WEBVTT 00:00.800 --> 00:02.135 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% - The late Griffith Davis 00:02.135 --> 00:04.471 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% was a renowned photographer, journalist, 00:04.471 --> 00:07.040 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% and US foreign service officer. 00:07.040 --> 00:10.110 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Among his friends were giants of the civil rights movement, 00:10.110 --> 00:13.079 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and with his lens, he captured many of their public 00:13.079 --> 00:14.781 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% and private moments. 00:14.781 --> 00:16.950 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Griff passed away in 1993, 00:16.950 --> 00:19.285 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% but his legacy lives on through his daughter, 00:19.285 --> 00:21.921 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% St. Petersburg resident Dorothy Davis. 00:23.223 --> 00:25.592 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% (bouncy piano music) 00:25.592 --> 00:30.263 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% - My dad, Griff Davis, was born in Atlanta, Georgia 00:30.263 --> 00:33.633 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% during segregation, or Jim Crow era. 00:33.633 --> 00:38.505 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% He was born in 1923 and he passed away in 1993. 00:40.273 --> 00:45.178 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% He started photography in high school in Atlanta 00:45.178 --> 00:46.913 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and that's where he met the professor 00:46.913 --> 00:49.682 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% or the teacher who taught him about photography 00:49.682 --> 00:54.654 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and then he became, like, the student campus photographer, 00:54.654 --> 00:57.857 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and that's kind of how he started. 00:57.857 --> 01:01.361 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% (bouncy piano music continues) 01:01.361 --> 01:02.695 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% (mellow music) 01:02.695 --> 01:06.766 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% He was a Buffalo Soldier in World War II in Italy 01:06.766 --> 01:09.869 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% with the 92nd Infantry of the US Army 01:09.869 --> 01:14.641 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and he was the photographer for the infantry. 01:14.641 --> 01:18.044 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% He always said that's what spared his life, essentially, 01:18.044 --> 01:19.946 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% that he was the photographer. 01:19.946 --> 01:21.548 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% In any case, when he came back 01:22.549 --> 01:25.718 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% to finish his studies at Morehouse, 01:25.718 --> 01:28.421 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% he took a class with Langston Hughes, 01:28.421 --> 01:30.723 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% who was the visiting professor 01:30.723 --> 01:34.461 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% at what's now known as Clark Atlanta University, 01:34.461 --> 01:37.564 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% and they struck up a friendship. 01:37.564 --> 01:41.801 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% And then when my dad graduated, he needed a job. 01:41.801 --> 01:45.205 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And Langston Hughes was working with "Ebony." 01:45.205 --> 01:48.274 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% He was doing stories for "Ebony" at the time. 01:48.274 --> 01:52.445 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And one day, he was at a World's Fair 01:52.445 --> 01:55.682 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% where John Johnson, the owner and publisher of "Ebony," 01:55.682 --> 01:58.918 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% was asking him, "Do you know anyone I can hire 01:58.918 --> 02:02.222 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% because I'm looking for a roving editor for 'Ebony'?" 02:02.222 --> 02:04.524 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% He said, "Oh, yeah, I got the right person for you," 02:04.524 --> 02:06.259 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% and then my dad was hired 02:06.259 --> 02:09.529 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and became the first roving editor for "Ebony." 02:09.529 --> 02:10.897 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% - "Ebony" magazine 02:10.897 --> 02:14.033 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% was a monthly periodical that was published 02:14.033 --> 02:17.103 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% about African American life and lifestyle. 02:17.103 --> 02:20.940 align:left position:20% line:5% size:70% For so many African American families, 02:20.940 --> 02:23.910 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% it was a reference point for everything that was great 02:23.910 --> 02:26.346 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% about being in the Black community. 02:26.346 --> 02:29.249 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% - He covered all kinds of stories, 02:29.249 --> 02:32.318 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% like Nat King Cole's honeymoon. 02:32.318 --> 02:34.020 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% I think it was 1948. 02:34.020 --> 02:36.990 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% (mellow jazzy music) 02:36.990 --> 02:40.226 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% (soulful piano music) 02:41.027 --> 02:44.164 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Probably the most famous photo, 02:44.164 --> 02:47.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% although nobody knows about it, (laughs) 02:47.133 --> 02:49.836 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% is the one of the first meeting 02:49.836 --> 02:53.740 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% between then-Vice President Richard Nixon 02:53.740 --> 02:57.877 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and Martin Luther King Jr. and their respective wives, 02:57.877 --> 03:01.147 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% Coretta Scott King and Patricia Nixon, 03:01.147 --> 03:05.418 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% in Ghana during Independence Day celebrations 03:05.418 --> 03:07.787 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% in March 1957. 03:08.821 --> 03:11.090 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% That photograph was featured 03:11.090 --> 03:15.528 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% in "Tampa Bay Times" January 2020 03:15.528 --> 03:17.430 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% when I opened an exhibition 03:17.430 --> 03:20.333 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, 03:20.333 --> 03:22.101 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% and it was the first time 03:22.101 --> 03:25.605 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% that it had been publicly published. 