Enoch Douglas Davis

rdf:langString Enoch Douglas Davis

rdf:langString Enoch Douglas Davis (1908—1985) was an American reverend, author and civil rights activist who spent the majority of his life in the town of St. Petersburg, Florida. A native from Burke County, Georgia, his family moved to St. Petersburg in 1925, and he began his religious career when he gave his first sermon in 1930 at Bethel Community Baptist Church, which was then known as Second Bethel; he was made the church's official pastor two years later. At the time of his retirement in 1984, he had served as reverend for Bethel Community for over 50 years, making him at the time the longest-serving pastor in the history of St. Petersburg. As an author, his works include Toward the Promised Land and his autobiography, On The Bethel Trail. As a civil rights activist, his played an integral role in ending citywide segregation and empowering the black American community; it is largely due to his contributions that St. Petersburg was spared much of the race-related brutality that occurred in many cities in America's southern states in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the first black president in the St. Petersburg Council of Churches and was presented with 11 awards and honors in his lifetime, including the National Conference of Christians and Jews’ Silver Medallion Brotherhood Award in 1980. The Enoch Davis Center is named after him and is located at 1111 18th Ave. South in St. Petersburg