John Wesley Dobbs “The Unofficial Mayor of Auburn Avenue” in Atlanta (My Great-Grandfather )

JOHN WESLEY AND IRENE DOBBS WITH THEIR 6 DAUGHTERSALL 6 DOBBS DAUGHTERS GRADUATED FROM SPELMAN COLLEGE AND THEY ALL EARNED MASTER DEGREES AS WELL AS TWO OBTAINED DOCTORAL DEGREES.

(Daughters: Dr. Irene Dobbs Jackson, Willie Dobbs Blackburn, Millicent Dobbs Jordan, Josephine Dobbs Clement, Mattiwilda Dobbs Janzon,  &  Dr. June Dobbs Butts)

MATTIWILDA DOBBS JANZON (AUNT GEEKIE) BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL OPERA SOPRAN0 SINGER IN THE 1950’S. SHE OBTAINED A BACHELORS & MASTERS DEGREE IN SPANISH.  SHE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICANS TO SING AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA COMPANY in NYC AND THE FIRST TO SING AT LA SCALA OPERA HOUSE IN MILAN, ITALY. SHE VOWED TO NEVER SING IN A SEGREGATED AUDIENCE.

JOSEPHINE DOBBS CLEMENT (My Grandmother)  DESEGREGATED THE YWCA & THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN’S VOTERS IN DURHAM, N.C. SHE WAS APPOINTED TO THE DURHAM CITY-COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION AND SERVED ON THE CITY’S BOARD OF EDUCATION. WHEN SHE CHAIRED THE BOARD, DURHAM’S FIRST BLACK SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS WAS ELECTED. LASTLY, SHE BECAME A COUNTY COMMISSIONER.

As a result of my grandmother’s contributions to the desegregation of schools and organizations in Durham, N.C. as well as her political achievements, the following early college high school was named in her honor.

Dr. Irene (Aunt Renie) Dobbs Jackson obtained her Ph.D. in French from the University of Grenoble & Toulouse in France and taught at both Spelman College and was the Foreign Languages Department Chairperson at North Carolina Central University. She is the mother of Maynard Holbrook Jackson, the first Africa-American Mayor of Atlanta, G.A.Maynard H. Jackson graduated from Morehouse College at the age of 18. He studied law at Boston University and obtained a J.D. from North Carolina Central University. He became Atlanta’s first Black Mayor at the age of 35 in 1974 and served two terms (1974-1978) (1978-1982). In 2003, the former Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport had his last name (Jackson) added to it. In 2016, a documentary film entitled Maynard was released and was featured on Delta Airline flights as well as many national film festivals.Former Mayor, Maynard Holbrook Jackson, renamed “Houston Street” in Atlanta after his grandfather (John Wesley Dobbs) in 1994 and  a statue was created in his honor on Auburn Avenue.

Dr. Wesley Dobbs Clement, MD (my father), a Meharry Medical & Morehouse College Alumnus, was named after his maternal grandfather (John Wesley Dobbs). He later became  the first African-American Ophthalmologist to perform surgery in Charlotte, N.C. in 1975 and has continued his practice for more than 45 years. You can visit him at Carolinas Eye Center 

(Top Picture: Me as a child at Spelman College. Bottom Picture:  Aunt Geekie, Grandma, me, & Aunt June during my freshman year)

As a child I visited Spelman College and I eventually continued the Dobbs sister’s legacy (among many of my other cousins) by graduating from the same school as my grandmother and five grand-aunts.

(Picture above: Me in a lounge in LLC1 dorm named after my grand-aunt Mattiwilda Dobbs)

My Spelman Sisters(picture above: classmates at our 20th reunion)