Evelyn Payne Davis (born Evelyn Aramburo; December 27, 1921 – January 10, 1997) was an American community organizer, nonprofit executive and founder of the New York chapter of the

National Coalition of 100 Black Women The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (NCBW) is a non-profit volunteer organization for African American women. Its members address common issues in their communities, families and personal lives, promoting gender and racial equity. His ...

volunteer organization. She is best known for her role as an ambassador for the children's television program ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'' within inner-city African American neighborhoods in the late 1960s.

Early life and education

Davis was born Evelyn Aramburo in New Orleans, and at an early age moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with her family, settling in Harlem. She attended Hunter High School and graduated from Hunter College in the City of New York. After college, she became active in President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

War on Poverty The war on poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national p ...

movement, volunteering in local programs and joining the New York chapter of the

Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

Career

In 1969, as executives at

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

were devising a marketing strategy for ''Sesame Street'' (then an experimental television venture), CTW founder

Joan Ganz Cooney Joan Ganz Cooney (born Joan Ganz; November 30, 1929) is an American television writer and producer. She is one of the founders of Sesame Workshop (formerly ''Children's Television Workshop'' or CTW), the organization famous for the creation of ...

was in need of someone who was intimately familiar with inner-city black communities, and who could communicate to families the benefits and aims of the new program. ''Sesame Street'' at the time was being broadcast on UHF networks, which were fraught with viewer accessibility and regulatory issues. To find out how to maximize the show's viewership among African Americans, Cooney dialed James E. Booker, a prominent New York-based black publicist, who in turn contacted Davis, who at the time was the director for fund development at the New York Urban League. After meeting with Cooney, Davis agreed to head ''Sesame Streets black viewer outreach, taking on the position of vice president of CTW's Community Education Services division. Davis's efforts succeeded: by the time ''Sesame Street'' reached its tenth anniversary in 1979, the program was reaching more than 90 percent of children in low-income urban areas.The word on the 'Street' is gentrification. ''Timeline'', Jan. 16, 2016.
/ref> In addition to her work with ''Sesame Street'' and CTW, Davis worked to improve the plight of African American women and children in New York City. In the wake of the turbulent 1968

King assassination riots The King assassination riots, also known as the Holy Week Uprising, were a wave of civil disturbance which swept the United States following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Many believe them to be the greatest wav ...

, Davis and other black women community leaders joined to create the New York chapter of the Coalition of 100 Black Women; she became the organization's first president in 1972.

Death

Davis passed away at the age of 75 from lung cancer in 1997. She was survived by a son, stepdaughter and two granddaughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Evelyn Payne 1921 births Sesame Workshop people 1997 deaths Activists from New York (state) Activists from New Orleans People from Harlem Hunter College alumni Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) American community activists 20th-century American women 20th-century American people