Henrietta Vinton Davis
Encyclopedia
Henrietta Vinton Davis (August 15, 1860 - November 23, 1941) was an American
elocutionist, dramatist, and impersonator
.
Lady Davis was proclaimed by Marcus Garvey
to be the "greatest woman of the (African) race today". She has come to be considered the physical, intellectual, and spiritual link between the Abolitionist movement of Frederick Douglass
and the African Redemption Movement of the UNIA-ACL and Marcus Garvey.
Henrietta Vinton Davis was born in Baltimore to musician Mansfield Vinton and Mary Ann (Johnson) Davis. Shortly after her birth her father died. Within six months her mother was remarried to influential Baltimorean George A. Hackett. Hackett was a member of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
and worked to defeat the 1859 Jacobs bill which intended to enslave the children of free Africans and deport their parents from the state of Maryland
.
Hackett died in April 1870 after a short illness. Upon his death Mary Ann Hackett moved with her daughter Henrietta to Washington, D.C.
, where Henrietta received her public school education. At the early age of fifteen she passed the necessary examination and was awarded the position of a teacher in the public schools of Maryland.
After a period of time teaching in Maryland, she went to teach in the state of Louisiana
. She later returned to Maryland to care for her ailing mother bearing with her the certificate of the Board of Education. In 1878, and only in her late teens, she became the first African-American woman employed by the Office of the Recorder of Deeds
in Washington, D.C.
under George A. Sheridan
as a copyist. In 1881 Frederick Douglass
was appointed Recorder of Deeds.
, New York
state, Boston, and "more than a dozen of the larger cities of the Eastern and Middle States". During the summer of 1883 Miss Davis (under the management of James Monroe Trotter
and William H Dupree) made a tour of Boston, Worcester
, and New Bedford, Massachusetts
; Providence
and Newport, Rhode Island
; Hartford
and New Haven, Connecticut
; and New York City
, Albany
and Saratoga
, New York.
During this time she continued perfecting her craft under Professor Edwin Lawrence of New York and Rachael Noah of Boston. She also attended the Boston School of Oratory.
Her performances consisted of a diverse spectrum of works from Paul Lawrence Dunbar's Negro dialects to such works as "Romeo and Juliet"; "As you like it"; "Mary Queen of Scots"; "Cleopatra's Dying Speech"; "The Battle" by Sciller; and "How Tom Sawyer Got His Fence Whitewashed" by Mark Twain
. She is considered the first African American
to have made an attempt at Shakesperean delineations after Ira Aldridge
. On January 17, 1884 she appeared before a crowded house in Melodeon Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio
. In 1893 she started her own company in Chicago
, travelled to the Caribbean
, and collaborated on writing Our Old Kentucky Home with distinguished journalist and future Garveyite John Edward Bruce
.
During this period she was a supporter of the Populist Party
. Later she backed the Socialist Party
.
. In 1919, she accepted Garvey's invitation to speak at the Palace Casino in Harlem
, NYC. She decided to give up her career to work with Garvey and the UNIA-ACL, becoming the UNIA's first International Organizer, a director of the Black Star Line
and the second Vice-President of the corporation.
At the UNIA-ACL convention in August 1920, Miss Davis was one of the signatories of the The Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World
. Among the 54 declarations made in this document are resolutions that the colors red, black, and green are to be the symbolic colors of the African race and the term "nigger
" cease being used. Furthermore, it demands that the word "Negro
" be written with a capital "N". During the same convention the High Potentate of the UNIA conveyed upon her the title "Lady Commander of the Grand Order of the Nile".
In 1921, Lady Davis rose in rank to become the fourth assistant President-General of the UNIA-ACL. She established UNIA-ACL divisions in Cuba
; Guadeloupe
; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
; Port-au-Prince
, Haiti
; Trinidad and Tobago
and Jamaica
.
