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The Women's Political Study Club of California was an African-American women's club affiliated with the Republican Party.* According to this letter, the club successfully sued the city of Los Angeles for equal access to public swimming pools. It also endorsed Gordon L. McDonough, the county supervisor who represented the Santa Clarita Valley from 1933 until his election to Congress (as a Republican) in 1944. This typewritten letter, which may have been the speech delivered by Miss Evelyn Spiller (see Official Program), is dated April 17, 1939, which is presumably an error, inasmuch as it was deposited into the time capsule that was secreted inside the cornerstone of the Val Verde Park pool house on April 16, 1939. The Los Angeles County Parks Department opened the capsule in 1994 during a renovation project and photographed the contents circa 2014.
* Rymph, Catherine E. "Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage Through the Rise of the New Right." Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
Los Angeles, California. We, the Women of the Women's Political Study Club of California, take great pleasure in having part in the laying of the Corner Stone for the Swimming Pool, here in Val Verde Park, in Los Angeles, County. Resolved that we, the Women of this Organization, are indeed gratified in the fact that we belong to The Women's Political Study Club, the organization which so gallantly fought and won through the Courts of California, equal rights in the use of the Public Swimming Pools in Los Angeles City, to all peoples at all times, regardless of race, creed or color. And resolve, that we acknowledge the fact that the Colored Youth of Los Angeles County is indebted to the Founder of the Women's Study Club, and the Club for the efforts and success made in their behalf. Be it further resolved that the Women's Political Study Club wishes to thank Mr. Gordon L. McDonough, Supervisor, for his untiring support in securing a Swimming Pool in Val Verde. We want Mr. McDonough to know our sincere appreciation and gratitude for the splendid co-operation given during his term as Supervisor. His interest and participation in our affairs are evidence of true democracy. Respectfully, Executive Council of the Women's Political Study Club,
Mrs. Betty Hill, Ex. Sec.
CP3907: 9600 dpi jpeg from original document on file with the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation.
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SEE ALSO:
Cornerstone Laying Planned for 4-16-1939
Official Program
Developer's Fact Sheet
Supervisor McDonough Letter
Portwig's "Pioneers" Speech
Women's Political Study Club Letter
Bus Driver Payment Stub, 2/1939
Million Dollar Productions
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