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Old Watts Library, Los Angeles, 1913-1957

Description:
Watts was a small working man's city without a library at the time of its application for Carnegie funding. A grant of $10,000 was received in 1913 and the building was completed in 1914. The architect Elmore Jeffery designed the building in the Classical Revival style. The builder was H.E. La Rue. With little tax base, Watts had trouble providing utilities and services, including library service, and became the only Los Angeles County municipality to join the county library system before 1917. In 1926, seeking relief from the postwar depression and unemployment, and needing a larger base, Watts sought annexation to Los Angeles. The Watts Library then became a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. In 1957, voters approved a Branch Library Bond Issue, and funding was made available for the construction of a new facility. The new Watts Branch was opened in 1960. The Carnegie building is no longer standing. [http://www.carnegie-libraries.org/california/watts.html]
Date:
[1913-1957]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Old Watts Library, Los Angeles, 1913-1957

Choir in front of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, 1940-1960

Description:
First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, is the oldest church founded by African Americans in the City of Los Angeles, dating to 1872. Biddy Mason established the church to minister to the mind, body, and soul of the community. This church served as the cornerstone of the community for spiritual growth, social uplift, and economic development.
Date:
[1940-1960]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Choir in front of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, 1940-1960

African American school principals of Los Angeles, 1962

Description:
Alma Willa Greene Covington, was an educator for 40 years and a principal for 17 in Los Angeles. She earned her degrees from the University of Southern California and the University of California Los Angeles. She participated in civic affairs and teacher recruitment. She was the daughter of Thomas A. Greene, and the wife of Floyd Covington Sr.
Date:
April 1962
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Adams, Harry H., 1918-1988
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
African American school principals of Los Angeles, 1962

Bowdoin family, Los Angeles, circa 1940

Description:
Lorenzo Bowdoin was a Los Angeles businessman, civic leader, philanthropist and NAACP leader. One of the first three black clerks hired by the Los Angeles Post Office in 1906, he worked there for 38 years and improved hiring and promotion policies for blacks. He was one of the organizers of Angelus Mortuary (1925) and was the treasurer for many years. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Haitian Coffee Co. He was active in many civic organizations including the Metropolitan YMCA.
Date:
[circa 1940]
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Cloud's Studio, L. A.
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Bowdoin family, Los Angeles, circa 1940

Mary McLeod Bethune's birthday party at the Somervilles' home, Los Angeles, circa 1952-1955

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.
Date:
July 1950
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Mary McLeod Bethune's birthday party at the Somervilles' home, Los Angeles, circa 1952-1955

African American men on a street in Sonora Town, by C. C. Pierce, Los Angeles, 1888

Description:
A group of African American men standing in front of the newly opened Magnolia Saloon, owned by Robert Stewart, located on the corner of New High and Marchessault Street in “Sonoratown”. All of the buildings lining the street are adobe or wood. A wagon is parked across New High Street near a laundry. Two large trees shade that side of the street near a picket fence. The J.W. Robinson Mansion is visible on the left overlooking Castelar and Bellevue (Sunset Boulevard).
Date:
[circa 1888]
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Pierce, C. C. (Charles C.), 1861-1946
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
African American men on a street in Sonora Town, by C. C. Pierce, Los Angeles, 1888

Demonstrators protesting the firing of Dr. Opal C. Jones, executive director of NAPP, Los Angeles, 1966

Description:
Dr. Opal C. Jones (1919 or 20-1998) was a welfare activist in Los Angeles. In the 1950s, she was associate director of the UCLA campus YMCA, and a social worker at the Avalon-Carver Community Center, providing service resources to low-income residents in south central L.A. In 1965, she was the founder and executive director of the Neighborhood Adult Participation Project (NAPP), one of the main programs administered by the main agency of the Los Angeles “War on Poverty.” At that time there were almost no African American women working as executive directors. In 1966, Jones sought to separate NAPP from the Economic and Youth Opportunities Agency (EYOA) so that it could be operated for the benefit of the community. Joe Maldonado, executive director of the EYOA, fired her. She succeeded in recovering her position and EYOA was reorganized and decentralized as a result of her efforts. Her distinguished career in public service earned her numerous awards, citations, resolutions and certificates from everybody from the president of the United States to the Los Angeles City Council, which named her Woman of the Year in 1960. Born in Tyler, Texas, she received her BA degree from Prairie View A&M University, her master of social work from the Atlanta University School of Social Work and her doctor of education from the University of San Francisco.
Date:
April 1966
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Demonstrators protesting the firing of Dr. Opal C. Jones, executive director of NAPP, Los Angeles, 1966

