The Almanac is pleased that, since the abrupt and chaotic firing of Federal workers across the Federal government some weeks ago, Federal courts have ordered that these firings be reversed and effected workers be reinstated. These include workers fired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service. There remains, however, confusion and disruption to services within these agencies. Many reinstated workers have yet to be allowed to return to work and instead are paid to stay home, pending court litigation.
The Los Angeles region has been shaken by 23 significant earthquakes in the last 229 years of its recorded history. At magnitude 7.0+, two of these were monster earthquakes. Yet, a "monster" hasn't struck us in a very long time. At least, not so far.
Photo from the collection of USC Library.
1918. Vada Somerville poses in the back (upper right corner) with her class in a photo at the USC School of Dentistry. Six years earlier, she had married dentist John Somerville, who himself, in 1907, was the first African American to receive a USC dentistry degree. Vada had met John at USC while they were both students. The couple were civil rights activists and together founded the NAACP Los Angeles chapter. When the U.S. entered World War I, Vada became concerned that her husband would be drafted away from home and lose his dental patients. So, with John’s encouragement, she enrolled at the USC School of Dentistry, becoming the only woman and African American in the class. Four years later, she received her degree in dentistry from USC, becoming the second African American to do so and first African American woman in California to become a practicing dentist. A decade later, the Somervilles opened the high-class Hotel Somerville on Central Avenue in Los Angeles. It was the only major hotel in the city open to African Americans and a hub for the Los Angeles African American community. Unfortunately, after only a year, at the start of the Great Depression, the Somervilles had to sell the hotel. Soon after the ownership change, the hotel was renamed, becoming the historic Hotel Dunbar.
111 years before the first Tesla car was rolled out, there was this innovating Los Angeles teenager.
