Patricia A. Watson Bradfield

Congresswoman’s Sister Remembered as ‘Joyful’ and ‘Radiating’

Watson Bradfield, a trailblazer in her own right, was born July 22, 1938 into a family of trailblazers.  She was the youngest of four children. Her father, William Watson, was one of the first African American police officers in Los Angeles. Her grandfather, Spencer Watson, was a civil rights activist, involved in organizing the pullman porters along with Bayard Rustin. And, her grandmother Belle O’Neal was the surgical nurse who worked on the first open heart surgery with Dr. Clarence Williams in Chicago.