Harvard Blvd. residence of Drs. John and Vada Somerville, Los Angeles, 1944-1950

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.
Date:
[1944-1950]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Harvard Blvd. residence of Drs. John and Vada Somerville, Los Angeles, 1944-1950

Dr. Vada Somerville, circa 1950s

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.
Date:
1943
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Jackson, Vera, 1911-1999
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Dr. Vada Somerville, circa 1950s

Earliest known photograph of the Los Angeles Plaza, circa 1858

Description:
Early photograph of Los Angeles taken from Fort Moore hill and facing southeast towards the Plaza, with vineyards, orchards and fields visible beyond. The Plaza Church (constructed in 1822) is in the lower left corner, a brick reservoir (built in 1858) is in the middle of the Plaza, on the right is the Jose Antonio Carrillo adobe and, behind it, the house of Pio Pico, the last governor of Mexican California (both houses were demolished for the construction of the Pico House hotel).
Date:
[circa 1858]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Earliest known photograph of the Los Angeles Plaza, circa 1858

Lorenzo Bowdoin receives an award from the Women's Sunday Morning Breakfast Club, Los Angeles, 1962

Description:
Text from newspaper caption: Bowdoin overwhelmed -- Lorenzo Bowdoin was cited by Women's Sunday Morning Breakfast Club for his contributions to the community for the past 50 years at its "This is Your Life" program Sunday. From left: Mrs. Theresa Lindsay, club president; Bowdoin; Fay Jackson, who narrated the story of Bowdoin's life; and Frances Vaughn, his daughter. [newspaper not identified]
Date:
November 11, 1962
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Lorenzo Bowdoin receives an award from the Women's Sunday Morning Breakfast Club, Los Angeles, 1962

Postmaster Leslie N. Shaw receives the Distinguished Citizen Award at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, 1964

Description:
Postmaster Leslie N. Shaw holds his Distinguished Citizen Award. Beside him are former recipients, left to right: Judge Vaino Spencer (1962), Vassie D. Wright (1961) and Lorenzo Bowdoin (1960). They are at the award ceremony held at the Ambassador Hotel.
Date:
February 22, 1964
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Postmaster Leslie N. Shaw receives the Distinguished Citizen Award at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, 1964

Ruby Offutt, Los Angeles, circa 1920

Description:
Ruby Marie Offutt Wheeler, a daughter of Georgia Offutt, was a Los Angeles school teacher for 14 years. She appears as a student at the University of California in Los Angeles in the 1920 yearbook. A June 24, 1932 letter written to her by W. E. B. Du Bois, inviting her to provide her photograph for the "Education Number" of The Crisis Magazine, lists her address as the "University of Southern California." [http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b193-i196]
Date:
[circa 1920]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Ruby Offutt, Los Angeles, circa 1920

Partial view of Los Angeles in the area of San Pedro St., from an elevation, 1869

Description:
Biddy Mason was brought to California as a slave in a wagon train. She petitioned for her freedom, and a judge granted it to her and her family in 1856. She and her family lived with Robert Owens, Sr., when she first moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter Ellen married Robert Owen's son Charles.
Date:
May 13, 1869
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Partial view of Los Angeles in the area of San Pedro St., from an elevation, 1869

Family of Ralph Bunche, Los Angeles, 1919

Description:
Ralph Johnson Bunche was an American political scientist, academic, and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Israel. He was the first African American to be so honored in the history of the prize. He was involved in the formation and administration of the United Nations. In 1963, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy. [Wikipedia]
Date:
July 1919
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Family of Ralph Bunche, Los Angeles, 1919

Fiftieth wedding anniversary of Drs. John and Vada Somerville, Los Angeles, 1962

Description:
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.
Date:
October 16, 1962
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Fiftieth wedding anniversary of Drs. John and Vada Somerville, Los Angeles, 1962

Barber shop of Robert James Boyd, Los Angeles, 1902-1910

Description:
Robert James Boyd was born in North Carolina. He married Emma P. Barrett in Los Angeles and in 1910 they lived at 1242 El Molino (now 1242 Kenmore Ave.) in Los Angeles, next to 1244 El Molino, where Emma had lived with her family before she was married from as early as 1900. By 1917, he is reported as working in a barbershop in Riverside city directories from 1917 to 1947. According to Miriam Matthews, he owned the barbershop. Robert and Emma had four children: Barrett, Willis, Helen and Edward.
Date:
[1902-1910]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Barber shop of Robert James Boyd, Los Angeles, 1902-1910

