Benjamin Jefferson Davis Jr. (September 8, 1903 – August 22, 1964), was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

lawyer and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

who was elected in 1943 to the

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, representing

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

. He faced increasing opposition from outside Harlem after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1949 he was among a number of communist leaders prosecuted for violating the Smith Act. He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.

Early years

Benjamin J. Davis Jr. – known to his friends as "Ben" – was born September 8, 1903, in

Dawson, Georgia Dawson is a city in and the county seat of Terrell County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,414 at the 2020 census. Incorporated on December 22, 1857, the city is named for Senator William Crosby Dawson. Dawson is part of t ...

to Benjamin Davis, Sr. and Jimmie W. Porter. The family moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in 1909, where Davis's father, "Big Ben" Davis, established a weekly black newspaper, the ''

Atlanta Independent ''The Atlanta Independent'' was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1903 to 1928. It was one of the first African-American newspapers in Atlanta. A Republican newspaper, it was started by Benjamin J. Davis, fa ...

.'' It was successful enough to provide a comfortable middle-class upbringing for his family. The elder Benjamin Davis emerged as a prominent black political leader and served as a member of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

for the state of Georgia."Benjamin Jefferson Davis Jr."
''Martin Luther King and the Global Freedom Struggle,'' Stanford University.William L. Patterson, ''Ben Davis: Crusader for Negro Freedom and Socialism.'' New York: New Century Publishers, 1967; p. 7. The younger Ben Davis Jr. attended the high school program of

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

in Atlanta. He left the South to study at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

, where he earned his B.A. in 1925. Davis continued his education at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, from which he graduated in 1929. Davis worked briefly as a journalist before starting a law practice in Atlanta in 1932.

Political career

Davis became radicalized through his role as defense attorney in the 1933 trial of

Angelo Herndon Angelo Braxton Herndon (May 6, 1913 in Wyoming, Ohio, Wyoming, Ohio – December 9, 1997 in Sweet Home, Arkansas, Sweet Home, Arkansas) was an African-American Labour movement, labor organizer arrested and convicted of insurrection after attempti ...

, a 19-year-old black

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

who had been charged with violating a Georgia law against "attempting to incite insurrection", because he tried to organize a farm workers' union. Davis asked the International Juridical Association to review his brief. During the trial, Davis faced angry, racist opposition from the judge and public. He was impressed with the rhetoric and bravery of Herndon and his colleagues. After giving concluding arguments, he joined the Communist Party himself. Herndon was convicted and sentenced to 18–20 years in jail. He was freed after April 26, 1937 when, by a 5-to-4 margin, the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled Georgia's Insurrection Law to be unconstitutional. Davis moved to

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

in 1935, joining the Great Migration of blacks out of the South to northern cities. He worked as editor of the Communist Party's newspaper targeted to African-Americans, ''The Negro Liberator.'' He later became editor of the CPUSA's official English-language daily, '' The Daily Worker.'' In 1943, Davis was elected under the then-used system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

to fill a city council seat being vacated by

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (November 29, 1908 – April 4, 1972) was an American Baptist pastor and politician who represented the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the United States House of Representatives from 1945 until 1971. He was t ...

to run for Congress. Davis was reelected in 1945, this time to a four-year term. Davis lost his 1949 bid for re-election due to a number of factors. First, two years earlier, New York had ceased to use proportional representation and Harlem was broken up into three districts, diluting the black vote. Second, Davis’s opponent in the new 21st district was journalist Earl Brown, a fusion candidate for the Democratic, Republican, and Liberal parties. Finally, in July 1948, Davis was charged with conspiring to overthrow the federal government under the Smith Acta World War II-era charge that rested on Davis's association with the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. He was tried along with eleven other defendants for their communist beliefs and party affiliation in the

Smith Act trials The Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders in New York City from 1949 to 1958 were the result of Federal government of the United States, US federal government prosecutions in the postwar period and during the Cold War between the Soviet Uni ...

. Paul Robeson, noted actor, singer, and civil rights activist publicly advocated for Davis and his fellow defendants. His conviction was announced on October 13, only a few weeks before the election. With only a month remaining in his last term, Davis was expelled from the city council, a requirement under state law. His former colleagues even passed a resolution celebrating his ouster. He appealed his conviction for two years all the way to the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, without success. On March 1, 1955, after serving three years and four months in the federal penitentiary in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

, Davis was freed."Benjamin Davis"
, Spartacus Educational. However, he was immediately transferred to the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to serve an additional 60-day term for contempt of court. He had appeared there in 1953 as a defense witness for another group of five Communists charged under the Smith Act, but was asked and refused to answer questions about unrelated individuals involved in the Communist Party’s National Commission of Negro Work. In 1957, the Supreme Court revisited the Smith Act and reversed itself in

Yates v. United States ''Yates v. United States'', 354 U.S. 298 (1957), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the First Amendment protected radical and reactionary speech, unless it posed a " clear and present danger." Background ...

, which held that the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

protected radical and reactionary speech, unless it posed a " clear and present danger." In 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 is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

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Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

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and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

.Jarvis Tyner
The Legacy of Benjamin J. Davis
''People's World,'' September 6, 2003. But the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

in the New York council district he represented in the 1940sbarred Davis from speaking on its campus in this period. After a student protest, Davis was allowed to speak outside, on the street. He was close to Communist Party chairman

William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a Political radicalism, radical American labor organizer and Communism, Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party US ...

. Davis continued to publicly defend the actions of the Soviet Union, including the Soviet invasion of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in 1956. In 1962 Davis was charged with violating the

Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to: *Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law *Internal Security Act (Singapore) *McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law *Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, renamed ...

. He died shortly before the case came to trial.

Death

Ben Davis died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in New York City on August 22, 1964. He was less than one month shy of his 61st birthday at the time of his death, and was in the midst of a campaign for

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

on the People's Party ticket.

Legacy

While in prison, Davis had written notes for a memoir. These were confiscated by prison authorities and not released until after his death. They were posthumously published under the title ''Communist Councilman From Harlem'' (1969), with a foreword by his Smith Act codefendant

Henry Winston Henry M. Winston (April 2, 1911December 13, 1986) was an African-American political leader and Marxist civil rights activist. Winston, committed to equal rights and communism, was an advocate of civil rights for African Americans decades before ...

Works

* "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." * "Ben Davis on the McCarran Act."

References

External links

* Jarvis Tyner,
"The Legacy of Benjamin J. Davis"
''People's Weekly World''. * Oakley C. Johnson

''ChickenBones: A Journal for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Benjamin J. 1903 births 1964 deaths African-American lawyers African-American people in New York (state) politics Activists for African-American civil rights African-American communists People convicted under the Smith Act Amherst College alumni Morehouse College alumni American anti-racism activists Harvard Law School alumni New York City Council members People from Harlem People from Dawson, Georgia Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians Writers from Georgia (U.S. state) Writers from Manhattan African-American New York City Council members