First Black graduate of Pitt nursing program
Adena Davis was a pioneer during a time that many Pittsburghers probably would like to forget.
That’s because while the South was rife with segregation and other bigoted policies well into the 20th century, northern towns had their share of racism, too.
Mrs. Davis was a brilliant student and member of the National Honor Society, but none of that mattered in 1942, when she was denied entry into a nursing program at the University of Pittsburgh, based on the color of her skin.
A year later, after the Pitt School of Nursing was given an ultimatum by the federal government — lose funding for its Cadet Nurse Corps program or accept Black students — Mrs. Davis and two other young Black women were accepted.
“The stereotype was we didn’t fit in,” Mrs. Davis said in the publication “Diverse: Issues In Higher Education” in 2000, when the university established a scholarship fund in her honor.
On Feb. 22, Mrs. Davis, of Shadyside, died of complications from a stroke. She was 98.
Despite the discrimination she endured, Mrs. Davis was never resentful, family members said.
“My mother wasn’t bitter about anything,” said her son Michael Davis, of Shadyside. “She felt called to spread God’s love and she understood that she was working for the Lord. Whatever came down her path, she saw it as her duty to work for the Lord.”
“Her parents followed their pastor from Georgia and came to live in Pittsburgh,” said her granddaughter Faith Davis, of Washington, Pa. “As a teenager, she gave her life to the Lord. At that time, your church was a community. It was part of your everyday life. It was a place where Black people went for fellowship.”
She grew up as the eldest of five in East Liberty, where her father, Theodore Johnson, served as a state legislator.
Mrs. Davis was drawn to medicine by her mother’s frequent trips to the hospital for heart problems.
After graduating from Peabody High School in 1942, she was anxious to visit the Pitt School of Nursing, where Mrs. Davis was informed that Black people were not being admitted, family members said.
Disappointed, she joined a nursing program at Fisk University, a historically Black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tenn.
Mrs. Davis transferred to Pitt following her freshman year, when the school began accepting Black students.
“They wanted that federal money,” she told the University’s School of Nursing Magazine in 2008.
But Mrs. Davis’ acceptance into the school was just the start of what would be a difficult path littered with obstacles that were meant to trip her up.
Along with snide comments and racist remarks from both faculty and other students, there were more subtle efforts to single out the Black students, such as unannounced room inspections.
In Mrs. Davis’ room, not a pin was out of place.
“When she was in class, they would sneak into her room to see whether it was clean or to see if they could make an accusation against her,” recalled her daughter Marietta Moody of Downingtown, Chester County. “But shewas always fastidious.”
Mrs. Davis did have some close white friends at the school, her family said.
“There were some white women in the class that she gravitated to,” her son said. “One of them was from Ireland and she felt like an outcast, too.”
A keen student who became a skilled and talented healer, Mrs. Davis won the “Keeper of the Lamp” award in her senior year — given to the best student nurse.
Still, though, some refused to give Mrs. Davis the credit she earned.
“She never gained the respect of some of the students, though she was at the top of her class,” her granddaughter said.
It took years before Mrs. Davis could look back at that time in her life. When she did, she was circumspect, family members said.
“By the time she started talking about it, she was more philosophical,” her daughter said. “She realized how privileged she had been in spite of all the hardship. She met the challenges of being an African American woman with a degree in nursing. It wasn’t common in those days.”
She met Marshall Davis in the choir of what is now the Lincoln Avenue Church of God. The couple married in 1949; Mr. Davis died in 1981.
After college, Mrs. Davis worked as an operating room nurse at UPMC MageeWomens Hospital and later became head nurse at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital.
“She had a great compassion for other people and their suffering,” her daughter said. “That was something that got her great clinical grades — that way of finding something extra, something more that would make patients more comfortable.”
Mrs. Davis left her career for a time to raise her family, but returned to part-time nursing at Magee when her three children were older.
Despite changing times, Mrs. Davis still faced much discrimination in her career, her daughter said.
“A lot of patients didn’t want an African American nurse,” she said. “That’s how she ended up at the [Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in O’Hara]. They didn’t tolerate that nonsense.”
Mrs. Davis became a nursing supervisor at the VA hospital and stayed for more than 30 years, retiring in 1992.
She then devoted more time to her church, becoming a deaconess and joining a ministry group on a trip to South Africa.
“She and other nurses were asked to teach student nurses and she absolutely loved it,” her daughter said. “The student nurses were very grateful for their assistance and it was very fulfilling for her.”
In her later years, Mrs. Davis doted on her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
“She loved having fun,” her daughter said. “As kids in the summer, she would pack us a lunch and we’d all go to Frick Park, where we’d swing, play and enjoy a picnic. When she was 67 years old, she broke her arm at work. She was spending the
week with me and one day I came home and she and my youngest son were racing in the backyard. Watching her, those were gifts from God.”
Her grandmother spread cheer and faith everywhere she went, her granddaughter said.
“My grandmother was the same in the way she treated her patients or anybody on the street. She was very kind, very loving and she would be sure to let you know the truth,” she said. “She’s going to be missed. I always want to do everything I can to make herproud of me.”
Along with her granddaughter, son and daughter, Mrs. Davis is survived by another son, Marshall Davis Jr., of Duquesne; and 19 grandchildren, 26 greatgrandchildren and 18 greatgreat grandchildren.
A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at the Lincoln Avenue Church of God in East Liberty.
Donations can be made to Lincoln Avenue Church of God, 404 Lincoln Ave., Pittsburgh 15206 or to the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Adena J. Davis Scholarship Fund, 3500 Victoria St. Pittsburgh 15213.