James D. Jenkins, Monroe Parker, Bernard Gray, and Charles D. Fowlkes, past masters of the masons, Los Angeles, 1967

Description:
Photograph caption: Clinging to his beautiful engraved plaque, past master Monroe P. Parker beams with appreciation as he poses with members of Thomas Waller Lodge No. 49. Parker was presented the plaque for more than forty-three years of meritorious service to the organization. Pictured from left to right are James D. Jenkins, senior warden; Monroe Parker, honoree; Bernard Gray, past master; and Charles D. Fowlkes, worshipful master. (Los Angeles Sentinel, 21 Dec. 1967: D5)
Date:
December 21, 1967
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
James D. Jenkins, Monroe Parker, Bernard Gray, and Charles D. Fowlkes, past masters of the masons, Los Angeles, 1967

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

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.
Date:
[1950s-1960s]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Drs. Vada and John Somerville holding a gathering in their backyard, Los Angeles, 1950s-1960s

Wedding of Loren Miller, Jr., Los Angeles, 1957 (?)

Description:
Loren Miller, Jr. with his bride, Anne M. Risher (probably), his parents (on right) Juanita Ellsworth Miller and Loren Miller, Sr., and the bride's' parents (on the left). According to Ancestry.com, Miller, Jr., married Anne M. Risher in 1957, and Patricia A. Harris in 1970. This looks like a 1957 photograph.
Date:
[November 16, 1957 (?)]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Wedding of Loren Miller, Jr., Los Angeles, 1957 (?)

Loren Miller seated beside a man at the opening of the English Square office building, Los Angeles, 1964

Description:
Loren Miller, seated beside a man speaking at a microphone, with a crowd of people behind them, at the opening of the English Square office complex at 85th and Broadway. The owner of English Square was attorney Herman English.
Date:
February 19, 1964
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Adams, Harry H., 1918-1988
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Loren Miller seated beside a man at the opening of the English Square office building, Los Angeles, 1964

Group portrait of the Congregation of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, 1961

Description:
Hamel Hartford Brookins was a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church for 30 years and a civil rights activist. He helped start and was president of the United Civil Rights Council, which helped the black community recover from the Watts riots in 1965. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he was an articulate, self-assured champion of black political empowerment.
Date:
July 09, 1961
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Group portrait of the Congregation of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, 1961

Friends of Biddy Mason at the house of Robert Owens, Sr., First and Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, circa 1870

Description:
Biddy Mason was brought to California as a slave in a wagon train. She petitioned for her freedom, and a judge granted it to her and her family in 1856. She and her family lived with Robert Owens, Sr., when she first moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter Ellen married Robert Owen's son Charles.
Date:
[circa 1870]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Friends of Biddy Mason at the house of Robert Owens, Sr., First and Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, circa 1870

Bessie Bruington Burke, Los Angeles, circa 1907

Description:
Bessie Bruington Burke is recognized as the first black principal of a Los Angeles public school. She attended Los Angeles State Normal School (now part of UCLA) and earned her teaching credential in 1911. Her education was paid for by the Los Angeles Forum, a political and civic organization founded by African Americans in the early 20th century.
Date:
[circa 1907]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Bessie Bruington Burke, Los Angeles, circa 1907

A. C. Bilbrew and others at the Bethune Women's Day event at the Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles, 1962

Description:
A. C. Bilbrew was the director of the first black choir featured in a film, 1928's Hearts of Dixie, which also happened to be the first black "talkie." She was also a pioneer in radio, becoming the first African American soloist on the radio in 1923, and later, the first African American to have and host a show in 1942. She was a cast member of the movie The Foxes of Harrow in 1947. Bilbrew was a champion of women's rights and childhood literacy; she was a community leader, musician, poet, and deputy to Kenneth Hahn (County Supervisor) A Los Angeles branch library is named after her.
Date:
August 1962
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Adams, Harry H., 1918-1988
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
A. C. Bilbrew and others at the Bethune Women's Day event at the Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles, 1962

Newly completed Westchester Branch Library and Municipal Building, Los Angeles, 1961

