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 Beginning her varied career with teaching credentials at the age of 15, Henrietta Vinton Davis, who Marcus Garvey proclaimed the “Greatest Woman of the Negro race today” was born in Baltimore, Maryland on August 15th 1860. Growing up in Washington D.C., having taught in Maryland and Louisiana, Davis became the first Recorder of Deeds for Washington D.C. in 1878, a position that would later be held by Fredrick Douglass.  In recognition of her accomplishments, Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty declared Monday August 25, 2008 Henrietta Vinton Davis Day. The day was marked memorial service in her honor.

                 In a lifetime peppered with historic firsts, Davis would become the first African American woman of the stage. With her abilities knowing no bounds, her talent for oratory catapulted Davis into the roles of public speaker, elocutionist, impressionist, dramatic reader, activist, and business owner.

                 In the role of activist, Davis helped bolster the political profile of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association-African Communities League. She also held the position of a signatory of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro People World and was director of the black trade shipping line, the Black Star Line. Serving the elected post of the 4th Assistant General of the UNIA-ACL, Davis helped to establish its territories throughout the Caribbean islands.

                 Due to her contribution to perceived descent in Garvey’s association, Davis became the president of the competing UNIA Inc. 

                 On November 23rd 1943, Henrietta Vinton Davis was 83 when she joined the leaders and activist that passed on before her.          

                 While her status and accomplishments were absent from most history books, D.C. Mayor Fenty with the help of the Internet, not only accomplished spreading the news about her contributions, he also acquired a grave marker for Davis’ final resting place at National Harmony Memorial Park in Largo, Maryland, and resurrected her memory in the curiosity of those seeking to learn of her accomplishments.

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