Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings
Actor, Educator, Youth Theatre, Activist
1895–1968
Years:
Affiliations:
Delta Sigma Theta, Northwestern, Howard University, San Antonio Negro Little Theater, NAACP, YWCA, National Council of Negro Women
San Antonio, Evanston, Washington DC, Texas
Locations:
Connections:
Winifred Ward, Osceola Adams (Archer)
Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings, African American suffragist, Delta Sigma Theta founder, teacher, actress, and producer, was born in Gonzales, Texas, on August 30, 1895, to Henry and Susan (Dement) Davis. Myra graduated from Riverside High School for African American students in San Antonio in 1909 and completed undergraduate studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1913. While at Howard University, she was a member of the Alpha Phi Literary Society. Later she received a master's degree in dramatic arts in 1947 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. On January 13, 1913, she was among the twenty-two women, all students at Howard University, who founded the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, a public-service organization. She served as the first president of the seminal Alpha Chapter.
In 1913 Myra Davis began her teaching career in San Antonio as an English and speech instructor at Douglass High School; she later transferred to Phyllis Wheatley High School. Her teaching career spanned fifty-one years, during which time she received many accolades for her oratorical gifts and for her stage productions of works ranging from Shakespeare to those of modern writers, including many Black playwrights. Myra Hemmings starred in several movies including Go Down, Death! in 1944.
On August 28, 1922, she married John Wilbur Hemmings, a former Broadway actor. They organized the Phyllis Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players, an extension of the dramatic productions staged by her high school seniors, and the San Antonio Negro Little Theater. Their productions, in which she often acted, played a fundamental role in the cultural life of Black San Antonians from the 1920s through the 1960s. Her husband also worked for the Civil Works Administration, a New Deal works program. In 1944 Hemmings co-produced, co-directed, and co-starred in Go Down Death!, based on James Weldon Johnson’s work, now a Black film classic. She also appeared in Williams’s Marching On! (1943) and The Girl in Room 20 (1945).
The Hemmings also fought for civil rights. She spearheaded an effort to establish an African American youth center in San Antonio and was a member of the National Council of Negro Women, the Business & Professional Women’s Club, the YWCA, the National Education Association, the Texas State Teachers Association, the Alamo Teachers Council, and the NAACP. In 1953 she was honored by the Exclusive Matron’s Club for meritorious work in the dramatic arts. Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings died on December 8, 1968, in San Antonio.
(Bio from: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hemmings-myra-lillian-davis)
