Beverly Jean (Smith) Davis hails from St. Louis, MO. For over four decades, she mentored and served youth as a junior and senior high school teacher of English, a METCO coordinator for black students bussed to a wealthy white suburban high school, a professor of education and a principal of an urban charter high school.
After graduating from St. Charles High School in St. Charles, MO, Beverly followed her sister Donna Smith (’68) to Northeast Missouri State University where she majored in English. While on campus, both Donna and Beverly where charter members of the first black sorority on Truman’s campus, Zeta Zeta of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Beverly was also a member of Association of Black Collegiates that advocated for institutional changes to promote equity. Beverly graduated in 1970 with a B.S.E. and began her teaching career in Minnesota as the first black teacher hired in Hopkins School District 287. She holds a master’s and a doctorate from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a K-12 Principal Licensure from the University of Minnesota. Beverly is also a former chairperson of the Harvard Educational Review.
In 2018 Beverly returned to Truman during Homecoming to celebrate two golden anniversaries: the first black sorority on campus Zeta Zeta that she helped charter and her sister Donna’s 50th graduation anniversary. That same year in June a Truman Black Student Reunion was held in St. Louis that was spear-headed by Lynn Swann Mitchell (’70), and Beverly coordinated a drive for former members of Zeta Zeta to purchase a paver and bench as part of Truman’s Sesquicentennial Capital Campaign. All four events were a success and enabled Beverly and Stacy Tucker-Potter to get to know one another. Beverly is honored that getting reconnected to Truman has given her the opportunity to serve as an at-large member on the Alumni Board of Directors.
A retired educator Beverly lives in Minneapolis and is an active member of Minneapolis-St. Paul Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Incorporated. A published poet and essayist, Beverly’s essays appear in several anthologies. Her deceased husband Ronald E. Davis a four-time All-American NCAA in Track and Field was also a Truman alum class of 1969. Beverly enjoys reading, traveling, bicycling, yoga, spending time with friends and family and people-watching. Currently she is working on a memoir and taking workshops at The Loft to further develop the knowledge and skills to strengthen her craft as a writer of creative non-fiction.