Evelyn Davis turned 99 years old on May 23, 2020. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio and finished her degree at Kent State University in 1965 when she was 35 years old to become a teacher. 

Davis moved to Glenville in 1947. Her first house was found because the retailer specifically requested it be bought by two veterans. Her brother and her husband were both veterans so the home was perfect for them.

When she moved to Glenville she had one child and worked at Lakeside hospital at night.  She became a stay at home mom in 1954, but until then she made the went back and forth to work and church at St. Mark’s

When her kids were older she started doing odd jobs includings cleaning Parkwood School on Fridays to make some extra money and get out of the house. She became close with the school’s principal, and they’d talk about her interests and all of the ways she helped her own kids succeed in school. This went on for months. Then one day, during her shift,, the principal walked up to her, took the broom out of her hand, and handed her an application to Kent State's teaching program. She told her this would be the last day she was going to scrub floors. She started teaching in 1960 and retired after 35 years. 

Davis, a master teacher, was sent to Almira, a school on the west side of Cleveland. When she arrived there were only four other black teachers and they were all first year teachers. On her first day, students ignored her when they walked into the door without saying good morning and she saw the little Black Sambo book in one of the classrooms. 

She remained strong, despite being bullied by her students, especially in the classroom, “If I was sent over there to deseg that school, I’m meant to deseg that school. Walking around, when blacks finally got over there, on the third floor I saw this teacher was doing math problems and if the child got the answer right she’d give them a blue or purple or yellow jelly bean but if the child got it wrong she gave them a black one. I opened that door like a whirlwind. She said it was a joke.” Davis was persistent against this kind of discrimination throughout her career, making sure the black students and teachers were being treated fairly and their rights were not being infringed on. 

During the height of racial tension in the ‘60s, Davis watched  the Black Nationalists in her neighborhood paint telegram poles in black, red, and green. On the Fourth of July she put up an American Flag, and soon after someone knocked on her door telling her to take it down.

Davis has been to the White House and a picture of her is in the National Museum of African American History and Culture as a newsie for the Call and Post Newspaper.  

She laughed, relishing in it all, “People tell me I need to write a book.”