Dr. Vada Somerville and Dr. Harold Kingsley at a dinner event, probably for Pilgrim House, 1950s

Title: Dr. Vada Somerville and Dr. Harold Kingsley at a dinner event, probably for Pilgrim House, 1950s
Alternative title: Somerville community activities (2)
Photographer: Olmstead, Gilbert D. (Gilbert Dwuyiu), 1914-1985
Date Created: [1950s-1960s]
Date: 1950/1970
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Description: 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.
Gilbert D. Olmstead was a black Pittsburgh-based photographer who received a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1946. He lived in Los Angeles starting in the 1940s.
Drs. John (center) and Vada (right) Somerville with an unidentified woman standing outside in front of low wall and fern bed.
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.
Caption: Photographer's stamp on back of photo: Photograph / By / Gilbert D. Olmstead

Genre: photographs
Names: Somerville, John Alexander, 1881-1973
Somerville, Vada, 1885-1972
Resource type: still image
Subjects: African American civil rights workers
African American businesspeople
African American dentists