Gallery
Photo Credit: Griff Davis
Copyright Griffith J. Davis Photographs and Archives
All Rights Reserved
ARTISTS AND SCULPTORS: Hale Woodruff paints California Centennial Mural, 1948.
ARTISTS AND SCULPTORS: Emerging Nigerian sculptor Ben Enwonwu stands in front of National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Atlas bronze statue, New York City, 1950. Photograph published in Sotheby’s online catalogue, March 31, 2021.
BUFFALO SOLDIERS: Buffalo Soldiers, 92 nd Infantry of U.S. Army, wear Buffalo Soldier emblem on their shirt sleeves while eating in Mess Hall in Genoa, Italy during World War II.
EDUCATION: Boarding students play Bid Whist card game at Palmer Memorial Institute, Sedalia, North Carolina, 1947. Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT OF AFRICA - ETHIOPIA: His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie feeds his ducks in the pond of the Imperial Palace, Ethiopia, 1950. Cover story of Ebony Magazine’s 5 th Anniversary issue November 1950.
INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT OF AFRICA - LIBERIA AND GOLD COAST: Official photograph of President of Liberia William V.S. Tubman and Prime Minister of the Gold Coast Kwame Nkrumah during historic visit, Liberia, 1953.
GHANA’S FIRST INDEPENDENCE DAY: First Meeting of Vice President Richard Nixon, Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King and Second Lady Patricia Nixon at Ghana’s first Independence Day celebration, Accra, March 6, 1957.
GHANA’S FIRST INDEPENDENCE DAY: Under Secretary General for Special Political Affairs and first African American Nobel Laureate for Peace Dr. Ralph Bunche and first Prime Minister of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah speak during Ghana’s first Independence Day celebration, March 6, 1957.
GHANA’S FIRST INDEPENDENCE DAY: Prime Minister of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah raises hand at midnight to mark exact moment of Ghana’s Independence on March 6, 1957.
PATHWAY TO INDEPENDENCE OF NIGERIA: Back View, “Waning Empire”, McPherson Constitution, Nigeria, 1951.
NEWLY INDEPENDENT TUNISIA: Founding President of Tunisia Habib Bourguiba greets President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Tunis, Tunisia, 1959.
CREATIVE ARTISTS - Musicians: Jazz Pianist Bud Powell (middle) chats with Howard McGhee (left) and Eddie Barclay (right), co-founder of Barclay Records and Jazz Magazine of France, circa 1949.
CREATIVE ARTISTS - Writers: Friends Griff Davis and Harlem Renaissance Writer and Poet Langston Hughes read issue of Ebony Magazine, circa 1947.
CREATIVE ARTISTS - Film: Emerging Actor Sidney Poitier narrates first promotional film of Liberia, “Pepperbird Land”, produced by Griff Davis Productions for Liberia’s President William V.S. Tubman, Liberia, 1952.
CREATIVE ARTISTS - Musicians: Internationally renowned concert artist Mattiwilda Dobbs practices with teacher Willis Lawrence James as Spelman College Senior, 1946.
CREATIVE ARTISTS - Musicians: Singer Lena Horne at backstage party in Harlem, circa 1949-1950.
CREATIVE ARTISTS - Musicians: Legendary Jazz musician Duke Ellington composes music at piano while blowing smoke.
SOCIAL JUSTICE: CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Fighting for her Right to Dream: Thurgood Marshall, Chief Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ada Lois Sipuel vs. University of Oklahoma Law School, 1948. Placed in U.S. Supreme Court Archives, 2006.
SOCIAL JUSTICE: CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: C. A. Scott, Founder and Publisher of Atlanta Daily World, 1939.
SOCIAL JUSTICE: CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Missionary and Nobel Laureate for Peace Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Lambarene, Gabon, 1960.
UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID): Second Place Winner, Liberian Woman Walks Alongside Iron Ore Train in 1952, USAID/Frontlines 50th Anniversary People’s Choice Global Photo Contest, 2011.
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP: Griff Davis and Muriel Corrin Davis start “Global Honeymoon” in Kakata, Liberia, 1952. Article appeared in Ebony magazine September 1952.
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP: Griffith J. Davis stands before his portrait shot by photographer and Curator J. Edward Bailey III, “Living Legends in Black”, Bailey Publishing Company, Detroit, Michigan, 1976.
"Most Liberians have fond memories of Muriel (Davis' wife) and Griffith who did so much to promote the historical memories of Africa's first independent nation through Griffith's remarkable photography."
- President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, first elected female President of Liberia and in Africa