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.Gloria Curtis began her career in Education in 1953 and retired as director of volunteer programs for the LAUSD in 1988. In 1964, Gloria was tasked with researching and writing biographies on famous African Americans to incorporate into existing textbooks which lacked heroes of color. She went on to co-author several textbooks highlighting minorities in history. It is due to Gloria's kind generosity that the Rolland J. Curtis Collection of Negatives and Photographs is a part of the Los Angeles Public Library's Photo Collection.Portrait of Gloria Curtis,...

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Los Angeles Public Library

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California Digital Library