Danny K. Davis is a trailblazer who throughout his public service career has always put the people’s interest first.
Born in Parkdale, Arkansas on September 6, 1941, to H.D. and Mazzie Davis, whom he calls the best parents he and his nine brothers and sisters could have ever had. He spent his early years in Parkdale, Arkansas, attended Arkansas AM&N College (now University of Arkansas @ Pine Bluff) on his sixteenth birthday and after earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Political Science, moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1961. He secured a job at the Chicago Post Office as a Clerk and worked there for a year before becoming a certified teacher in the Chicago Public School System. He remained in this position for six years before getting a special leave of absence to take a position as Executive Director of the Greater Lawndale Conservation Commission. He subsequently earned both Masters and Doctorate Degrees from Chicago State University and the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. He left GLCC and became Director of Training for the Martin Luther King Health Center, Executive Director of the Westside Health Planning Organization, Special Assistant to the President of Mile Square Health Center and President of the National Association of Community Health Centers.
In 1979, he was elected Alderman of the 29th Ward and has been an elected public official since. He has been a City Councilman, Democratic Committeeman, U.S. Representative, 7th District, Illinois, Democratic State Central Committeeman, 7th District and Member Democratic National Committee. Before becoming an elected official, Congressman Danny K. Davis had productive careers as an educator, health planner, administrator, community organizer, civil rights advocate, and activist. He has received hundreds of awards for his outstanding work in health, education, human relations, politics, and advocacy, including eight honorary doctorates degrees from prestigious colleges and universities. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States and has spent time in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and in South and Central America.
Currently Representative Davis is serving his fourteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives where he sits on the influential Ways and Means Committee, is the 7th Democrat in Seniority and is Ranking Member on the Sub-Committee on Worker and Family Support. He has been the principal author and lead sponsor of several bills such as the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, The Second Chance Act, The Jackie Walorski Memorial Act and the Sickle Cell Education and Treatment Act
He is a practicing Christian, married to Vera G. Davis, fifty-four years, they have two sons Jonathan and Stacey, (deceased) three grandchildren (1 deceased) and two great grandchildren.
He is a noted conference, banquet, special events, and church speaker.