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History Revealed: Scottie Primus Davis
February 17, 2022 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm CST
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Scottie Primus Davis: A Story Forgotten to Time
with Mary K. Boyd, Chester C. Owens Jr. and Steve Trimble
Other panelists may be announced. Moderated by Meredith Cummings, RCHS Editor
History Revealed Series
Thursday, February 17, 2022, 7:00 pm
In partnership with the Ramsey County Historical Society and the Roseville Library.
Live presentation on Zoom
Register in advance for this meeting, register on Zoom here.After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
For questions, please email [email protected]
Scottie Primus Davis spent her formative years in St. Paul, Minnesota, growing up under the tutelage of involved parents and well-respected “movers and shakers,” including J. Q. Adams, the Farr sisters, Nellie Francis, and others. So, it wasn’t a surprise when the determined Davis became the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Minnesota, hired on as a no-nonsense English teacher, and continued her lifelong learning, completing a master’s degree from Harvard University. But now we have the honor of learning about the incomparable, the unforgettable (Miss) Scottie Primus Davis.
Historian Steve Trimble, author of an article in Ramsey County History magazine on Miss Scottie Primus Davis, will be joined by educator Mary K. Boyd in a panel discussion moderated by RCHS Editor Meredith Cummings.
Image: Scottie P. Davis in her graduation photo from the University of Minnesota. Photo courtesy of University of Minnesota archives and the Saint Paul Almanac. From Ramsey County History magazine.
Mary K. Murray Boyd is President and CEO of MKB & Associates, Inc., an education and human services consulting business. Ms. Boyd has extensive experience in management, leadership, communications and coalition building, serving in a variety of roles professionally and in the Saint Paul community. She held several positions in the Saint Paul Public Schools beginning as a teacher’s aide and retiring in 2001 as an Area Superintendent. Since retiring from Saint Paul Public schools, Boyd has served in three interim positions, Manager of Ramsey County Child Protection, Director of Ramsey County Community Human Services Department’s Family and Children’s Services Division and Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Hamline University. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas and at the University of Minnesota.
Chester C. Owens Jr. is a retired business owner, veteran, historian, community activist, and student of Miss Scottie P. Davis in the late 1940s/early 1950s. He served in the U.S. Air Force. In the early 1960s, he worked with the Northwest District Citizens Committee and the NAACP to desegregate the downtown shopping district in Kansas City, Kansas, and served as chairman of the NAACP’s Labor and Industry Committee from 1960 to 1963. In 1976, Owens bought H.W. Sewing and Co., serving as president of the agency. In 1983, he was elected to the City Council of Kansas City, making him the first African American elected in the 20th century. Serving two terms on the council, he also briefly served as deputy mayor in 1984. Owens retired as president of H.W. Sewing and Co. in 1998. Owens has also served on numerous boards and as president of the Northeast Business Association, on the boards of Homeowner’s Task Force for the State of Kansas, the Economic Opportunity Foundation, and Sumner High School Alumni Association. He is also a member of Sigma Pi Phi and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternities. He is the recipient of numerous awards, among which are the Kansas City, Kansas Leadership Award in 1989, of which he was the first ever recipient; the Kansas City Globe’s One Hundred Most Influential Citizens in 1990; the 2012 Outstanding Leadership Award presented by the Kansas House of Representatives; the NAACP Civil Rights Award; and the Friends of Yates’ Black Man of Distinction Award. Owens has also been honored through the naming of the Chester C. Owens Sumner Alumni Room and The Chester Owens Jr. Construction Skills Training Center, which houses a U.S. Department of Labor-run program called YouthBuild, both named in 2011.
Steve Trimble is an author, a historian, and a frequent contributor to the Dayton’s Bluff District Forum. He is a member of the Ramsey County Historical Society Editorial Board, and has written a number of articles for our magazine, Ramsey County History, including an article on Scottie Primus Davis in the Winter 2022 issue. Steve is a frequent lecturer, author, and book collector.