User:Dfpotts/sandbox

First Draft--10/23/18

Enoch Douglas Davis

I will not be adding any new information to this section because there is very little further information about his early life. I plan to add more information in this section about the extent of segregation St. Petersburg was experiencing during the time Davis was fighting for civil rights. I believe this will exaggerate the feat he conquered as an advocate. I would eventually like to add more information about his family and if they also made a difference in the city. Hopefully I can find more information about how he impacted later years in St. Petersburg as well. I am also adding a photo of Enoch Douglas Davis http://theweeklychallenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Enoch-Davis.jpg I will not be putting any information in here. I will be adding my citations to this section.
 * Early Life
 * St. Petersburg and Community Baptist
 * Later Years
 * References
 * Bibliography

Enoch Douglas Davis

St. Petersburg and Community Baptist

On November 1925, Davis’s family left Burke County and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida when he was a teenager to join his oldest sister and her family.[1][2][5][7][9][10][12] His first job was with the Georgia Engineering Co., in which he paved the streets with Augusta blocks and earned $21 a week.[1][2][5] It would not be his only job; he also unloaded ships at the docks at night, as well as spray citrus trees, write insurance claims and work in cafeterias.[1][2][5] During the spring and summer after work he liked to play baseball, but always tried to make it to church every Sunday if it could be helped.[2] As he would recall about his neighborhood in his memoir, “Those were great days…Things were different. We were not afraid of each other. We could leave doors of our houses unlocked and were seldom disappointed. Police officers had no reason to be afraid, although they were often brutal to blacks without provocation.”.[1][2][5]

Bethel Community Baptist Church, then known as Second Bethel, was established in St. Petersburg in 1923 on 16th St. and 5th Ave. South.[1][2][9] Before becoming the church’s pastor he had several jobs within the church, as an usher, choir boy, clerk, Sunday school teacher and more.[2] He gave his first sermon there at the age of 21 in May 1930; he would get his license to preach later that year in October.[1][2] After the previous pastor resigned, he was approached by the deacons to apply to become the next pastor, which he initially refused because there were other applicants that he thought had more experience than him.[2] He finally consented, according to him, when he found encouragement through a pamphlet that read, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”[2] He was ordained on December 8, 1931, and began his service as Second Bethel’s fourth pastor in January 1932.[1][2][5][7][8][9][10]

Bethel would be his only charge throughout his career as a reverend.[9][10][13] Although he was handed offers from more affluent churches to work for them, Davis rejected each one; he submitted his resignation once in response to an offer but later recanted after a 30-day tabling period.[13] “All I could hear from the Lord was, ‘I have given you the opportunity; you also have a congregation in St. Petersburg where you are loved and respected […]’…I chose to remain on the Bethel Trail because I wanted to see more changes at Bethel and in St. Petersburg.”[13]

Davis married a schoolteacher, Hazel.[1][5][11] They were together for 40 years, up until his death, and had one son, LeRoy Davis, and one daughter Elizabeth Davis (later, Elizabeth Ellis).[1][5][11] He later became a grandfather to at least one girl.[5]

Even after taking over as pastor, Davis still wanted to further his education.[2] He traveled across Florida and back into Georgia to earn his degrees, and frequently found himself on the receiving end of discrimination at road stops or harassment on the highway by patrolmen because of his race.[2] In the way of education, he earned his Associate in Arts degree from Florida Normal and Industrial Memorial College in St. Augustine (which he helped to found and whose board he served on), and then his Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College in Tallahassee, majoring in philosophy and religion.[2][5][9][10][11][12][14] He also conducted theological studies at Garrett Biblical Institute in Evanston, Illinois, and in 1964, he earned his master's degree in Religious Education from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.[2][5][9][10][11][12][14] He attended University of South Florida and earned a certificate to teach.[2][5][10]

Giving and caring perhaps to a fault, Davis had a tendency to loan money to those who asked for it, even if it was not in his best interests to do so, sometimes going so far as to make arrangements to get money if he did not have it to give.[15][16] He was asked by the deacons of his church to stop.[15]

Under Davis, Second Bethel, which was eventually renamed Bethel Community Baptist Church, expanded in both its congregation—from 180 to over 700 members—and in space as an educational building was established in the late 1940s for blacks at the cost of $50,000.[1][5][9][10][14] The church boosted voter registration and opened green benches for blacks, as well as opened a credit union in 1953, “to help its members help themselves.”[1][5][10][17] Under him, Bethel Community adopted a “Policy on Open Membership” in 1962 that rejected “…all types of discrimination and segregation,” declaring its doors “open to all who would subscribe to its Articles of Faith…that church membership should never be [based on] one’s race.”[5][15]

