[1] Matthew Simpson Davage on June 16, 1879, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, to parents Harriet (née Lee) and Rev.

[2][3] The family moved to New Orleans when he went to college, where his father served as the pastor for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

[5] Davage was business manager for the Southwestern Christian Advocate newspaper from 1905 to 1915.

[3] Within his lifetime, Davage observed the political changes from Black enslavement and being interposed, to a transformation towards the American civil rights movement.

[11] The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library has a photograph of Davage published in 1922.