Vata Watson Sommerville worked as a telephone operator before marrying a dentist, with his encouragement she graduated from University of Southern California as it's first female African-American graduate. Sommerville and her husband owned a practice together, but after patients began to prefer her over her husband she decided to save her marriage by leaving the practice. The Sommervilles worked tirelessly to promote equality in Los Angeles, and even founded the LA chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Later she worked to create UCLA's first irracial dorm, Stevens House.