Collection Documents

John P. Davis Documents

Welcome to the John P. Davis Collection on-line repository.

©2006 John Preston Davis Collection for African and African-American Documentation
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Personal letters and pictures are subject

to the copyright restriction of the John P. Davis Collection

Let Us Build a National Negro Congress

by John P. Davis

NNC Document Cover

The Frederick Douglass Cover Page of Davis' Let Us build a Naitonal Negro Congress

NNC Document

Let Us Build a National Negro Congress written by John P. Davis 1936

President Eisenhower's Letter

March 28, 1955 Letter from President Eisenhower. The irony of the date of this letter is that my grandfather is dining at the Whitehouse in the night and testifying before Senator McCarthy and the Committe on Unamerican activities by day.

Mike Davis' Vietnam Article

Mike Davis' Vietnam coverage of the African-American Veteran

Mike Davis Article

Mike Davis' Vietnam coverage of the African-American Vet

Mike Davis in the Washingtonian

Mike Davis in the Washingtonian Capital Comment

Ruth DeMond Brooks Obituary

Ruth DeMond Brook's Obituary

Ruth DeMOnd Brooks Obituary

Washington Star Article

Washington Star Article in 1981 referencing the Editorial that was sharply crititcal of John P. Davis legally challenging the District's dual school system when the principal of Noyes Elementary refused to admit his son 5- year -old Michael DeMond Davis. Thirty four years later, Michael DeMond Davis, the son of the lawyer who was criticized in The Star editorial was hired as a Star reporter.

Mike Davis letter to his family

Mike Davi sletter to his family from Thailand during the Vietnam War.

A letter to Mike Davis

A letter to Mike Davis

A Letter to Mike Davis from Bates College

John P. Davis letter to his son Mike Davis

Letter to Mike Davis from his father John P. Davis

Mike Davis in Vietnam

Mike Davis in Vietnam

Mike Davis in Vietnam Article

Mike Davis in Vietnam Article

Mike Davis in Vietnam Article

Mike Davis in Vietnam Article : Ruth DeMond Brooks Aunt) and Miriam Judith Davis ( Sister) see Mike Davis. The Baltimore Afro American covers his departure.

A Letter to Mike Davis

A letter to Mike Davis from the Washington Star Editor

Mike Davis

Picture of MIke Davis going to work

Citation Honoring Mike Davis

A Citatation Honoring Mike Davis from the District's Board of Education

Oue World Sales Campaign

Pierre Taylor was the circulation manager for Our World Magazine. This is itenary for the sales and ad in the south.

Our World Circulation Campaign

Pierre Taylor was the circulation manager for Our World Magazine. This is itenary for the sales and ad in the south.

George W. Bush Inaugural Invitation

OW Circulation

Pierre Taylor was the circulation manager for Our World Magazine. This is itenary for the sales and ad in the south.

Rethinking Civli Rights Lawyering

Rethinking Civli Rights Lawyering by Kenneth Mack

The Negro and the TVA

The Negro and the Tennessee Valley Authority

Senator Chambliss Letter to Dollie Davis

During Dollie Davis' battle with lung cancer, the family received so many letter of well wishes. This letter was very special because Senator Chambliss was a cancer survivor.

Letter from Georgia Govenor Purdue

A letter of well wishes to the Davis family regarding Dollie Davis's illness.

John P. Davis

Announcement John P. Davis made editor of Bates College Newspaper

Court Backs White School Ban on Negro

Washington Post Article indicating the court upheld the decision to maitain a dual school system. See the earlier Washington Star Article. U.S. Congress Appropriated funds to build a school in Front of Davis' house.

Bates Debate Team

1925 Announcement that John P. Davis will debate at Oxford, St. andrews and Edingburg.

National Negro Congress

NNC Article

Negro Congress Split on the Red Issue

Many moderates took exception of the NNC’s aggressive turn to the left. The Urban League's Granger fretted that the NNC had become a "subsidiary" of the CIO. A. Philip Randolph contended the NNC had abdicated its independence to New Deal democrats on the one hand and to the Soviet Union, via the CPUSA, on the other hand. Ralph Bunche became disillusioned and Davis was charged with holding all the disparate groups together. Davis countered red-baiting, by contrasting Randolph's allegiance with the blatantly racist American Federation of Labor (AFL) to the NNC's alliance with the CIO. At the 1940 convention these issues came to a head and Randolph resigned from the NNC. Davis lost Randolph as president and was at odds with the communist party. He was very unhappy in 1942 and decided to leave the NNC at the beginning of 1943. The NNC continued for another four years as a communist front organization without Davis and his connections. When people read the history of the NNC, the read the way in which it ended. By the time it goes out of existence, the NNC is on the Attorney General’s list for subversive organizations. Historians look back on the NNC as just another communist front organization. This may have been the case from 1943 to 1947, and may have been true for some of the NNC’s local councils from 1941 to 1947. However, the NNC was the most radical democratic civil-rights organization black America had seen in this century.