The Dobbs Kids

Gorgeous family portrait of siblings John Wesley Dobbs and his sister Willie Dobbs. John Wesley Dobbs Family Papers

Later John Dobbs (would become a civic leader, and both a political and civil rights activist. He's also the father of famous soprano, Mattiwilda Dobbs, who was one of the first African American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera and to be offered a long term contract by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

His sister later Willie Dobbs Blackburn, graduated at the top of her class from Spelman College (1931) and received her master’s degree from Atlanta University (1934). She moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where she served as chairman of the language division of Jackson State University. The Willie Dobbs Blackburn Language Arts Building on Jackson State University’s campus is named in her honor.