Jackson Davis (September 25, 1882 – April 15, 1947) was a principal, education official, and education reformer from Virginia during the Jim Crow era of segregation. He was involved in supervising education programs for African Americans and promoted well maintained manual labor colleges for them. He did not express any opposition to segregation. He took photographs and documented conditions at some of the schools serving African Americans and Native Americans in the southern United States, especially in rural areas.[1][2] He was also involved with philanthropic organizations, traveled to Africa twice, and was part of a colonization society.
By attracting funds from the Jeanes Foundation, Davis found support for manual labor colleges for African Americans and became the first Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher. Later, starting in 1909, Davis first became an inspector for the Virginia State Board of Education and then, until 1915, the state agent for Negro Rural Schools. He advocated for their schools to be well maintained as at Virginia Estelle Randolph's school. He did not oppose segregation.[1] From 1915 to 1929 he worked as a field agent for the General Education Board. From 1929 onward, he rose from the position of assistant director (1929) to director (1946). In addition, Davis was a trustee and, from 1946, the president of the Phelps Stokes Fund.[1]
He helped develop the Jeanes Foundation's Supervising Teacher Program, leadership of the General Education Board in New York City, (later part of the Rockefeller Foundation), and participation in the planning which led to the formation of the United Negro College Fund which helps support students attending historically black colleges and universities in the United States. The Jackson Davis Elementary School in Henrico County, Virginia is named after Davis.[3]
The Jackson Davis Collection of over 5,000 photographs and numerous manuscripts and documents housed at the University of Virginia is one of the more comprehensive archives available for research on the topic of minority education during the Jim Crow era in the southern United States.