Ethel McGhee Davis
While in school, Davis worked with the Urban League and surveyed the African American population of Morristown, New Jersey. She later worked with the Harlem Charity Organization and the Harlem Tuberculosis Association. She was also a parole officer and assistant house mother at the Pennsylvania State Home for Girls at Sleighton Farm in Darling, Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1925 and became the first African American social worker in Englewood, New Jersey, when she was made the director of Social Work for the Social Service Federation's Memorial House. She remained in that position until 1928, when she joined the Spelman College staff as a student advisor.
Davis took a year absence from her position in 1930. She had received a fellowship from the Julian Rosenwald Fund and studied at the Teachers’ College of Columbia University. She graduated in 1931 and received an M.A. in administration and personnel and a diploma certifying her as an advisor of women and girls. After graduating, she returned to Spelman College as the dean of women, which made her the first African American administrative officer at Spelman.
Davis left her position in 1932 when she married John Davis. Her husband was appointed the president of West Virginia State College and Davis entertained his guests, including Eleanor Roosevelt, W.E.B. DuBois, and Mary McLeod Bethune. In 1952, she moved with her husband to Liberia, where he was appointed country director for the Agency for International Development. During their two years in Liberia, Davis worked with the YWCA Conference at University College Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria. They returned to the United States in 1954, when Davis and her husband retired. She continued to work with the NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, and many other organizations.
Sources:
“Honorary Trustee: Ethel McGhee Davis.” Spelman Messenger (Atlanta, GA), 1981-1982. https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/sc.001.messenger:1982.03
“Letter.” Oberlin Alumni Magazine, April 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20200422034513/https://ia800202.us.archive.org/18/items/oberlinalumnimag1953ober_z4q4/
oberlinalumnimag1953ober_z4q4.pdf
“Memorial service planned for Ethel McGhee Davis.” The Record (Hackensack, NY), August 2, 1990. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49157856/memorial-service-planned-for-ethel/
“Miss McGhee Returns to Spelman College.” Spelman Messenger (Atlanta, GA), July 1931. https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/sc.001.messenger%3A1931.03
Read, Florence M. “Ethel McGhee.” The Campus Mirror (Atlanta, GA), October 15, 1928. https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-15-1928-1673591/