Jackson T. Davis
Encyclopedia
Jackson T. Davis was an educator and author
from Virginia
. In a career spanning 45 years in the first half of the 20th century, he became an international leader in African American
education in the United States
and Africa
.
Among his accomplishments was development of the Jeanes Foundation
's Supervising Teacher Program, leadership of the General Education Board
in New York City, (later part of the Rockefeller Foundation
), and participation in the planning which led to the formation of the United Negro College Fund
which helps support students attending historically black colleges and universities in the United States.
The Jackson Davis Collection of over 5,000 photographs and numerous manuscripts and documents housed at the University of Virginia
is one of the more comprehensive archives available for research on the topic of minority education during the Jim Crow
era in the southern United States.
to William Anderson Davis and Sally Wyatt (née Guy) Davis. He was educated in Richmond City Public Schools
, Richmond
, and attended the College of William and Mary
in Williamsburg
, where he graduated in the Class of 1902 with a Bachelor of Arts
(B.A.) degree. He earned his Master of Arts
(M.A.) degree from Columbia University
in 1908.
Honorary Doctor of Law
(LL.D.) degrees were conferred upon him by the University of Richmond
in 1930 and the College of William and Mary in 1931.
. They had two daughters, Helen Mansfield Davis (who married John Phillip Lynch, Jr.) and Ruth Elizabeth Davis (who married Charles Rolfe Langhorne). His wife of 30 years predeceased him in 1941.
, where for the next 30 years he focused on rural and African American education in the southern United States and became an internationally known leader in his field.
. He was next principal of the Smyth County Public Schools in the incorporated town
of Marion
from 1904-1905.
In 1905, Jackson Davis was named Division Superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools
, a school division
in the large county which adjoins Richmond, where he served for five years. In 1908, he became professionally involved with another Virginian, Virginia Estelle Randolph
, who was also to become well-known in African-American education as they led Henrico County
's role in beginning the work of the Jeanes Foundation
.
Anna T. Jeanes
was a wealthy Quaker who lived in Philadelphia. She had outlived her other family members. She has been described as "a remarkable woman with a vision for Christian peace which she used her fortune to promote." As she neared the end of her life, she was approached by Dr. Booker T. Washington
and others to see if she would help fund their efforts. If she could, she wanted to help "the little country schools", and set aside $1 million from her family inheritance to establish a fund called the Jeanes Foundation. The purpose was to maintain and assist rural schools for African Americans in the South. The organization provided funds to employ supervisors of teachers who were dedicated to upgrading vocational training programs for teachers of black students.
Virginia Estelle Randolph was the third child of former slaves Sarah Elizabeth Carter Randolph and Edward Nelson Randolph. At the age of 16, she graduated from Richmond Normal School (now Armstrong High School
) in Richmond, Virginia
. Miss Randolph began her career as a school teacher
in Goochland County
, and then secured a teaching position with the Henrico County School Board
, where she opened the Mountain Road School in the north central part of the county in 1892. As a teacher there, Randolph taught her students woodworking, sewing, cooking, and gardening, as well as academics. In 1908, following a proclamation by Virginia Governor Claude A. Swanson
, Miss Randolph founded the first Arbor Day
Program in Virginia as she and her students planted twelve Sycamore trees.
That year, Davis, a young (24-years old) Superintendent, enlisted Miss Randolph (who was only 32) to bring her 15 years of experience and talents to the Jeanes Foundation program and appointed her to become the United State's first Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher. As the overseer of twenty three elementary schools in Henrico County, Virginia Randolph worked with Davis to develop the first in-service training program for black teachers and worked on improving the curriculum of the schools. With the freedom to design her own agenda, she shaped industrial work and community self-help programs to meet specific needs of schools. She chronicled her progress by becoming the author of the Henrico Plan which became a reference book for southern schools receiving assistance from the Jeanes Foundation, which later became known as the Negro Rural School Fund. The teachers were educated to use the procedures developed by Miss Randolph, Jackson Davis and others in normal school
s such as today's Hampton University
, Tuskegee University
and many other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Dr. James H. Dillard
, president of the Jeanes Foundation, credited Jackson Davis and Virginia Randolph as the inventors of the real Jeanes plan. Their work together with the Jeanes Foundation development project helped both Davis and Randolph to commit the rest of their lives to rural and African American education.
