This portrait of opera singer Mattiwilda Dobbs was made in 1955 by the American photographer Carl Van Vechten, who photographed many notable artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Dobbs, the daughter of prominent Black activist John Wesley Dobbs, was a native of Atlanta and Spelman College graduate who rose to international fame as an opera diva during the 1950s. Dobbs performed at opera houses and festivals around the world, but she did not sing before an integrated audience in her home city until 1962.
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, #LOT 12735, no. 306.
The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder.
