o later became
my wife. Miss Davidson was born in Ohio, and received her preparatory
education in the public schools of that state. When little more than a
girl, she heard of the need of teachers in the South. She went to the
state of Mississippi and began teaching there. Later she taught in the
city of Memphis. While teaching in Mississippi, one of her pupils became
ill with smallpox. Every one in the community was so frightened that no
one would nurse the boy. Miss Davidson closed her school and remained by
the bedside of the boy night and day until he recovered. While she was
at her Ohio home on her vacation, the worst epidemic of yellow fever
broke out in Memphis, Tenn., that perhaps has ever occurred in the
South. When she heard of this, she at once telegraphed the Mayor of
Memphis, offering her services as a yellow-fever nurse, although she had
never had the disease.
Miss Davidon's experience in the South showed her that the people needed
something more than mere book-learning. She heard of the Hampton system
of education, and decided that this was what she wanted in order to
prepare herself for better work in the South. The attention of Mrs. Mary
Hemenway, of Boston, was attracted to her rare ability. Through Mrs.
Hemenway's kindness and generosity, Miss Davidson, after graduating
at Hampton, received an opportunity to complete a two years' course of
training at the Massachusetts State Normal School at Framingham.
Before she went to Framingham, some one suggested to Miss Davidson
that, since she was so very light in colour, she might find it more
comfortable not to be known as a coloured women in this school in
Massachusetts. She at once replied that under no circumstances and for
no considerations would she consent to deceive any one in regard to her
racial identity.
Soon after her graduation from the Framingham institution, Miss Davidson
came to Tuskegee, bringing into the school many valuable and fresh ideas
as to the best methods of teaching, as well as a rare moral character
and a life of unselfishness that I think has seldom been equalled. No
single individual did more toward laying the foundations of the Tuskegee
Institute so as to insure the successful work that has been done there
than Olivia A. Davidson.
Miss Davidson and I began consulting as to the future of the school from
the first. The students were making progress in learning books and in
development their minds; but it became apparent at
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