Unseated by Garvey in June 1923 in an effort to quell dissent in the UNIA's New York headquarters, she was reelected during the August 1924 convention. On August 25, 1924 she chaired the convention meeting as the Fourth-Assistant President General of the UNIA. In December, she traveled to Liberia
, West Africa
as the only woman in the UNIA delegation seeking consent to establish a UNIA-ACL colony in Liberia. In that same year she was a member of a committee which delivered petitions to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
seeking Garvey's exoneration on mail fraud charges. At the 1929 International Convention of the UNIA she was elected UNIA Secretary General.
On November 23, 1941 she died in Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, D.C.
, at the age of eighty-one years. She is buried in National Harmony Memorial Park in Largo, Maryland
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
elocutionist, dramatist, and impersonator
Impersonator
An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for someone to be an impersonator, some common ones being as follows:...
.
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
to be the "greatest woman of the (African) race today". She has come to be considered the physical, intellectual, and spiritual link between the Abolitionist movement of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
and the African Redemption Movement of the UNIA-ACL and Marcus Garvey.
Henrietta Vinton Davis was born in Baltimore to musician Mansfield Vinton and Mary Ann (Johnson) Davis. Shortly after her birth her father died. Within six months her mother was remarried to influential Baltimorean George A. Hackett. Hackett was a member of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
and worked to defeat the 1859 Jacobs bill which intended to enslave the children of free Africans and deport their parents from the state of Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
.
Hackett died in April 1870 after a short illness. Upon his death Mary Ann Hackett moved with her daughter Henrietta to 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....
, where Henrietta received her public school education. At the early age of fifteen she passed the necessary examination and was awarded the position of a teacher in the public schools of Maryland.
After a period of time teaching in Maryland, she went to teach in the state of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. She later returned to Maryland to care for her ailing mother bearing with her the certificate of the Board of Education. In 1878, and only in her late teens, she became the first African-American woman employed by the Office of the Recorder of Deeds
Recorder of deeds
Recorder of deeds is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over that property.-Background:...
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....
under George A. Sheridan
George A. Sheridan
George Augustus Sheridan was an American politician, most notably serving in the House of Representatives for one term...
as a copyist. In 1881 Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
was appointed Recorder of Deeds.
Dramatic performances
Within a year Miss Davis began her elocution and dramatic art education under the tutelage of Miss Marguerite E. Saxton of Washington. On April 25, 1883, she was introduced by the Honorable Frederick Douglass before a distinguished integrated audience. She went on to appear in New London, ConnecticutNew London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
state, Boston, and "more than a dozen of the larger cities of the Eastern and Middle States". During the summer of 1883 Miss Davis (under the management of James Monroe Trotter
James Monroe Trotter
James Monroe Trotter was born into slavery in Grand Gulf, Mississippi to a slave named Letitia and her master Richard S. Trotter. Letitia, along with her two sons, James Monroe and Charles Trotter, escaped on the Underground Railroad to Cincinnati, Ohio...
and William H Dupree) made a tour of Boston, Worcester
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
, and New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
; Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
and Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
; Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
and New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
; and 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...
, Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
and Saratoga
Saratoga, New York
Saratoga is a town in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 5,141 at the 2000 census. It is also the commonly used, but not official, name for the neighboring and much more populous city, Saratoga Springs. The major village in the town of Saratoga is Schuylerville which is...
, New York.
During this time she continued perfecting her craft under Professor Edwin Lawrence of New York and Rachael Noah of Boston. She also attended the Boston School of Oratory.
Her performances consisted of a diverse spectrum of works from Paul Lawrence Dunbar's Negro dialects to such works as "Romeo and Juliet"; "As you like it"; "Mary Queen of Scots"; "Cleopatra's Dying Speech"; "The Battle" by Sciller; and "How Tom Sawyer Got His Fence Whitewashed" by Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
. She is considered the first 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...
to have made an attempt at Shakesperean delineations after Ira Aldridge
Ira Aldridge
Ira Frederick Aldridge , was an American stage actor who made his career largely on the London stage and in Europe, especially in Shakespearean roles...