Description:
James Homer Garrott, was an African-American architect active in the Los Angeles area in the mid-20th century who designed more than 200 buildings. He has been described as a "pivotal black Avant garde modernist of the 1940s era. He earned his architect's license (1928), studied Architecture at the University of Southern California (1930-1934) and was the second African-American admitted to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in Los Angeles (1946).
Date:
January 1961
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Adams, Harry H., 1918-1988
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Newly completed Westchester Branch Library and Municipal Building, Los Angeles, 1961

Debutants and queen of the Miss Wilfandel popularity contest at the Polytechnic High School, Los Angeles, 1948

Description:
Image depicting 21 debutants in light colored evening gowns who participated in the popularity contest of the Wilfandel Club women, seated on the stage of the Polytechnic High School in front of a painted landscape backdrop. The winner, Elinor Vera Winston, is in the center.
Date:
May 6, 1948
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Debutants and queen of the Miss Wilfandel popularity contest at the Polytechnic High School, Los Angeles, 1948

Press conference for the choir of 2nd Baptist Church with Verna Arvey, William Grant Still and others, Los Angeles, 1964

Description:
Thomas L. Griffith Jr. was a Superior Court judge who was the first black ever elected in a Los Angeles countywide vote and the first black attorney ever admitted to the Los Angeles County Bar Association. From 1934 to 1949 he headed the NAACP here and was at the forefront of the integration of municipal swimming pools.
Date:
April 1964
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Adams, Harry H., 1918-1988
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Press conference for the choir of 2nd Baptist Church with Verna Arvey, William Grant Still and others, Los Angeles, 1964

Loren Miller family, Los Angeles, 1957

Description:
Loran Miller (right) with his family. The older, seated woman is probably his mother Nora Magdalene Miller. The two other men may be two of his then three his brothers (Roland, Cecil and Halvor -- Halvor lived in Chicago later in his life). The younger woman may be his sister Helen Addison.
Date:
September 1957
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Adams, Harry H., 1918-1988
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Loren Miller family, Los Angeles, 1957

Loren Miller, seated, and Billy Mills at the opening of the English Square office building, Los Angeles, 1964

Description:
Loren Miller, seated, beside Billy Mills, speaking at a microphone, with a crowd of people behind them at the opening of the English Square office complex at 85th and Broadway. The owner of English Square was attorney Herman English.
Date:
February 19, 1964
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Adams, Harry H., 1918-1988
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Loren Miller, seated, and Billy Mills at the opening of the English Square office building, Los Angeles, 1964

Distant view towards Los Angeles High School on Olympic Blvd. and Rimpau Blvd., Los Angeles, 1919

Description:
First opened in 1873, Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region. Early buildings commissioned to house the Los Angeles High School were among the architectural jewels of the city, and were strategically placed at the summit of a hill. The building in this photograph was completed in 1917.
Date:
November 1919
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Distant view towards Los Angeles High School on Olympic Blvd. and Rimpau Blvd., Los Angeles, 1919

Dr. Wilbur Clarence Gordon and Cynthia Mitchell Gordon on their wedding day at the Somerville home, Los Angeles, 1944-1945

Description:
Cynthiabelle Gordon Smith was born Cynthiabelle Black in Americus, Georgia. Her father was Alfred Black and her brother was Junior G. Black. She married the dentist, Dr. Isadore C. Mitchell (April 30, 1925). Shortly after, he completed dental school at Howard University and then moved to Los Angeles. In 1934, she moved to Washington, D.C. seeking work, and divorced Mitchell in 1936. In 1937 she was working for the U. S. Public Health Service in Washington, D. C. She married the physician Dr. Wilbur Gordon (possibly in 1942) and was widowed. She married Dr. R. Stillman Smith in 1947.
Date:
[1944-1945]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Dr. Wilbur Clarence Gordon and Cynthia Mitchell Gordon on their wedding day at the Somerville home, Los Angeles, 1944-1945

Joseph Blackburn Bass and Frederick Madison Roberts, Los Angeles (?), 1921-1930

Description:
Joseph Blackburn Bass founded the Topeka Call, a black community newspaper. He continued to work on that newspaper when it was purchased by another owner and its name changed to the Topeka Plaindealer. Bass was active in local politics, and in 1896 was one of the Kansas delegates to the Republican National Convention that nominated William McKinley for President. After a short stint publishing a black community newspaper in Helena, Montana, Bass moved to Los Angeles, where in 1913, he accepted Charlotta Spears' offer to edit the California Eagle. Spears and Bass married in 1914.
Date:
[1921-1930]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Joseph Blackburn Bass and Frederick Madison Roberts, Los Angeles (?), 1921-1930

