Vibrant Kodachrome photos of Harlem Renaissance luminaries

Carl Van Vechten moved to New York in the early 20th century and became “violently interested in Negroes”. As part of that interest, Van Vechten got to know many of the leading black figures in the city and photographed them, first in black & white but later in vibrant Kodachrome. Almost 2000 of his color photos are available at Yale’s Beinecke Library (direct search). Pictured above are Van Vechten’s photos of Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, W.E.B. DuBois, Dizzy Gillespie, and a young James Earl Jones. (via the new yorker)

• Carl Van Vechten
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Eartha Kitt
• Ella Fitzgerald
• James Earl Jones
• NYC
• photography
• W.E.B. Du Bois