In 1910, Jackson Davis was named State Agent for African-American rural schools for the Virginia State Department of Education. Serving from 1910–1915, during this time, he traveled extensively around Virginia, visiting communities, meeting teachers and pupils, and inspecting facilities. His surviving collection of photographs provided vivid graphical impact to accompany his reports from this period of the racially-segregated
schools in Virginia.
as a field agent. Two years, we was promoted to be the board's general field agent at headquarters in New York City
. In 1929, he was named assistant director. He became associate director in 1933 and vice-president and director in 1946.
For 30 years, Davis specialized in education and interracial problems in both the Southern United States, and in Africa
, notably Belgian Congo
and Liberia
. In 1935 he went to Africa as a Carnegie visitor, and in 1944 went again as head of a group sent by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, the British Conference of Missions, and the Phelps-Stokes Fund.
Dr. Davis was also a trustee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, an organization devoted to African-American education and race relations both in America and in Africa. He became vice-president of the fund in 1940, and succeeded Anson Phelps Stokes as president in 1946.
In 1943, Dr. Davis was involved with the planning that led to creation of the United Negro College Fund
(UNCF), stating "an effort of this kind would provide the form of expression which is needed to promote better interracial relations and that there are many people who would find this the most desirable way possible to express their good will toward the Negro." Early supporters of the UNCF included President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
He was also a frequent contributor to educational journals. In 1946, he co-authored Africa Advancing: A Study of Rural Education and Agriculture in West Africa and the Belgian Congo, with Margaret Wrong and Thomas M. Campbell. The book provided the results of an earlier survey (made in 1944).
The Jackson Davis Collection of over 5,000 photographs and numerous manuscripts and documents was given to the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia
by his daughters and additional papers were late added by his granddaughters. They collection is located in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia
.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. In a career spanning 45 years in the first half of the 20th century, he became an international leader in African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
education in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
Among his accomplishments was development of the Jeanes Foundation
Jeanes Foundation
The Jeanes Foundation was founded by philanthropist Anna T. Jeanes of Philadelphia who was a Quaker. Ms. Jeanes inherited money from her father and brother's estates and was the sole owner because she was single...
's Supervising Teacher Program, leadership of the General Education Board
General Education Board
The General Education Board was a philanthropy created by John D. Rockefeller and Frederick T. Gates in 1902. Rockefeller gave it $180 million, which was used primarily to support higher education and medical schools in the United States, and to help rural white and black schools in the South, as...
in New York City, (later part of the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
), and participation in the planning which led to the formation of the United Negro College Fund
United Negro College Fund
The United Negro College Fund is an American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for black students and general scholarship funds for 39 private historically black colleges and universities. The UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944 by Frederick D. Patterson , Mary...
which helps support students attending historically black colleges and universities in the United States.
The Jackson Davis Collection of over 5,000 photographs and numerous manuscripts and documents housed at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
is one of the more comprehensive archives available for research on the topic of minority education during the Jim Crow
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
era in the southern United States.
Youth, education
Jackson T. Davis was born on September 25, 1882 in Cumberland County, VirginiaCumberland County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,017 people, 3,528 households, and 2,487 families residing in the county. The population density was 30 people per square mile . There were 4,085 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile...
to William Anderson Davis and Sally Wyatt (née Guy) Davis. He was educated in Richmond City Public Schools
Richmond City Public Schools
This school division contains public schools serving the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It is occasionally described locally as Richmond City Public Schools to emphasize its connection to the independent city rather than the Richmond-Petersburg region at large or the rural Richmond County...
, Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, and attended the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, where he graduated in the Class of 1902 with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
(B.A.) degree. He earned his Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
(M.A.) degree from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1908.
Honorary Doctor of Law
Doctor of law
Doctor of Law or Doctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degrees such as the LL.D., Ph.D., J.D., J.S.D., and Dr. iur.-Argentina:...
(LL.D.) degrees were conferred upon him by the University of Richmond
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...
in 1930 and the College of William and Mary in 1931.
Family
On May 19, 1911, Davis married Corinne Mansfield in Bluffton, GeorgiaBluffton, Georgia
Bluffton is a town in Clay County, Georgia, United States. The population was 118 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bluffton is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
. They had two daughters, Helen Mansfield Davis (who married John Phillip Lynch, Jr.) and Ruth Elizabeth Davis (who married Charles Rolfe Langhorne). His wife of 30 years predeceased him in 1941.
