotel (1928), was instrumental in the founding of the Los Angeles chapter of NAACP (1914), and served on the Police Commission 1949-1953.

Genre: Portrait photographs
Names: Somerville, Vada, 1885-1972
Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
Subject Geographic: Los Angeles (Calif.)
Resource type: still image
Subjects: African American dentists
African American civil rights workers
African American businesspeople