Deaconess Board of the People's Independent Church of Christ, Los Angeles, 1915-1930

Description:
Group portrait of the Deaconesses of the People's Independent Church of Christ, 14 women in light-colored dresses, with matching drawstring bags and shoes. Some are wearing a necklace with a cross. They are posed in front the entrance of a wood frame building with the address "1462" posted above the group.
Date:
[1915-1920]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Deaconess Board of the People's Independent Church of Christ, Los Angeles, 1915-1930

Residence of Colonel Allen Allensworth, Los Angeles, 1962

Description:
Allen Allensworth was born into slavery in Kentucky, served as a Union soldier, became a Baptist minister and educator, and was the first African American to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel. He founded numerous churches, and in 1908 founded Allensworth, California, the only town in the state to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans, now a State Historic Monument. (Wikipedia)
Date:
1962
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Residence of Colonel Allen Allensworth, Los Angeles, 1962

Frankie Bowdoin (?), Los Angeles, circa 1950

Description:
Lorenzo Bowdoin was a Los Angeles businessman, civic leader, philanthropist and NAACP leader. One of the first three black clerks hired by the Los Angeles Post Office in 1906, he worked there for 38 years and improved hiring and promotion policies for blacks. He was one of the organizers of Angelus Mortuary (1925) and was the treasurer for many years. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Haitian Coffee Co. He was active in many civic organizations including the Metropolitan YMCA.
Date:
[circa 1950]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Frankie Bowdoin (?), Los Angeles, circa 1950

Alpha Kappa Alpha women, Los Angeles, 1910-1920

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.
Date:
[1910-1920]
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Tivoly L. A.
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Alpha Kappa Alpha women, Los Angeles, 1910-1920

Hotel Somerville (later the Dunbar Hotel), Los Angeles, circa 1928

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.
Date:
[circa 1928]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Hotel Somerville (later the Dunbar Hotel), Los Angeles, circa 1928

Residence of Colonel Allen Allensworth, Los Angeles, 1906

Description:
Allen Allensworth was born into slavery in Kentucky, served as a Union soldier, became a Baptist minister and educator, and was the first African American to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel. He founded numerous churches, and in 1908 founded Allensworth, California, the only town in the state to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans, now a State Historic Monument. (Wikipedia)
Date:
1906
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Residence of Colonel Allen Allensworth, Los Angeles, 1906

Thirty-fifth wedding anniversary of Drs. John and Vada Somerville, Los Angeles, 1947

Description:
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.
Date:
October 16, 1947
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Thirty-fifth wedding anniversary of Drs. John and Vada Somerville, Los Angeles, 1947

Juanita Miller, Dr. John A. Somerville, Judge Loren Miller, Dr. William Bailey and Lewis Bohler at a formal event 1950s-1960s

Description:
Reverend Canon Lewis Penrose Bohler, Jr., was the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in West Adams for 35 years, from about 1961-1996. One of the few African American Episcopal priests in Southern California during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, Bohler participated in dialogues and demonstrations in Los Angeles and made two trips to Selma, Alabama in 1965 during the civil rights marches. Bohler was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education and served on the State Board Of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District Board.
Date:
[1950s-1960s]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Juanita Miller, Dr. John A. Somerville, Judge Loren Miller, Dr. William Bailey and Lewis Bohler at a formal event 1950s-1960s

Diorama depicting the 1781 founding of Los Angeles, by artist Joseph Leeland Roop in 1931, at the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles

Description:
Diorama, created in 1931, showing the founding of Los Angeles, with a native Indian man beginning the construction of the first Los Angeles pueblo home, built of sticks, with 22 adults and 22 children arriving at the desert site, with the Los Angeles River and hills in the distance.
Date:
[1931-1989]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Diorama depicting the 1781 founding of Los Angeles, by artist Joseph Leeland Roop in 1931, at the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles

Photomontage related to Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles, 1920s (?

Description:
Photomontage with portraits of six women and six men, arranged around a photograph of a house. Filed with other photographs relevent to the Second Baptist Church in theMiriam Matthews collection, this image may represent an early church building, pre-dating the current church building at 2412 Griffith Avenue.
Date:
1920s (?)
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Photomontage related to Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles, 1920s (?

Dr. Vada Somerville receives an award from County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, Los Angeles, 1960s

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.
Date:
[1960s]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections
Dr. Vada Somerville receives an award from County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, Los Angeles, 1960s