In 1951, Davis was elected as Moderator for the West Coast District Baptist Association in Florida and changed the terms of service for Moderators from lifelong to four-year rotations.[5][9][10][11][15] He served as a Moderator for a total of 17 non-consecutive years and three years as the first Vice-Moderator.[11][15] He was also affiliated with the Melrose Park branch of YMCA, the Council on Human Relations, the City Council’s Minority Housing Committee, and the first School Board Committee on School Desegregation in Pinellas County.[2][5][9][10][11][14] In 1956, he worked with the Citizens Cooperative Committee to integrate the city bus lines and end employment discrimination.[11]

In January 1966, Davis was elected as the first black president for the St. Petersburg Council of Churches; he served for two terms.[1][5][6][10][11][14] He once campaigned for the District 4 City Council post in 1969, but lost to incumbent Horace Williams, 20,462 votes to 14,466.[1][11][18][19] His wife Hazel said, “His purpose was to help people. Not politics.”[1]

Davis concerned himself with the issues of poverty and economic struggle as well as race relations and black equality, believing the issues to be intertwined.[2][8][15][20] In August 1971, Bethel Community Heights, an 84-unit low-rent housing project for blacks and whites of low and middle income, was established on 15th St. South under Davis’s leadership, a decision that he described as “a decision of serious proportions” and one that he made after he dreamed of standing over a hole and seeing a man with a wheelbarrow pour concrete into it before he jumped into it.[1][5][7][10][14][15][17][20]

Rev. Davis admitted, “I had in mind to serve the Lord. But to become an activist, no.”[1] Still, he has been repeatedly called “one of [St. Petersburg’s] foremost civil rights activists.”[4][8] He remained a firm advocate for nonviolence in acquiring equal rights.[1][2][5][7][13][15][20] '''With the help of Rev. Davis, this St. Pete church assisted the community both socially and spiritually as they fought against Black discrimination and stigma. The extent of St. Petersburg segregation should be further explained. Under the laws and regulations of the time, "every aspect of African American life in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and their surrounding cities was segregated." Black students were forced to attend different schools than white students, and they were severely underfunded. In fact, "Blacks could only be cared for at “Black only” hospitals, and other public and private establishments like restaurants and beaches were often segregated – if blacks were allowed in at all." During this same time, St. Petersburg was gaining fame as the tourist location with the green benches. up to 7,000 green benches were in public areas of the city and offered a social location for people to congregate. In modern St. Petersburg, many establishments are named after this iconic bench. However, these benches were notoriously for whites only. The Police "kept black residents off the benches." These are the discriminations faced by the black community that Enoch Davis advocated against. '''In addition to ending bus and school segregation and employee discrimination, Davis worked to win voting rights for blacks, open the city’s beaches and public pools to the black community, and he led his share of sit-ins at lunch counters and theaters.[5][7][8][10][12][13][14][16][17] Particularly noteworthy are his involvements with the Freedom Riders and the local sanitation workers’ strikes.[12][13][15][16] When the Freedom Riders came to Florida in the late 1950s to protest interstate segregation laws, Rev. Davis allowed them to stay in his home and to use the church as headquarters, and with the help of his brother, the police and several neighbors, he offered them protection from agitated segregationists.[1][5][8][15][16] He earned several threats on his life for his civil rights work.[16] On an interview in 1984, he said, “I didn’t think about the risks then. Just the right.”[1]

He marched with the city’s sanitation workers who went on strike for 116 days in 1968, demanding better wages.[1][2][5][12][13][16] Sometimes the marches would be followed up by lootings and burnings by non-participants.[13] Said Rev. Lacy R. Harwell about this trying time: “Rev. Davis expanded his ministry beyond his congregation and took the whole town for his parish.”[1][2][5]

In 1979, Rev. Davis published his book, On The Bethel Trail.[1][2][5][8][10][13][15][17][20] The book chronicles the story of Davis’s ministry and his work in the civil rights movement, as well as presents his thoughts on religion and civil rights and makes mention of other influential black Americans.[2][5][8][10][13][15][17][20]

Rev. Davis earned many awards and accolades for his services. On May 1968, the St. Petersburg Bar Association made him the first black recipient of the Liberty Bell Award, for his “efforts to maintain law and order.”[10][11][14][21] In 1980 he was presented the National Conference of Christians and Jews’ Silver Medallion Brotherhood Award; upon receiving it he gave his thanks and pledged, “…we shall continue making installments on an unpayable debt.”[1][3][6][7] On September 1981, the city honored Davis with the opening of the Enoch Davis Center, a multipurpose community center with a library and science center, a 250-seat auditorium and offices.[1][4][8] '''This center has sense been a hub for community, culture and activism with a concentration on serving and advocating for St. Petersburg citizens. Davis called this “one of my greatest honors.”[8] In between, he received citations from the YMCA as a Christian Service Leader, the N.W. Collier Award from Florida Memorial College, citation from the United Negro College Fund for “voluntary service,” and citation from the Ambassador Club Inc. for “distinguished service.”[5][10][11] The church was also honored Davis greatly by adding an Educational Wing, new updated pews and an organ. His leadership at the church also sparked the building of a 84-unit housing project for low-income St. Petersburg residents.'''He remained humble throughout all of it; during one testimonial dinner, he reportedly admitted as he thanked the speakers that he “had difficulty figuring out who they were talking about so highly.”[7][17]

 Related Topics: 

In the city of St. Petersburg, until the year 1913, there was no hospital provided for black residents. There were designated black facilities for nearly every other need except medical help. In 1913, Mercy Hospital (St. Petersburg, Florida) of St. Petersburg began construction on he south side of town for African Americans in the area. The hospital opened in 1923 on 22nd St. South. Mercy Hospital later closed because of underfunding, but was a great accomplishment that attributed to the rights and medical health of the St. Petersburg African American community.