Career
Jackson Davis served in various positions around Virginia, mostly with the public schools, for 15 years. He then went on to work with the New York City-based General Education BoardGeneral Education Board
The General Education Board was a philanthropy created by John D. Rockefeller and Frederick T. Gates in 1902. Rockefeller gave it $180 million, which was used primarily to support higher education and medical schools in the United States, and to help rural white and black schools in the South, as...
, where for the next 30 years he focused on rural and African American education in the southern United States and became an internationally known leader in his field.
Virginia public schools
Upon graduating from the College of William and Mary in 1902, he first became the principal of the public schools of Williamsburg, a small city where William and Mary is located. From 1903 to 1904, he was assistant secretary of the YMCA in the City of RoanokeRoanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
. He was next principal of the Smyth County Public Schools in the incorporated town
Incorporated town
-Canada:Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government.-United States:...
of Marion
Marion, Virginia
Marion is a town in Smyth County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,968 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Smyth County. The town is named for American Revolutionary War officer Francis Marion.-Tourism:...
from 1904-1905.
In 1905, Jackson Davis was named Division Superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools
Henrico County Public Schools
The Henrico County Public Schools system is a Virginia school division that operates as a functional and independent branch of the Henrico County, Virginia, county government, and administers public schools in the county. Henrico County Public Schools has five International Baccalaureate schools--J.R...
, a school division
School division
-Canada:In Canada the term is used to the area controlled by a school board and is used interchangeably with school district, including in the formal name of the board. For example, see List of Alberta school boards.-United States:...
in the large county which adjoins Richmond, where he served for five years. In 1908, he became professionally involved with another Virginian, Virginia Estelle Randolph
Virginia Randolph
Virginia Estelle Randolph was an African American educator in Henrico County, Virginia. She was named the United States' first "Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher" by her Superintendent of Schools, Jackson T. Davis, and she led a program funded by the Jeanes Foundation to upgrade vocational...
, who was also to become well-known in African-American education as they led Henrico County
Henrico County, Virginia
Henrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
's role in beginning the work of the Jeanes Foundation
Jeanes Foundation
The Jeanes Foundation was founded by philanthropist Anna T. Jeanes of Philadelphia who was a Quaker. Ms. Jeanes inherited money from her father and brother's estates and was the sole owner because she was single...
.
Anna T. Jeanes
Anna T. Jeanes
Anna T. Jeanes was an American philanthropist. She was born in Philadelphia, the city where she gave Spring Garden Institute, a technical school, $200,000; $100,000 to the Hicksite Friends; $200,000 to the Quaker schools of Philadelphia; and $200,000 to the Home for Aged Friends, now known as...
was a wealthy Quaker who lived in Philadelphia. She had outlived her other family members. She has been described as "a remarkable woman with a vision for Christian peace which she used her fortune to promote." As she neared the end of her life, she was approached by Dr. Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
and others to see if she would help fund their efforts. If she could, she wanted to help "the little country schools", and set aside $1 million from her family inheritance to establish a fund called the Jeanes Foundation. The purpose was to maintain and assist rural schools for African Americans in the South. The organization provided funds to employ supervisors of teachers who were dedicated to upgrading vocational training programs for teachers of black students.
Virginia Estelle Randolph was the third child of former slaves Sarah Elizabeth Carter Randolph and Edward Nelson Randolph. At the age of 16, she graduated from Richmond Normal School (now Armstrong High School
Armstrong High School (Richmond, Virginia)
Armstrong High School, part of the Richmond Public Schools system, is a high school located in Richmond, Virginia, with grades 9-12.Known at first as the Richmond Colored Normal School, Armstrong was the first public school in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, for African American...
) in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. Miss Randolph began her career as a school teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
in Goochland County
Goochland County, Virginia
Goochland County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 21,717. Its county seat is Goochland. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area ....
, and then secured a teaching position with the Henrico County School Board
Henrico County Public Schools
The Henrico County Public Schools system is a Virginia school division that operates as a functional and independent branch of the Henrico County, Virginia, county government, and administers public schools in the county. Henrico County Public Schools has five International Baccalaureate schools--J.R...
