Canada Lee (born Lionel Cornelius Canegata) was a noted 20th century jockey, boxer, actor and civil rights activist. He was primarily a stage actor from the early 1930s to his death. His breakout film role was in 1941 where Lee played Bigger Thomas in the film Native Son to great critical and popular acclaim. His passionate devotion to equality was reflected in his theatrical and film roles.
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.
Grafton Tyler Brown was an African American who artist worked as a lithographer, cartographer and landscape painter capturing images of landscapes in the northwest United States, and British Columbia.
Grafton Tyler Brown was an African American who artist worked as a lithographer, cartographer and landscape painter capturing images of landscapes in the northwest United States, and British Columbia.
Page 64 from a University of Southern California yearbook with graduation portraits of four students, top to bottom: Dalton Robert Smith, Verne James Smith, Vada Jetmore Somerville and Robert Burns. Stevenson.
