Women’s History Month - Other Firsts for Women in Los Angeles
by Pebbla Wallace, LACHS Board Member
Actress Mary Pickford (left) with Judge Georgia Bullock (1943)
Photo: Herald Examiner Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Georgia Phillipps Bullock – First woman Superior Court Judge in California (serving Los Angeles from 1931-1956). Georgia was born in Chicago, Illinois, and later moved to Los Angeles. In 1912 she enrolled in USC Law School where she earned her law degree. Before becoming a judge, she worked at the Woman's Court (the Court that dealt with women only) as a volunteer probation officer. In 1917 she became a deputy district attorney and then went into private practice. Then in 1924, she was appointed by a county supervisor as the first woman judge of the justice of the peace. In 1926 she became a Los Angeles municipal judge, and later the California Governor James Rolph Jr. appointed her to the Los Angeles Superior Court. She retired in 1956 and died in 1958 at the age of 78.
Vaino Spencer – First African American woman appointed as a Judge in Los Angeles (appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1961). In 1976 she became a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, and in 1980 was named a presiding judge to the California Court of Appeals. She retired in 2007. She was one of the longest-serving judges in California history. Vaino died in 2016 at the age of 96.
Judge Vaino Spencer (1980)
Photo: Public Domain
Estelle Lawton Lindsey – First female City Council member in Los Angeles. Estelle was born in South Carolina and later moved to Kentucky where she worked as an agent for the Internal Revenue Service. She later met and married Dudley Lindsey and moved to Los Angeles where she wrote for the Los Angeles Tribune and the Los Angeles Express. She later served as a Los Angeles City Council Member from 1915 to 1917. She died in 1955 at the age of 87.
Rosalind Wiener Wyman – The youngest person (and second woman) elected to the Los Angeles City Council at the age of 22 years old representing the 5th District. She was highly influential in bringing the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
In 1952 she graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Public Administration. In 1953 she campaigned and won a seat on the City Council at 22 years old. After leaving office in 1965, and after the death of her husband in 1973, she continued to be involved in politics and government affairs. Besides heading fundraisers for various politicians, she has also been a board member of many arts, social services, educational and health organizations, and has received numerous awards, locally and nationally.
Councilwoman Rosalind Wiener (1954)
Photo: Herald Examiner Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Miriam Matthews – First African American woman (credentialed) to be hired by the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL). Miriam was born in Florida and moved to the Los Angeles area when she was two years old. After graduating from Los Angeles High School, she attended UCLA and later transferred to Berkeley where she received a degree in Spanish and a certificate in Library Science before being hired by the Los Angeles Public Library. Realizing the lack of resources regarding African American History at the library, she was an integral part of collecting African American history resources for the library. From 1949 to 1960 she served as regional librarian for LAPL and supervised twelve branches in Los Angeles. Miriam died in 2003.
Miriam Matthews (1920)
Photo: Shades of LA Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Georgia Ann Robinson – First African American woman appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and one of the first African American police officers in the United States (1919).
Georgia was born in 1879 in Louisiana where her parents died when she was very young. She was later raised by her older sister and then at a Catholic convent. At eighteen she moved to Kansas and became a governess. She later met her husband Morgan Robinson and moved to Los Angeles.
In 1916, when the LAPD was in desperate need of officers due to the lack of men because of World War I, they began to recruit women. Georgia was recruited by the department first as a volunteer, and then three years later as the first African American woman to become a full-time police officer, which also made her the first African American woman police officer in the U.S. At the time of her appointment, there were only four other female LAPD officers.
Her first assignment was working as a jail matron, and then on juvenile and homicide cases. Her career ended abruptly in 1928 after suffering a serious head injury while trying to break up a fight between inmates. The injury caused her to lose her eyesight and forced her into early retirement. She died in 1961.
Georgia Ann Robinson
Photo: Security Pacific National Bank Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Josephine Serrano Collier – First Latina LAPD Officer. Josephine was originally born in Arizona and moved to the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles. During WWII she worked at Lockheed like many women due to the lack of men during the war. After the war ended, so did her job at Lockheed. In desperate need of work, she applied at the LAPD. Of the 200 women who applied and tested, only 21 made it through, and 9 made it through training to become officers. Even though they were considered full officers, they did not receive weapons. Her patrol area was the downtown Pershing Square area. She served the LAPD from 1946 to 1960. Josephine died in 2014 at the age of 91.
Josephine Serrano Collier
Photo: Los Angeles Police Department
Agness “Aggie” Underwood – First female newspaper editor of a major city. Aggie was born in San Francisco in 1902. When she was 5 years old, her mother died during childbirth and her father not being able to take care of her, he left her with various relatives, then foster care, and was eventually left with a relative in Hollywood California. Her first job working for a newspaper was at the Los Angeles Records where she worked as a switchboard operator, and eventually worked her way up as a reporter. She worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Records from 1928-35, for the Herald-Express from 1935-68, and the Herald-Examiner from 1962 to 1968. Aggie was the first woman in the United States to hold a city editorship on a major metropolitan daily newspaper. She died in 1984 at 81.
Agness "Aggie" May Underwood (1933)
Photo: Herald Examiner Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Marilyn Jorgenson Reece – First female licensed civil engineer in California. Marilyn was born in North Dakota in 1926. She graduated from the University of Minnesota. After graduation in 1948, she was hired by the State of California to help design the highway system. She became the first woman in California to be a registered civil engineer. One of her major projects in Los Angeles was designing the 10 & 405 Interchange. When it opened in 1964, she received the Design Excellence Award from the Governor of California. She died in 2004. In 2008 the interchange was named after her in her honor.
First Female Mayor in Los Angeles – As I mentioned in my opening, women in Los Angeles have come a long way, but we still have a way to go. To this day there has never been a female mayor elected in the City of Los Angeles. Although some people may claim that Estell Lawton Lindsey was the first female major in Los Angeles, that isn’t exactly true. On September 11, 1915, the Los Angeles Mayor Charles Sebastian, and the City Council President were out of the city on business, and as the next ranking City Council member Estelle was appointed as Acting Mayor for a few days. Many women in Los Angeles are still waiting for the first woman to be elected as our Major.
