C.M. Battey

C.M. (Cornelius Marion) Battey was a pictorialist photographer working around the turn of the 20th century. He captured many of his era’s leading black figures, including the preeminent writer W.E.B. Du Bois and the community leader and orator Booker T. Washington. As Battey’s fame grew, he photographed white leaders, including President Calvin Coolidge and Supreme Court Justice William H. Taft (who would soon rise to the presidency).