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Lillian Mobley (1930 – 2011) was an American community activist. She was active in the African-American community of South Los Angeles and was instrumental in the establishment of a major hospital in the neighborhood.[1][2] According to U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, she was "the most accomplished and successful community activist South Los Angeles has ever had."[1][3]
Lillian Harkless was born to Charlie and Corene Harkless on March 29, 1930, in Macon, Georgia.[1][2] In 1948, she graduated from Macon's Hudson High School and married James Otis Mobley.[1][2] Mobley and her husband moved to California three years later.[1][2]
Over the course of her life, she served on the boards of over 20 organizations, in fields including education, healthcare, water ratemaking, and services for the elderly.[1][3]
She is particularly known for her involvement in the establishment of Martin Luther King Hospital.[1][2][4] The McCone Commission convened after the 1965 Watts riots identified deficiencies in health services available in South Los Angeles and made recommendations for improvements in these services.[5][6] As part of implementing these recommendations, Mobley, along with Mary Henry, Caffie Green, Johnnie Taylor, and Nola Carter, pushed for the establishment of a major hospital in South Los Angeles.[7][4] Their effort culminated in the opening of Martin Luther King Hospital in 1972.[2][6] The same activists were a driving force behind the 1966 establishment of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, a historically black graduate institution in South Los Angeles.[2]
In 1983, she established the South Central Multipurpose Senior Citizen's Center, now called the Lillian Mobley Multipurpose Center, in South Los Angeles.[2][8]
Mobley had four children: Corene, Charles, Kenneth, and Phillip.[1][2] She died on July 18, 2011.[1][2][9]