, where she opened the Mountain Road School in the north central part of the county in 1892. As a teacher there, Randolph taught her students woodworking, sewing, cooking, and gardening, as well as academics. In 1908, following a proclamation by Virginia Governor Claude A. Swanson
Claude A. Swanson
Claude Augustus Swanson was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Virginia.He served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1893 until 1906, was the 45th Governor of Virginia from 1906 until 1910, and represented Virginia as a United States Senator from 1910 until...
, Miss Randolph founded the first Arbor Day
Arbor Day
Arbor Day is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. It originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska, United States during 1872 by J. Sterling Morton. The first Arbor Day was held on April 10, 1872, and an estimated 1 million trees were planted that day.Many...
Program in Virginia as she and her students planted twelve Sycamore trees.
That year, Davis, a young (24-years old) Superintendent, enlisted Miss Randolph (who was only 32) to bring her 15 years of experience and talents to the Jeanes Foundation program and appointed her to become the United State's first Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher. As the overseer of twenty three elementary schools in Henrico County, Virginia Randolph worked with Davis to develop the first in-service training program for black teachers and worked on improving the curriculum of the schools. With the freedom to design her own agenda, she shaped industrial work and community self-help programs to meet specific needs of schools. She chronicled her progress by becoming the author of the Henrico Plan which became a reference book for southern schools receiving assistance from the Jeanes Foundation, which later became known as the Negro Rural School Fund. The teachers were educated to use the procedures developed by Miss Randolph, Jackson Davis and others in normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
s such as today's Hampton University
Hampton University
Hampton University is a historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen.-History:...
, Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
and many other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Dr. James H. Dillard
James H. Dillard
James Hardy Dillard was Caucasian educator who dedicated his life to serving African Americans. He was an administrator and teacher at Tulane University and trustee of the two major black colleges in the New Orleans area. As president of the New Orleans public library, he promoted the...
, president of the Jeanes Foundation, credited Jackson Davis and Virginia Randolph as the inventors of the real Jeanes plan. Their work together with the Jeanes Foundation development project helped both Davis and Randolph to commit the rest of their lives to rural and African American education.
In 1910, Jackson Davis was named State Agent for African-American rural schools for the Virginia State Department of Education. Serving from 1910–1915, during this time, he traveled extensively around Virginia, visiting communities, meeting teachers and pupils, and inspecting facilities. His surviving collection of photographs provided vivid graphical impact to accompany his reports from this period of the racially-segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
schools in Virginia.
General Education Board
In 1915, Davis became affiliated with the General Education BoardGeneral Education Board
The General Education Board was a philanthropy created by John D. Rockefeller and Frederick T. Gates in 1902. Rockefeller gave it $180 million, which was used primarily to support higher education and medical schools in the United States, and to help rural white and black schools in the South, as...
as a field agent. Two years, we was promoted to be the board's general field agent at headquarters in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In 1929, he was named assistant director. He became associate director in 1933 and vice-president and director in 1946.
For 30 years, Davis specialized in education and interracial problems in both the Southern United States, and in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, notably Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
and Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
. In 1935 he went to Africa as a Carnegie visitor, and in 1944 went again as head of a group sent by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, the British Conference of Missions, and the Phelps-Stokes Fund.
Dr. Davis was also a trustee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, an organization devoted to African-American education and race relations both in America and in Africa. He became vice-president of the fund in 1940, and succeeded Anson Phelps Stokes as president in 1946.
In 1943, Dr. Davis was involved with the planning that led to creation of the United Negro College Fund
United Negro College Fund
The United Negro College Fund is an American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for black students and general scholarship funds for 39 private historically black colleges and universities. The UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944 by Frederick D. Patterson , Mary...
(UNCF), stating "an effort of this kind would provide the form of expression which is needed to promote better interracial relations and that there are many people who would find this the most desirable way possible to express their good will toward the Negro." Early supporters of the UNCF included President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...
He was also a frequent contributor to educational journals. In 1946, he co-authored Africa Advancing: A Study of Rural Education and Agriculture in West Africa and the Belgian Congo, with Margaret Wrong and Thomas M. Campbell. The book provided the results of an earlier survey (made in 1944).
Death, legacy
Dr. Davis died suddenly at his home in Cartersville, Virginia on April 15, 1947. In Henrico County, Virginia, Jackson Davis Elementary School, dedicated in 1962, was named for him.The Jackson Davis Collection of over 5,000 photographs and numerous manuscripts and documents was given to the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
by his daughters and additional papers were late added by his granddaughters. They collection is located in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
.