Russell Howard Davis (1897-1976) was an educator, community activist, and historian who wrote the first comprehensive history of the African American community of Cleveland, Ohio. Born on October 29, 1897, Davis spent his entire life in Cleveland. He graduated from Central High School in 1916, and received his bachelor of arts degree from Adelbert College in 1920. As a student, Davis was an all-scholastic football player, basketball player, and track team member, the only African American on both his high school and college teams.
After receiving his B.S. degree from the Case School of Applied Sciences in 1922, Davis spent five years as a chemical engineer for the Grasselli Chemical Company. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities for blacks in his field, Davis became a teacher in 1928, first at Kennard Junior High School, where he taught math and sciences, and then, from 1931 to 1940, at Central High School. In 1933 Davis received his master's degree in education from Western Reserve University. He became the first African American secondary school principal in Cleveland in 1940 when he was appointed to the post at Central Junior High School. He then became principal of Rawlings Junior High school in 1951, and Harry E. Davis Junior High School in 1962, a school that was named for his brother, a prominent Cleveland attorney and state legislator. Russell Davis retired from the Cleveland school system in 1965.
Harry Davis (1882-1955) served as civil service commissioner for the city of Cleveland. He was the second African American in Ohio to be elected to the office of state senator in 1947. In that capacity he was responsible for the passage of legislation improving statewide employment practices. As a longtime member of the Masons, he was interested in the history of black freemasonry in America and published
Russell Davis was also active in community affairs. In 1943 he headed the Central Area Social Study of the Welfare Federation of Cleveland. This study resulted in the establishment of the Central Area Community Council. He was one of the founders of the Neighborhood Settlement Association, and served on its executive committee from 1948 to 1954. Davis was a founder and the first president of the Glenville Area Community Council, and a trustee and treasurer of Karamu House. He served as a trustee for the Family Services Association, the Garden Valley Neighborhood House, and the Maternal health Association, and was a member of advisory committees for Case School of Applied Sciences, Metropolitan General hospital, and the Girl Scouts.
Following his retirement, Russell Davis served as vice president of the Cleveland chapter of the Ohio Retired Teachers Association, and as Secretary-Treasurer of Seniors of Ohio, Inc. He chaired the Seniors of Ohio nutrition committee, which conducted a study to develop a plan for implementing the federal nutrition program for the elderly. He was appointed to the board of the Cuyahoga County title VII Corporation, which ran the county's nutrition program. In 1966 Davis ran an unsuccessful campaign for the state senate. From 1967 to 1969 he served on the Ohio State Board of Education, and in 1970 was appointed to the Bratenahl Board of Education, a post to which he was subsequently elected. In 1969 Davis was voted Senior Citizen of the Year by the Cuyahoga Senior Citizens Council.
Davis was also an historian and lecturer on African American history. Drawing partly from his brother Harry's unfinished manuscript on blacks in Cleveland, Davis wrote
Davis married Claire Richardson (d. 1977), a Cleveland school teacher, in 1923. They had one son, Russell Lee Davis (1924-1933).
The Russell Howard Davis Papers, 1897-1977 and undated, consist of family records and histories, correspondence, organizational records and notes, manuscripts by Davis and other authors, and miscellaneous printed materials and newspaper clippings.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of the African American community in Cleveland, Ohio, during the twentieth century. The collection outlines the interests and activities of a prominent black Clevelander and black historian. The information in this collection provides the researcher with an overview of the history of African Americans in Cleveland, as seen through the eyes of a black historian and activist.
Davis was active in the Cleveland school system and as a member of the Ohio State Board of Education and the Bratenahl Board of Education. Copies of many of the legal papers filed in the Bratenahl Board of Education vs. the Ohio State Board of Education school system merger controversy are included in the correspondence.
Davis helped to establish, and contributed his time to, many community service organizations. As such, and because of his interest as an historian, he was acquainted with many prominent African American leaders and educators in Cleveland, including Charles P. Lucas, the first executive secretary of the Cleveland branch of the NAACP. Personal papers of Lucas are included in this collection and outline his activities in the NAACP, as the first black member of the Cleveland Transit System Board, as co-author of the Cleveland Fair Employment Practices Act, and as a member of the State Board of Education.
Davis was also a personal friend of George W. Brown, a professor at the London School of Economics, and author of
The collection is arranged in four series.
All photographs have been removed to the WRHS photograph and print collection.
Processed by Leslie Ann Solotko in 1987.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4031 Russell Howard Davis Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gifts of Russell Davis in 1975-1976 and the Estate of Claire Davis in 1978.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.