Ms Billie Holiday

(via) Vintage Black Glamour - Billie Holiday, born 100 years ago today, in a 1949 photograph by Carl Van Vechten that I was thrilled to be able to include in my book, Vintage Black Glamour. One of my favorite scholars, Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin, noted the following in her book, “If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday": The photographer remembers photographing her for two hours, and while she was initially despondent, she returned from a brief sojourn “on a different plane, all energy, sympathy, cooperation and interest.” Photo: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.