THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2024 47 Dorothy M. Davis is president of Griffith J. Davis Photographs and Archives. She was born in Liberia and raised in newly independent Tunisia, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the U.S. She followed in her father’s footsteps in project management and international development communications through her company, Dorothy M. Davis Strategic Global Consulting. Starting as the executor of Griff Davis’ estate in 1993, she has unearthed, preserved, and promoted her father’s legacy as a photographer, journalist, and Senior Foreign Service officer. Ms. Davis is the primary source and contextual authority on his kaleidoscopic life. For more information, visit https://griffdavis.com. Senior USAID FSO Griff Davis was an inspiring pathbreaker who brought photojournalism and diplomacy together to chart changing times. BY DOROTHY M. DAVIS Through His Lens The Legacy of Pioneering U.S. Foreign Service Officer Griff Davis FS HERITAGE Griff Davis stood at the vortex of history and the future as a Buffalo Soldier in Italy during World War II, the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., and the Independence Movement in Africa. … Through his camera, writing, and diplomatic skills, he fought for freedom and independence by documenting changing times and being on the cutting edge of changing those times by shaping image, narrative and policies. … He was both an observer and interpreter of the times. —Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., director, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University Griff Davis leaves behind a rich legacy: internationally recognized pioneer photographer, journalist, and U.S. Senior Foreign Service officer. Since September 2023 alone, six exhibitions of his photography in four countries on three continents have honored this man and his work. These include permanent installations of his photographs at the Museum of Broadway in Times Square, at U.S. Embassy Liberia, at Jazz Magazine in Paris, and in the U.S. Supreme Court Archives. Filmmaker Spike Lee even has his own personal collection. Held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York City, the exhibition, “The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artists in the Making,” provides insight into how Davis started his unusual career path to the U.S. Foreign Service. It all began with Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. The First Steps Down an Unusual Path In the spring of 1947, during his last semester at Morehouse College, Davis met Atlanta University Visiting Professor Hughes as a student in his creative writing class. On realizing Davis was the campus photographer for various Atlanta University campuses,
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