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Creator
Davis, Jessica Bell
Call number
Sc MG 620
Physical description
1.04 linear feet (3 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], Jessica B. Davis Key Women of America files, Sc MG 620, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

This collection consists of personal and professional papers of Jessica B. Davis; the majority of the collection contains materials related to Davis's role as president of the Westchester Branch of Key Women of America. Most of this material is comprised of correspondence, reports, event programs, brochures, speeches written by Davis, and clippings on the branch and its members. Additionally, there is some material pertaining to Davis's other affiliations, mostly involving her work with A. Philip Randolph. There is a limited amount of personal material, which includes resumes, some correspondence, and papers on her brother and daughter.

Biographical/historical information

Jessica Bell Davis (?-1991), a long-serving president of the Westchester Branch of Key Women of America, was the daughter of an official of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, James H. Bell, and also the wife of the union official, Clarence E. Davis. Additionally, she was a teacher and worked with A. Philip Randolph for forty-five years. Davis was a member of St. Catherine A.M.E. Zion Church in New Rochelle, New York.

Key Women of America was founded by Bertha Nelms Harris in 1954, initially to assist in securing foster and adoptive homes for homeless children in New York City. Later the organization became involved in many other community projects, such as prevention of drug addiction; hospital volunteer services; job development; prison visits; big sister prison release program; children uplift (program for pre-school children); awarding of scholarships, etc. Beginning in New York, this organization grew nationally and then internationally to some forty-six branches in the U.S., Aruba, Liberia, Nigeria and Bermuda.

Scope and arrangement

The Jessica B. Davis Key Women of America files are arranged in three series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Jessica B. Davis, ca. 1997.

Separated material

Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.

Related Material

Also in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture:

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters collection, Sc MG 426

Key Women of America records, Sc MG 252

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor