Small Expectations: Adjustment to Economic Status in the Deep South lecture program by Allison Davis
Scope and Contents
This collection contains a program for a lecture titled “Small Expectations: Adjustment to Economic Status in the Deep South,” which Allison Davis delivered at the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Twenty-Ninth Annual Conclave at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. In the lecture, he spoke about the economic conditions and the intersection of race and class in rural Natchez, Mississippi. He also applies these findings to the South more broadly. Specifically, Davis compared the living standards of rural Black residents with those of white and urban Black residents, including rates of homeownership and renting; housing and sleeping arrangements; and births out of wedlock. He also differentiates furniture purchasing habits; the expenses of commodities, luxury items, and recreational activities; financial safeguards; and the impact of emergency costs.
Dates
- 1940 December 29
Creator
- Davis, Allison, 1902-1983 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.
Biographical / Historical
William Boyd "Allison" Davis (1902-1983) was born in Washington D.C. to John Abraham Davis (1862-1928) and Gabrielle Davis (1872-1947). He graduated from Dunbar High School in 1920 and received a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College in 1924. In 1925, he earned a Master of Arts in English from Harvard University, followed by a Master of Arts in Anthropology in 1932. In 1942, he completed a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago. He married Elizabeth Stubbs Davis (1905-1966) in 1929, and they had two children: Allison Stubbs Davis (1939- ) and Gordon Jamison Davis (1941- ).
Allison Davis taught at the historically Black Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, from 1925-1931. He started at the Department of Anthropology at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1935, then he joined the Department of Education at the University of Chicago in 1942. In 1941, he co-authored Deep South: A Social Anthropological Study of Caste and Class with Burleigh B. Gardner (1902-1988) and Mary R. Gardner (1909-1983), a study on racism in Depression-era Mississippi. Davis was appointed to the Civil Rights Commission in 1967 and the White House Task Force for the Gifted in 1968. The recipient of many awards and honors, he was named the first John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor in 1970 and was invited to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972. In 1994, the United States Postal Service honored Davis with a commemorative postage stamp.
Extent
1 folder(s)
Language
English
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Processing Information
This collection was processed in 2024.
- African Americans -- Economic conditions
- African Americans -- Social conditions
- African Americans -- Social life and customs
- Cost and standard of living -- Southern States -- Statistics
- Households -- Southern States -- Statistics
- Natchez (Miss.)
- Poverty -- Southern States
- Rural conditions -- Economic aspects
- Social classes -- Southern States
- Southern States -- Economic conditions
- Southern States -- Race relations
- Southern States -- Social conditions
- White people -- Economic conditions
- Title
- Small Expectations: Adjustment to Economic Status in the Deep South lecture program by Allison Davis
- Subtitle
- ahc.MSS977f
- Author
- Hallam Pope
- Date
- June 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository