Ophelia Devore

By Maureen McGavin,Bob Hufford,others:

In 1946 model and entrepreneur Ophelia Devore started Grace Del Marco, the first model agency in America to focus on ethnic talent. Devore identified and nurtured the careers of several household names, including Diahann Carroll, Richard Roundtree (Shaft), and Cicely Tyson.

Ophelia DeVore Mitchell, a model, businesswoman and pioneer in the "black is beautiful" movement, DeVore exemplified power, pride, presence and beauty in African American women. A former model and longtime business executive, she started one of the first modeling agencies for black models, which helped launch the early careers of actresses Diahann Carroll and Cicely Tyson, among other celebrities.

DeVore also opened a charm school for young black women to learn etiquette, self-presentation and confidence; launched a cosmetics company catering to African American women, and took over the Columbus Times, a daily newspaper for the African American community in Columbus, Ga..She was appointed by President Reagan to the John F. Kennedy Center Committee on the Arts in 1985 and has been involved in many community programs throughout her career.

One of the first mixed-race models in the United States, Emma Ophelia DeVore was born in Edgefield, S.C., in 1922, to parents of German, French, Native American and African American heritage. She was raised in coastal South Carolina and received training in dance, art, and music in addition to her basic education. In 1933, DeVore was sent to New York City to live with her aunt and complete her education. she graduated from Hunter College High School and earned a degree in mathematics and languages from New York University. She enrolled in the Vogue School of Modeling, and not until another black girl was rejected did she realize that the school management thought her a dark-skinned white.

Finding her opportunities limited in America, at least until "Ebony" magazine was founded in 1945, she journeyed to Europe where she received numerous assignments, especially in France, though again she sometimes 'passed' as Norwegian. Realizing that there were few avenues for her, and none at all for dark-skinned blacks

In 1946, she and four friends co-founded Grace del Marco Models; in addition to Diahann Carroll and Cicely Tyson, the agency represented such notable figures as Richard Roundtree ("Shaft"), Gail Fisher ("Mannix"); Trudy Haynes, one of the first African American female TV reporters; and Helen Williams, one of the first successful African American models. The agency sought to encourage the media to portray African Americans in non-stereotypical ways.

DeVore took on mainstream publications, advertisers and other agencies who avoided hiring African American models, and she was a tough businesswoman proud of her accomplishments. She once sued Life Magazine after it published a story in 1969 on black models for which she was interviewed; the resulting article cited white-owned agencies instead.

Over the years she hosted ABC's "Spotlight on Harlem", sponsored the first black beauty pageants, wrote columns for "The Pittsburgh Courrier" and for the National Newspaper Publisher's Association, and had her own "Ophelia DeVore Show" on cable television.

The Ophelia DeVore School of Charm, which opened in 1948, offered social training for African American young women. It provided lessons in etiquette, poise and posture, ballet, speech, and self-presentation (including grooming lessons in hair styling, applying makeup, and dressing in flattering clothes). Hip-hop artist Faith Evans, widow of the Notorious B.I.G., is one of many notable graduates.

The school, which closed in 2006, reached its peak between the 1960s and the 1990s, and at times graduated about 100 students in a class, says James D. Carter, DeVore's son, who took over the charm school for a number of years and ran other aspects of various DeVore businesses.

DeVore had five children with her first husband, Harold Carter, whom she married in 1941. She married her second husband, Columbus Times publisher Vernon Mitchell, in 1968. When he passed away in 1972, she took the newspaper's helm as its owner, with her daughter, Carol Gertjegerdes, as co-publisher and executive editor.

       Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell: A Modeling Career


        The Official Tony Brown's Journal -- Ophelia DeVore