Frank Marshall Davis

Frank Marshall Davis (December 31, 1905 – July 26, 1987) was an American journalist, poet, political and labor movement activist, and businessman.

Davis began his career writing for African-American newspapers in Chicago. He moved to Atlanta, where he became the editor of the paper he turned into the Atlanta Daily World, then moved back to Chicago. During this time, he was outspoken about political and social issues, while also covering topics that ranged from sports to music. His poetry work was sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

In the late 1940s, Davis moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he ran a small business. He also became involved in local labor issues, where his actions were tracked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Davis died in 1987 in Hawaii.

Read more about Frank Marshall Davis:  Personal Life, Analysis of Literary Work, Legacy and Impact, Works

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    Night’s brittle song, silver-thin
    Shatters into a billion fragments
    Of quiet shadows
    At the blaring jazz
    Of a morning sun.
    Frank Marshall Davis (b. 1905)

    Night comes to the room of the world

    —Frank Marshall Davis (b. 1905)

    I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn. But, and that is the great question, will I ever be able to write anything great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer? I hope so, oh, I hope so very much, for I can recapture everything when I write, my thoughts, my ideals and my fantasies.
    —Anne Frank (1929–1945)

    Slowly the night blooms, unfurling
    Flowers of darkness, covering
    The trellised sky, becoming
    A bouquet of blackness
    —Frank Marshall Davis (b. 1905)

    Man is by nature a pragmatic materialist, a mechanic, a lover of gadgets and gadgetry; and these are qualities that characterize the “establishment” which regulates modern society: pragmatism, materialism, mechanization, and gadgetry. Woman, on the other hand, is a practical idealist, a humanitarian with a strong sense of noblesse oblige, an altruist rather than a capitalist.
    —Elizabeth Gould Davis (b. 1910)