group. Davis’s links to Wright continued. He re-
called that in addition to selling Wright his first
camera, he “also read the galley proofs of Native
Son(part of which was left out by the publisher as
too pornographic for that era).
Davis’s long-time residency in Chicago mini-
mized his links to the larger literary Harlem Re-
naissance world. That distance did not bother
Davis, who had no desire to be part of what he re-
garded as the “Effete East” (Tidwell, “Interview,”
106). While he never was immersed in the
African-American literary communities on the
East Coast, Davis did enjoy some contact with suc-
cessful writers of the Harlem Renaissance. He con-
sidered Langston Hughes a friend and enjoyed his
meetings with STERLING BROWN,ZORA NEALE
HURSTON,CLAUDEMCKAY, and JAMESWELDON
JOHNSON. Although he never met W. E. B.
DUBOIS, did have a memorable conversation with
ALAINLOCKEabout the African-American literary
movement with which Locke was so involved. He
recalled that Locke, “a dapper, fastidious little
man” had told him that the Harlem Renaissance
“would have blown up in everybody’s faces had it
not been for free gin in the big posh apartments on
Park Avenue and the personal efforts of Carl Van
Vechten” (Tidwell, “Inteview,” 106).
Davis generated his principal source of income
from articles he wrote for an array of African-
American publications. He was executive editor at
the ASSOCIATEDNEGROPRESSbetween 1935 and
1947 and contributed to the Negro Digest, the
CHICAGO WHIP, and other African American
Chicago-based papers. Before moving to Hawaii in
the 1940s, he published two additional volumes of
poetry: I AM THEAMERICANNEGRO(1937) and
THROUGHSEPIAEYES(1938).
Davis passed away in 1987. Since his death,
his book, Livin’ the Blues: Memoirs of a Black Jour-
nalist and Poet(1992) and Black Moods: Collected
Poems(2002) have been published.
Bibliography
Bontemps, Arna. “Negro Poets, Then and Now.” Phylon
11, no. 4 (1950): 355–360.
Tidwell, John Edgar. “An Interview with Frank Marshall
Davis.” Black American Literature Forum19, no. 3
(autumn 1985): 105–108.
———, ed. Livin’ the Blues: Memoirs of a Black Journalist
and Poet—Frank Marshall Davis.Madison: Univer-
sity of Wisconsin Press, 1992.Davis, Robert Hobart(1869–1942)
An editor affiliated with Munsey Magazine,a NEW
YORK CITY–based weekly magazine that the
formidable publisher Frank Munsey founded in- Davis, who joined the staff of in 1904, began
working as the fiction editor. Davis also con-
tributed to other Munsey periodicals, including Ar-
gosy, Cavalier,and All-Story.He was credited with
publishing the works of many promising and
emerging writers and continues to be regarded as
the figure who transformed the short story into one
of a highly successful commercial form. One of his
best-known protégés was O. Henry; Davis also was
an important supporter of Max Brand, Dorothy
Canfield, and Fannie Hurst.
In 1924 Davis accepted CHARLESS. JOHNSON’s
invitation to judge entries in the first OPPORTUNITY
literary contest. In the personal comment published
in the September 1924 informational article about
the competition, Davis stressed his interest in “the
work of Negro writers” and noted that he would
“like to do whatever [he could] to encourage them
in their development.” Davis was a dynamic and
well-connected figure for aspiring Harlem Renais-
sance writers to know. He was, according to scholar
Abe Ravitz, a “thorough pragmatist who regarded all
stories as merchandise and magazine buyers as con-
sumers of a given product, Davis counseled his stable
of writers to give the public what it wants, most espe-
cially to strike at the heart” (Ravitz, 13).
Bibliography
Ravitz, Abe. Imitations of Life: Fannie Hurst’s Gaslight
Sonatas.Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press, 1997.
Wilson, Sondra Kathryn, ed. The Opportunity Reader:
Stories, Poetry, and Essays From the Urban League’s
Opportunity Magazine.New York: The Modern Li-
brary, 1999.Davis, Sadie Warren(unknown–1946)
The owner of the highly respected NEW YORK
CITY–based AMSTERDAM NEWS. The African-
American newspaper was founded in 1909. NotedDavis, Sadie Warren 115