. On January 17, 1884 she appeared before a crowded house in Melodeon Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. In 1893 she started her own company in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, travelled to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, and collaborated on writing Our Old Kentucky Home with distinguished journalist and future Garveyite John Edward Bruce
John Edward Bruce
John Edward Bruce, also known as Bruce Grit or J. E. Bruce-Grit , born a slave in Maryland, United States, became a journalist, historian, writer, orator, civil rights activist and Pan-African nationalist...
.
During this period she was a supporter of the Populist Party
Populist Party (United States)
The People's Party, also known as the "Populists", was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1891. It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away...
. Later she backed the Socialist Party
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
.
UNIA-ACL membership
While traveling in the Caribbean, Davis learned of the work of Marcus GarveyMarcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
. In 1919, she accepted Garvey's invitation to speak at the Palace Casino in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, NYC. She decided to give up her career to work with Garvey and the UNIA-ACL, becoming the UNIA's first International Organizer, a director of the Black Star Line
Black Star Line
The Black Star Line was a shipping line incorporated by Marcus Garvey, organizer of the Universal Negro Improvement Association . The shipping line was supposed to facilitate the transportation of goods and eventually African Americans throughout the African global economy...
and the second Vice-President of the corporation.
At the UNIA-ACL convention in August 1920, Miss Davis was one of the signatories of the The Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World
The Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World
The Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World was drafted and adopted at the Convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association held in New York City's Madison Square Garden on August 13, 1920. Marcus Garvey presided over the occasion as Chairman...
. Among the 54 declarations made in this document are resolutions that the colors red, black, and green are to be the symbolic colors of the African race and the term "nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
" cease being used. Furthermore, it demands that the word "Negro
Negro
The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
" be written with a capital "N". During the same convention the High Potentate of the UNIA conveyed upon her the title "Lady Commander of the Grand Order of the Nile".
In 1921, Lady Davis rose in rank to become the fourth assistant President-General of the UNIA-ACL. She established UNIA-ACL divisions in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
; Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
; Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
; Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
Unseated by Garvey in June 1923 in an effort to quell dissent in the UNIA's New York headquarters, she was reelected during the August 1924 convention. On August 25, 1924 she chaired the convention meeting as the Fourth-Assistant President General of the UNIA. In December, she traveled to 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...
, West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
as the only woman in the UNIA delegation seeking consent to establish a UNIA-ACL colony in Liberia. In that same year she was a member of a committee which delivered petitions to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
seeking Garvey's exoneration on mail fraud charges. At the 1929 International Convention of the UNIA she was elected UNIA Secretary General.
Separation from Garvey and UNIA-ACL
By 1932 she broke with Garvey and became first Assistant President General of the rival UNIA, Inc. In the 1934 convention she was elected President of the rival organization.On November 23, 1941 she died in Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, 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....
, at the age of eighty-one years. She is buried in National Harmony Memorial Park in Largo, Maryland
Largo, Maryland
Largo is an unincorporated area and census designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, in the United States. The population was 8,408 at the 2000 census....
.
External links
- The Henrietta Vinton Davis Memorial Foundation
- The Official UNIA-ACL website
- Marcus Garvey proclaimed her the "greatest woman of the (African) race today."
- Cleveland Gazette 12 May 1888
- Comparing the Role of Women in the Garvey Movement
- People & Events: Women in the Garvey Movement
- Letter from Henrietta Vinton Davis to George Myers 26 January 1899
- Letter from Henrietta Vinton Davies to George Myers 28 January 1897
- Cleveland Gazette 9 February 1884
- Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis, Tragedienne, Cleveland Gazette, 24 April 1886
- Our Old Kentucky Home
- Henrietta Vinton Davis House
- HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS AND THE GARVEY MOVEMENT by William Seraile