Honorable Mervyn M. Dymally

1975 Solomon Carter Fuller Award Recipient

Lecture Title: Government and the Black Family

The Honorable Dymally, an American politician hailing from California, held various significant political offices throughout his career. He served in the California State Assembly from 1963 to 1966 and later in the California State Senate from 1967 to 1975. Additionally, he served as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of California from 1975 to 1979 and represented California in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993. After a hiatus, he returned to politics and served in the California State Assembly again from 2003 to 2008.

Born in Cedros, Trinidad and Tobago, Dymally received his secondary education at Naparima College before transferring to Saint Benedict's College in San Fernando. He later immigrated to the United States to pursue journalism at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, before moving to the Los Angeles area to attend Chapman University. Dymally earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1954 and became a U.S. citizen in 1957. Notably, he was the first Trinidadian to hold political office in California and one of the earliest individuals of Dougla descent to serve in the U.S. Congress.

In 1974, Dymally, along with George L. Brown, became among the first African Americans elected to statewide state office since Oscar Dunn during Reconstruction. He was the second African American to hold statewide office in California, following Wilson Riles, who served as California Superintendent of Public Instruction starting in 1971. Dymally's contributions to the African American community were acknowledged with the Solomon Carter Fuller Award in 1975.