03:25.605 --> 03:29.042 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% The reason is that, at the time, Martin Luther King 03:29.042 --> 03:33.446 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and Coretta had just finished the bus boycott 03:33.446 --> 03:38.518 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and so the US government did not really want that photograph 03:39.953 --> 03:41.354 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% to be publicized. 03:41.354 --> 03:43.690 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And it just so happened that dad grew up 03:43.690 --> 03:46.159 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% with Martin Luther King in Atlanta. 03:46.159 --> 03:48.928 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% They were, you know, Atlanta boys, right? 03:48.928 --> 03:52.498 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And they went to college together at Morehouse. 03:52.498 --> 03:56.836 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% So it was a real personal and professional moment. 03:59.505 --> 04:02.875 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% - The uniqueness of this photographer 04:02.875 --> 04:07.947 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% was that he had this connection in two very different lives. 04:09.849 --> 04:13.586 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% And one was his connection with politicians, 04:13.586 --> 04:18.658 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% politicians here in the United States, but also in Africa. 04:19.959 --> 04:23.696 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% He was very close with the government in Ghana, in Tunisia, 04:24.764 --> 04:27.000 align:left position:20% line:5% size:70% and he was very well respected there. 04:27.000 --> 04:32.071 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% And parallel with this, he had a very close relationship 04:33.139 --> 04:37.443 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% with poets and writers and actors 04:37.443 --> 04:41.347 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% who represented the top of intelligence 04:41.347 --> 04:43.583 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% in Afro-American culture. 04:43.583 --> 04:47.520 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Typically, people who have these artistic connections 04:47.520 --> 04:49.989 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% are not very much connected with politicians. 04:49.989 --> 04:53.459 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% And so this opened his horizon 04:53.459 --> 04:57.297 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% to photography journalism that is unparalleled 04:57.297 --> 04:59.632 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% by any different journalist. 05:01.401 --> 05:04.404 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% - As someone growing up with a photographer father, 05:04.404 --> 05:05.872 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% it was a pain in the neck 05:05.872 --> 05:09.042 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% because every five seconds is another photograph, right? 05:09.042 --> 05:12.445 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% So I now understand he was using me 05:12.445 --> 05:16.115 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and then my brother as subjects to figure out the lighting 05:16.115 --> 05:17.350 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% and the this and the that. 05:17.350 --> 05:21.354 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% So he did take me to different settings 05:21.354 --> 05:25.158 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and I did meet a whole lot of different celebrities, 05:25.158 --> 05:28.227 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% I guess you would call them, or historical figures. 05:28.227 --> 05:30.596 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% But I didn't know that they were historical figures. 05:30.596 --> 05:33.866 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% I just thought, "Oh, that's dad's and mom's friend." 05:33.866 --> 05:35.535 align:left position:30% line:5% size:60% That's it. 05:35.535 --> 05:38.271 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% - There's a photograph of Sidney Poitier 05:38.271 --> 05:42.241 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% with Griffith Davis standing next to him. 05:42.241 --> 05:46.579 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% And what's so magical about it is that it is the presence 05:46.579 --> 05:50.650 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% of two men of African descent standing proudly 05:50.650 --> 05:53.286 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% and powerfully in their craft. 05:53.286 --> 05:56.823 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% So you get an idea of the influence of Griffith Davis 05:56.823 --> 06:00.960 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% because, at that point, Sidney Poitier had an acting career 06:00.960 --> 06:03.329 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and was being recognized as a great actor. 06:03.329 --> 06:04.864 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% - The winner is Sidney Poitier- 06:04.864 --> 06:08.067 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% - And there he is side by side with Griffith Davis. 06:10.203 --> 06:12.605 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% It was a great moment to capture. 06:12.605 --> 06:14.941 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% - [Zora] His work was very pioneering. 06:14.941 --> 06:17.377 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% I think that now is the perfect time 06:17.377 --> 06:20.113 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% to bring it back to our attention. 06:20.113 --> 06:23.249 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% - We need to be informed about our history, 06:23.249 --> 06:26.319 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and sometimes that information is uncomfortable, 06:26.319 --> 06:28.254 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% but it's also important. 06:28.254 --> 06:30.523 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% So in the case of Griffith Davis, 06:30.523 --> 06:33.760 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% what's so wonderful is that he fills in the blanks. 06:33.760 --> 06:37.096 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% - He is bringing light to our existence 06:37.096 --> 06:39.866 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% in a multi-dimensional way, 06:39.866 --> 06:44.270 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% and I think he's, like, painting us back into the picture. 06:44.270 --> 06:47.640 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% (soulful piano music) 06:47.640 --> 06:48.875 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% (bright music) 06:48.875 --> 06:51.778 align:left position:20% line:5% size:70% - [Host] To learn more, visit griffdavis.com.