The Weekly Challenger is a St. Petersburg newspaper that was established in 1968. This newspaper provides stories and news concerning and aimed toward the national black community. This paper was aimed to fill a need in the black community of relevant news that was not commonly covered in other mainstream news sources. During the heat of St. Petersburg Civil Rights movements, this paper was able to update the unrepresented community of African Americans. Decades later, the newspaper has become digitized and still is producing engaging and useful articles weekly.

Located at 2240 9th Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712, the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum is located and stands as a tribute to strong black leaders and support black history. Carter G. Woodson, the museum's namesake, established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915. This, among various other accomplishments, established him as a large component in supporting racial equality. He was the first to advocated for Black History Week, which evolved into what is now Black History Month. The Carter G. Woodson African American Museum is St. Petersburg's tribute to his accomplishments and provides a place for African American history to be represented and celebrated.

Added References:

Divya Kumar (December 28th, 2017). “After 100 years, St. Petersburg’s green benches evoke history and a mixed legacy”. Tampa Bay Times.

Gwen Reese (November 9th, 2017). “I AM: Rev. Enoch Davis”. The Weekly Challenger.

Allen Buchanan (November 8, 2018). “A legacy of community service for 95 years”. The Weekly Challenger.

Joyce Johnson (September 18, 2014). “Enoch Davis Center: 33 years of service”. The Weekly Challenger.

Florida Holocaust Museum (August 1, 2015). “Beaches, Benches and Boycotts: The Civil Rights Movement in Tampa Bay”. The Florida Holocaust Museum.

'''Reflections:

Cross-reference your article (in its current state) with the guidelines provided for writing about the relevant area (history, biography, etc). Where does your article cohere with these guidelines? Where does it need work? This article does a very good job. It is clear and precise and full of relevant facts. There is a lot of information about his early life, career and later life. I see no huge errors in the content of the original article. Based on the Talk page for your article and/or the editorial notes at the top of the page, what are the major issues that need to be addressed in your article? In what ways do you plan to improve the article? If your article has multiple issues, will you need to focus on just one or a few to improve--and if so, how will you choose what to address? The problems I see in this article is not the 'what' but the 'why' as the original author did not offer much explanation as to why Davis carried out his actions. Hopefully I can shed some light on this. Are there gaps in your references list, or sources you think are still needed to strengthen your article? I don't see many gaps in the reference list. I will add my sources and hopefully that will make it more well rounded. What other items do you want to add to the finished article: An info box? An image (or images)? I would like to add several photographs, perhaps of Davis and his church.'''

Research notes, 9/25
Hi Dorothy! You've been assigned the article on Enoch Douglas Davis. Here are your research notes from 9/25:

You also noted that one challenge could be finding information on multiple sides of the story and that you were interested in studying civil rights in the religious community.
 * History of racial discrimination in St. Pete
 * Davis' direct challenges (people, laws)
 * kls;lfjsdlkj

Notes about what I would like to research:

why he dove into being a reverend?

Information about his two books

Toward the Promised Land

On the Bethel Trail

How he influenced the civil rights movement

More information about race-related brutality in 50s and 60s

“Under “Jim Crow” every aspect of African American life in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and their surrounding cities was segregated. “

“African American children had to attend segregated schools that were under-funded and often in disrepair. Blacks could only be cared for at “Black only” hospitals, and other public and private establishments like restaurants and beaches were often segregated – if blacks were allowed in at all. “

- https://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/event/beaches-benches-and-boycotts-the-civil-rights-movement-in-tampa-bay/

“The benches were installed, often in long rows. At one point, Arsenault estimated, there were as many as 7,000 of them in the city.”

“It was where you went to socialize”

“For years through the 1950s, police officers kept black residents off the benches”

“It was clearly known in the black community these benches were for white people”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/After-100-years-St-Petersburg-s-green-benches-evoke-history-and-a-mixed-legacy_163952236

11 awards an honors

More info about the Enoch Davis Center

His children, Leroy Davis, Elizabeth Davis

Wife, Hazel

Green benches for blacks?

How did he end bus, school and employee discrimination

AH Comments 10/04/18: It looks like you found a few sources to add to what is already in the article. Good work! You might want to try using the "Cite" tool here as it makes citations easier and cleaner.