Doris Davenport, aka doris davenport, was an artist, dancer, essayist, PhD scholar, performance poet, educator,
photographer, and thinker, who focused her abundant energy on poetry and education.
May her passion and activism inspire us all. Dr. doris davenport is deeply missed by everyone whose lives she touched.
Her work has been grounded in the South. Born in Gainesville, Georgia, in January 1949, and died in December, 2024, Dr. doris davenport often mentioned her life growing up in the Appalachian foothills, and Appalachia inspired her.
Calling herself an Afrilachian, she identified as African American, Appalachian, Feminist, and LGBTQ, which innately influenced her life’s work.
In recent years, she had been working, writing, and teaching in Georgia and Alabama. At the end, she returned to her beloved northeast Georgia to retire.
After her death, her family wrote, “As per her wishes, her remains will be scattered in the traditional Cherokee Homelands, euro-colonized Northeast Georgia, on Tower (Chenocetah) Mountain and Mt. Yonah.”
Dr. doris davenport famously wrote many times in her essays about how white women were dismissive of her, including in this famous and insightful one: “The Pathology of Racism: A Conversation with Third World Wimmin,” appearing in the groundbreaking book, This Bridge Called My Back, which recently issued in 2021 a fortieth anniversary edition.
Dr, doris davenport published thirteen books of poetry, several of which are available on Amazon and Kindle, as well as at Charis Books and More.
In addition, she has published multiple journal articles, essays, and poems in various publications and collections.
Read this tribute in full, and read more tributes here: She Who Will Be Remembered.
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