Benjamin J. Davis
Encyclopedia
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...
, representing 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...
, in 1943. He faced increasing opposition from outside Harlem after the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and in 1951 was convicted of violating the Smith Act
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
and sentenced to five years in prison.
Born and raised in Dawson, Georgia, Davis attended the high school program of Morehouse College
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....
in Atlanta, then pursued higher education at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, where he secured his B.A. degree. He graduated from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in 1930 and worked briefly as a journalist. before starting a law practice in Atlanta.
Davis became radicalized while representing Angelo Herndon
Angelo Herndon
Angelo Braxton Herndon was an African American labor organizer arrested and convicted for insurrection after attempting to organize black industrial workers in 1932 in Atlanta, Georgia...
, a 19 year old black communist who had been charged with violating a Georgia law against "attempting to incite insurrection" (Davis says that he had been trying to organize a farm workers' union). During the trial, Davis faced angry, racist opposition from the judge and public, and became impressed with the rhetoric and bravery of Herndon and his colleagues. Upon concluding arguments, he joined the Communist Party
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
himself. Herndon was convicted and sentenced to 18–20 years in jail, though he was soon freed when Georgia's insurrection law was declared unconstitutional.
Benjamin Davis moved to Harlem in 1935, where he worked as editor of the Negro Liberator, and later of the Communist Party's newspaper, the Daily Worker. In 1943, he was elected under the then-used system of proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
to fill a city council seat being vacated by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was an American politician and pastor who represented Harlem, New York City, in the United States House of Representatives . He was the first person of African-American descent elected to Congress from New York and became a powerful national politician...
, who was leaving the council in order to run for congress.
Davis was reelected twice to his city council seat but, in 1949, he was expelled from the council upon being convicted of conspiring to overthrow the federal government under the Smith Act
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
a World War II-era charge that rested on Davis' association with the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
. His eviction from the council was required under state law; his former colleagues then passed a resolution celebrating his ouster. He appealed the conviction for two years, without success.
After three years and four months in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
, Davis was freed. In the subsequent years, Davis engaged in a speaking tour of college campuses and remained politically active, promoting an agenda of civil rights and economic populism. Davis' 1962 speaking circuit drew crowds at schools such as Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Amherst
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, Oberlin
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
and the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. The City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
ironically, right in the New York council district he represented in the 1940sbarred Davis from speaking on its campus. After a student protest, Davis was able to speak on the street. He was close to communist party chairman William Z. Foster
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
, and a staunch supporter of Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, publicly defending the Soviet invasion of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in 1956.
Davis was charged with violating the Internal Security Act
McCarran Internal Security Act
The Internal Security Act of 1950, , also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act or the McCarran Act, after Senator Pat McCarran , is a United States federal law of the McCarthy era. It was passed over President Harry Truman's veto...
in 1962. He died before the case came to trial. Davis was running for State Senate on the People's Party
People's Party
The People's Party, Peoples Party, or Popular Party, is any of several political parties claiming to speak for the people.People's Parties in various countries run the gamut from left to right...
ticket at the time of his death from lung cancer in 1964.
While in prison, Davis had written notes for a memoir. These were confiscated by prison authorities and not released until after his death. The notes were compiled into a quasi-autobiography under the title Communist Councilman From Harlem.
He was the author of many articles and pamphlets, including "Must Negro Americans Wait?", "The Negro People in the Struggle for Peace and Freedom", "Upsurge in the South", "The Path of Negro Liberation", "Why I Am A Communist" and "Ben Davis on the McCarran Act".
External links
- "Davis, Benjamin Jefferson, Jr. (1903-1964)"an online King Encyclopedia entry.
- "The Legacy of Benjamin J. Davis"A People's Weekly WorldPeople's Weekly WorldThe People's World is a news web site associated with the Communist Party USA.The People's World / Mundo Popular, formerly the People's Weekly World / Nuestro Mundo is a national, grassroots weekly newspaper and the direct descendant of the Daily Worker, founded in 1924...
tribute by Jarvis TynerJarvis TynerJarvis Tyner is an American activist and the current Executive Vice Chair of the Communist Party USA. He is a resident of Manhattan, New York City. In 1972 and 1976, he ran for Vice President of the United States of the CPUSA.-Biography:...
. - http://www.nathanielturner.com/benjaminjdavisbio.htm