• Source: Henry Damon Davidson

      • Henry Damon Davidson (December 16, 1869-1955), sometimes noted as Henry Damon, was a school administrator and church leader in Centreville, Alabama. He founded Bibb County Training School, known first as Centerville Industrial Institute in 1900. He was sometimes referred to as Bibb County's "black educator".
      Davidson was born in Bibb County on December 16, 1869 to Damon and Adaline (née Woods) Davidson. Samuel Wilson Davidson had been their master. His home in Centreville, Davidson–Smitherman House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
      As H. D. Davidson, he studied a term at Selma University and returned to his school in Centreville as a teacher. He then studied at the newly opened Payne University, graduating in its first class May 18, 1893. He attained a Bachelor's Degree from the Tuskeegee Institute in 1934.
      Davidson married Lula Julia Davis, a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, on February 16, 1899. She died June 21, 1908, and he married Elizabeth M. Campbell McClellan on September 4, 1913. Davidson was active in Mt. Sinai African Methodist Episcopal church. He was honored in 1945. He was the author of Inching Along; or, the Life and Works of an Alabama Farm Boy, an Autobiography, published in 1944.
      He was a delegate to the 1900 Republican National Convention.


      Legacy


      Following a fire in the former school building, a new school was completed in 1966 and named in honor of Davidson. By 2008 it was known as Centreville Middle School. It includes the Henry Damon Davidson Library and Museum, which opened in 2017. An alumni association is also named for him.
      A letter he wrote to donor Emily Howland, for whom the school's Howland Hall was named, survives.


      References

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