Enoch Douglas Davis

Enoch Douglas Davis (1908—1985) was an American reverend, author and civil rights activist who spent the majority of his life in the town of St. Petersburg, Florida.

[1] As a civil rights activist, his played an integral role in ending citywide segregation and empowering the black American community; it is largely due to his contributions that St. Petersburg was spared much of the race-related brutality that occurred in many cities in America's southern states in the 1950s and 1960s.

[1][2][5][7][9][10][11] His family was large, with sixteen children including himself as the youngest, but he claimed to remember to only nine of his brothers and sisters, some of whom “died early;” one of them killed by lightning.

[1][2] Davis would often have other farmers in his neighborhood ask him to drop corn for them as he was quite skilled at it, and would be paid 10 cents for every boll weevil he caught and brought back alive.

[1][2] Many of the family's neighbors and acquaintances, including sharecroppers and Davis's first teacher—who was also a preacher—carried weapons on them in case of attack, often by the white owners of their land.

[1][2] Davis's oldest brother, unwilling to take abuse from these white landowners, left home as a young man and traveled up north, never to return except to see their father Abram before his death; soon afterwards Davis's brother himself died and was buried in Brooklyn, New York.

[2] His jobs included maintaining the office and delivering medicine before and after school, and sometimes accompanying him to make house calls in the rural areas late at night.

[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.

[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.

[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][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.

[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.

Davis, this St. Pete church assisted the community both socially and spiritually as they fought against Black discrimination and stigma.

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."

up to 7,000 green benches were in public areas of the city and offered a social location for people to congregate [1].

These are the discriminations faced by the black community that Enoch Davis advocated against [2] Archived 2018-11-28 at the Wayback Machine.

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.

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.

In 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] In 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 [3][4].

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.

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] After 52 years of service, Rev.

Davis retired in March 1984 at the age of 75, making him the longest-serving pastor in St. Petersburg's history at the time, and was succeeded by Rev.

Davis died at age 77 at Bayfront Medical Center after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

[1][5][12][16] His funeral service, open to the public, was held at Bethel Community Baptist Church on October 5, 1985, with a dozen speakers addressing a crowd of 560 mourners.

In all realistic terms, the accomplishments of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and the legislation passed…and the softening of the hearts and minds of many whites have all contributed to the cause of human equality and brotherhood.”[20] Adams, Calvin.

“A pair of Pinellas County giants are moving on.” Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, FL), Mar.