Vintage Black Glamour

Dancer Janet Collins, photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1949. Two years later, she would become the first Black prima ballerina at The Metropolitan Opera. Her cousin, Carmen de Lavallade, said “Janet was rather like Auntie Mame… she’d just breeze into town because she danced with Katherine Dunham’s company. And when she came into town, it was really something - and then she’d breeze out again. She was a fascinating woman.” Photo: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.