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

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
- U.S. Department of State (Art in Embassies)
1 more sources and references are available to members.
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