Can you say groovy? The Glenn House in the 1970’s was filled with floral and zebra prints, books and a collection of international art and culture.
In 1977, Atlanta photographer Lucinda Bunnen photographed Dr. Richard A. Long in his Inman Park home, the home we are now restoring. Dr. Long, a noted cultural historian and pioneer for studies in African American Art, lived in our house from 1972 until his death in 2013. Born in Philadelphia in 1927, Dr. Long was a scholar from birth. He went on to attend Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Paris and received his doctoral degree at the University of Poitiers.
Dr. Long served on several Board of Trustees and committees including the National Black Arts Festival, National Endowment for the Arts, Smithsonian Museum of African Art, Zora Neale Hurston Festival, Society of Dance History Scholars and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. He was also an author, beginning his literary career with The Black Tradition of American Dance (1989), African American’s: A Portrait (1993) and several essays about the Harlem Renaissance. His papers are currently available at the Auburn Avenue Research Library.
An avid world traveler, Dr. Long frequented Paris and Southeast Asia. He was good friends with Maya Angelou, who is rumored to have stayed in our home during one of her visits to Atlanta. In 2008, he co-authored Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration with Marcia Ann Gillespie.
Dr. Richard Long and Maya Angelou (Photo by Susan Ross)
In 1965, Beauford Delaney painted Dr. Long’s portrait. Delaney, a good friend of Dr. Long’s, was an American modernist painter, noted for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930’s and 1940’s and abstract expressionism in Paris. Dr. Long donated the portrait of himself to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, where it still hangs today.
Portrait of Richard A. Long (1965) by Beauford Delaney
We had the pleasure of meeting his family when we closed on the house, and they told us how happy he would be that we are restoring it. The Glenn House is full of rich history, and we are excited to be preserving and sharing it for all to enjoy.
This Friday, I’ll be sharing another piece of history that made a long trip from Wichita, Kansas to its new home in Atlanta. It’s a piece I have been waiting to share with you, and one that we can’t wait to restore!