Joseph E. Hollingsworth (August 25, 1908 – November 12, 1975) was an American politician was appointed in 1961 to replace

Charles Navarro Charles Navarro Guarino (January 19, 1904 – September 7, 2005) was a Los Angeles City Council member between 1951 and 1961 and city controller from 1961 to 1977. Biography Navarro was born in New York City to Italian immigrant parents. He was a ...

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...

member for the racially mixed 10th district. He served for two years until he was ousted by retired policeman and future mayor Tom Bradley. He was the last Caucasian council member from that district.

Biography

Hollingsworth, born on August 25, 1908, was the son of Anna Hollingsworth Bostic, who immigrated from Germany. A native of Los Angeles, he lived with his family at 5483 Village Green and was "active in youth work"; in 1961 he was a construction supervisor for the Baldwin Hills Company, developer of Baldwin Hills Estates."Councilman Selected for 10th District," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 25, 1961, page 1
/ref> His wife was Alice and his children were Joe Jr. and Alison. In 1969 he was named a vice president of Los Angeles Federal Savings. He was a veteran of World War II and co-founded Baldwin Hills Post 706 of the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

. He co-founded the Southern California Pop Warner Football Federation. Hollingsworth died November 12, 1975; funeral services were held in Inglewood on November 15."Former L.A. Councilman Joseph Hollingsworth Dies," ''Los Angeles Times,'' November 16, 1975, page A-2
/ref>

Political career

In June 1961 Hollingsworth and 10 other people applied for the 10th District councilmanic position left vacant by the election of the incumbent,

, as city controller."12 Apply for Navarro City Council Seat," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 6, 1961, page 21
/ref> Eventually there were more than 30 candidates."Hollingsworth Ends Short Council Career," ''Los Angeles Times,'' April 13, 1963, page B-2
/ref>"Opposition to Negro Voiced," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 28, 1961, page B-3
/ref> Although Mayor Sam Yorty had favored appointment of a

Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

in the district, a council committee unanimously recommended 52-year-old Hollingsworth, a

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

, and the City Council followed suit on August 25, 1961, by a vote of 8 to 6, "after a stormy 2-1/2-hour council session.""New Councilman," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 26, 1961
/ref> One of his first acts was to appoint Cage S. Johnson, 49, a "restaurant service supervisor and part-time television actor," as the "first Negro to serve as field secretary to a City Council member," but nevertheless a

recall Recall may refer to: * Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop * Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure * ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning * Recall (memory) * ''Recall'' (Overwatch ...

drive was organized at a community meeting, with

H. H. Brookins Hamel Hartford Brookins better known as H. H. Brookins (June 8, 1925 – May 22, 2012) was an American bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, community leader, and political powerbroker. Biography Brookins was born on June 8, 1925, in Y ...

named as chair. Brookins said that 16 applicants for city councilman were Negroes and that the council, by appointing Hollingsworth, "had dealt the Negro community a fast shuffle." The recall petitions were rejected by a court "because they failed to list the voter registration number and the date of registration of the persons who circulated them." At the next election, in April 1963, there were only two candidates, Hollingsworth and Tom Bradley, and also two elections — one for the unexpired term left by Controller Navarro, ending June 30, and one for a full four-year term starting July 1. Bradley won by 17,760 votes to 10,540 in the first election and by 17,552 votes to 10,400 in the second."Complete Returns," ''Los Angeles Times,'' April 4, 1963, page 2
/ref> Hollingsworth's last day in office was April 12, 1963. He was the last Caucasian council member from the 10th District.

References

Access to the ''Los Angeles Times'' links may require the use of a library card. ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollingsworth, Joe E. Los Angeles City Council members 1975 deaths 1908 births 20th-century American politicians