Davis, Griffith Jerome

1923-1993 · Contribution: 1947-1985

Photojournalist; Foreign Service officer

Became Ebony magazine’s first roving editor at Langston Hughes’s recommendation, then, as the only African American freelance photojournalist for the Black Star picture agency, chronicled the dawn of African independence in Liberia, Ethiopia, and Ghana before pioneering the racial integration of the U.S. Foreign Service

Press & Photography — collage image
Press & Photography

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.

Quick facts

Born
1923, Atlanta, Georgia
Active since
1947
Category
Press & Photography
Best known for
Ebony's first roving editor and a pioneer integrating the U.S. Foreign Service

Impact on the world

Davis documented the birth of independent Africa for Black American readers, then helped integrate the diplomatic corps that would engage those new nations.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of State (Art in Embassies)

1 more sources and references are available to members.