Schomburg Center Opens New Exhibition “The Ways of Langston Hughes” on February 1

Credit: Griffith J. Davis Photographs and Archives

The exhibition will chronicle the renowned poet’s relationships with generations of Black artists, writers, and creative professionals, through the correspondence and photography of friend and photojournalist Griffith J. Davis

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will explore the long-standing international friendship between renowned poet Langston Hughes (1901 – 1967) and internationally recognized and pioneer photographer, filmmaker and U.S. Foreign Service Officer Griffith J. Davis (1923 – 1993) in the new exhibition The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artists in the Making. The exhibition offers a photographic look at Hughes, the Poet Laureate of Harlem and champion of Black artists across generations and disciplines–including Dizzy Gillespie, Dorothy West, and Arna Bontemps. The Ways of Langston Hughes will be on display in the Schomburg Center’s Latimer Gallery from February 1 – July 8, 2024.

The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artists in the Making is adapted from the traveling exhibition Griff Davis-Langston Hughes, Letters, and Photographs, 1947 – 1967: A Global Friendship, which originated at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA). In this exhibition, Griff Davis’s photography is complemented by personal correspondence between him and Hughes and archival collections from the Schomburg Center’s five divisions: Manuscripts, Archives, & Rare Books, Photographs & Prints, Moving Image and Recorded Sound, Art & Artifacts, and Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference. Notable additions to the exhibition from the Schomburg’s collections include a watercolor by Joseph Barker of Langston Hughes home on East 127th Street, a letter from Hughes to playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and four LPs of poetry – two featuring Hughes as a collaborator with Harry Belafonte and Margaret Danner. 

“When I first encountered the catalog reflecting Langston Hughes’s relationship with Griff Davis, it amplified other stories I read about in the Schomburg’s collection–Hughes as champion, mentor, collaborator, and admirer. Working with Davis’s daughter, Dorothy, this exhibition offers a glimpse of Hughes in community with other artists and students, while also being head down and deeply engaged in his writing whether he was in Harlem or Atlanta. The images are intimate and so are the relationships,” said Novella Ford, Associate Director of Public Programs and Exhibitions at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

“Langston Hughes and my Dad, Griff Davis, were best friends for 20 years.  Their friendship spanned the African diaspora,” said Dorothy M. Davis, President of Griffith J. Davis Photographs and Archives. “The photographs and personal letters between them in the exhibition provide a rare insight into how these two men supported each other in their pursuit of their respective dreams against all odds. Having the exhibition at the Schomburg is like bringing my Dad back to his Harlem neighborhood to see an old friend.”

The Schomburg Center has long been intertwined with the legacy of Langston Hughes. Notably, the Schomburg Center is home to the public art installation Rivers, featuring verses from Hughes’ first published poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. The poet’s ashes are interred in a book-shaped urn under the floor—allowing his final resting place to be a public and accessible place for visitors to pay their respects to the Harlem Renaissance icon. 

Langston Hughes and Griffith Davis’s friendship began in Hughes’ classroom at Atlanta University where Davis was a student. Multiple professional collaborations emerged from the mentorship, as well as an enduring friendship. From Davis’s career as the first roving reporter at Ebony Magazine through his 35-year career as a pioneering U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Liberia—Davis stayed in touch with his mentor and friend until Hughes died in 1967.

The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artists in the Making will open with a public reception at 6 PM on February 1. 

About the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the preservation, research, interpretation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diasporan, and African experiences. As a research division of The New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center features diverse programming and collections totaling over 12 million items that illuminate the richness of global black history, arts, and culture. Learn more at schomburgcenter.org.

About The New York Public Library

For over 125 years, The New York Public Library has been a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With over 90 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support. 

About Griffith J. Davis Photographs and Archives

Griffith J. Davis Photographs and Archives (www.griffdavis.com) is dedicated to preserving, researching, exhibiting and sharing the photographs and stories of Griff Davis’ innovative and sophisticated body of work. He was an internationally recognized  pioneer African American photographer, photojournalist and U.S. Senior Foreign Service Officer at the vortex of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the Independence Movement of Africa with particular focus on Africa, Europe, the U.S.A. and Mexico. The Archives encompass 55,000 photographs, films and a complementary explosion of written documentation in the forms of official and unofficial reports leading to policymaking, communications materials and correspondence involving institution building, historic leaders, and a host of notable people from across the globe.