Garden party at Loren Miller's house, Los Angeles, 1940s

Item Overview

Title

Garden party at Loren Miller's house, Los Angeles, 1940s

Date Created

[1940s?]

Date

1940/1949

Language

No linguistic content

Collection

Walter L. Gordon, Jr./William C. Beverly, Jr. Collection

Notes

Summary

Beulah Honoré, a former dancer with the Regalettes in Chicago, and also an interior designer and milliner, was married to Gideon Honoré, a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra.
Sarah Griffin was the wife of dentist Tom Griffin.
Dorothy Vena Johnson was a poet and educator. With Juanita Miller, a social worker and wife of civil rights attorney Loren Miller, she founded the League of Allied Arts in 1939.
Juanita Ellsworth Miller was the wife of Superior Court Justice Loren Miller. The couple had two sons, Loren Jr. and Edward. A graduate of USC's School of Social Work, Mrs. Miller had worked for the State Relief Administration, the Los Angeles Housing Authority, and later the Los Angeles Bureau of Public Assistance. In 1964, she was appointed southern California's social service administrator for the State Department of Social Welfare.
Emily Brown Childress Portwig was well-known for her civic work in Los Angeles and nationally. She attended UCLA and Howard University, and conducted graduate work in bacteriology at USC.
Clarissa Lovinggood Matthews was a teacher in Los Angeles for 15 years. She was the second African American to be assigned to a junior high school position in the district. She was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1910, and was the daughter of Reuben S. Lovinggood, the founder and first president of Sam Huston College. She met attorney Charles H. Matthews in 1930. They married in 1932 and had one son, Charles H., Jr., in 1948. Mrs. Matthews died in 1950 at age 39 from surgery complications.
Ethel Sissle (1915-1984) was maried to the band leader Noble Sissle, and later to Walter L. Gordon, Jr.
Hazel Anthony was a widow from Chicago.
Louise Beavers was a well known African American film and television actress. She was a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority and in 1976 was posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
Miriam Matthews, sister of businesswoman Ella Matthews and lawyer Charles Matthews, was hired in 1927 as the first African American librarian in the Los Angeles Public Library. Matthews was also a civil rights activist, historian, and collector of African American art and primary source materials.
DeVaughn was a local activist, known for her knowledge of the Los Angeles social scene.

Description

All information concerning the content and description of the image was provided by Walter Gordon.
Ethel (Sissle) Gordon is sitting on the grass, 1st from the left in the front row. Also in the front row are Sarah Griffin (4th from the left), Dorothy Johnson (5th from the left), Zephrine Brown (9th from the left), and Clarissa Matthews (4th from the right in white dress). Seated in the second row are Bea DeVaughn (3rd from the left) Louise Beavers (4th from the left) and Beulah Honoré (6th from the left). The woman seated to the right of Beulah Honoré with the white hat was identified as Leola Ducket (she is possibly Hazel Anthony). Emily Brown Childress Portwig is standing behind the woman who is seated to the right of Leola Ducket. Standing in the last row (from far right) are Juanita Miller, Miriam Matthews, and a woman named Vaughn (full name unknown). The woman standing at the end of the second row (far right, carrying purse) is possibly Vera Clark.

Physical Description

Extent

1 photograph : b&w

Keywords

Genre

Black-and-white photographs

Names

DeVaughn, Beatrice, 1901-1989
Matthews, Miriam
Matthews, Clarissa, 1910-1950
Sissle, Ethel
Griffin, Sarah, b. 1900 or 01
Honoré, Beulah, 1908-1985
Portwig, Emily Brown Childress, 1896-1960
Johnson, Dorothy Vena, 1898-1970
Miller, Juanita, 1904-1970
Beavers, Louise, 1902-1962
Brown, Zepherine

Location

California--Los Angeles

Resource type

still image

Subjects

Lifestyle

African American actresses--California--Los Angeles
African American women pharmacists--California--Los Angeles
African American social workers--California--Los Angeles
Parties--California--Los Angeles
African American women teachers--California--Los Angeles
African American woman librarians--California--Los Angeles
African American women--California--Los Angeles