Curtis, Rolland J
Description
Rolland Joseph 'Speedy' Curtis was born in Louisiana in 1922. After serving three years in the Marines during World War II, he and his wife, Gloria, relocated from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1946. Curtis served four years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but resigned from the force in order to pursue both a Bachelor's and Master's degree from USC. He later became involved in city politics, as an associate of Sam Yorty, and later a field deputy to City Council members Billy Mills and Tom Bradley. He was briefly director of the Model Cities program in 1973. Rolland J. Curtis died in his home in 1979, the victim of a homicide. An affordable housing complex on Exposition Blvd. near Vermont Ave. was named in his honor in 1981, along with a nearby street and park.; Photograph included in the Exhibit: Firsts, Seconds and Thirds: African American Leaders in Los Angeles During the 1960s and '70s from the Rolland J. Curtis Collection.In 1940, Tom Bradley (1917-1998) was part of the 400 African Americans in a racially segregated LAPD. Bradley was the second African American to join the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 10th district, in 1963. He was also the first and only African American to become Mayor of Los Angeles, and the second African American Mayor of a major city in 1973. His 20 years in office marked the longest mayoral term in the city's history.Councilman Tom Bradley, on the mayoral campaign trail, poses with children...
Image
Photographic Safety Negatives
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