Shelley Davis was an American attorney

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and activist best known for her advocacy of rights and better working conditions for farm workers, particularly child, migrant and seasonal laborers.

Activism

At the time of her death, Davis served as deputy director of the advocacy group Farmworker Justice, where she campaigned against a 2006 Environmental Protection Agency proposal that would have allowed humans to be exposed to pesticides as part of toxicity tests. Her work with Farmworker Justice also took her to the U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

, where she litigated the case of Bates v. Dow Agrosciences, , in which Dow Agrosciences

Dow AgroSciences

Dow AgroSciences LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, but also seeds and biotechnology solutions. The company is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...

 attempted to block 29 Texas peanut farmers from suing the company after a pesticide

Pesticide

Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...

 developed by Dow allegedly caused damages to the farmers' crops.

Prior to working with Farmworker Justice, Davis worked to reform the H-2A program

H-2A Visa

An H-2A visa allows a foreign national entry into the U.S. for temporary or seasonal agricultural work. There are several requirements of the employer in regards to this visa. The H-2A temporary agricultural program establishes a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of...

, which allows foreign nationals entry into the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for temporary or seasonal agricultural work. The efforts of Davis and other labor advocates to monitor a particular instance in which a group of H-2A workers from the Caribbean were allegedly being exploited by the Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 sugar cane industry served as the basis for the film, H-2 Worker

H-2 Worker

H-2 Worker is a 1990 documentary film about the exploitation of workers in Florida's sugar cane industry. It was directed by Stephanie Black, and won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for documentaries in the 1990 festival.-External links:...

, which won the award for 'Best Documentary' at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

.

Personal life

Davis was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....

 in Pennsylvania and received a law degree from the Columbus School of Law

Columbus School of Law

The Columbus School of Law, also known as CUA Law, is the law school of The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C..Over 900 Juris Doctor students attend CUA Law. Incoming classes are typically composed of two to three hundred students, including day and night programs. Around 3,500...

 at Catholic University

The Catholic University of America

The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...

 in 1978. She lived in Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

 with her husband and son and died of breast cancer

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

in December, 2008.