Biography

Aldeen Jones Davis, writer and community activist, was born in Centerville, Iowa, in 1916. She married William Davis in 1939 and later moved to Muscatine. She belonged to several African-American women's clubs: the Sue M. Brown Federated Women's Club; Semper Fidelis Federated Women's Club, of which she was president from 1964 to 1965; and the Muscatine Federated Women's Club, of which she was a charter member. In 1978 she began writing a column on African-American history and modern life for the Muscatine Journal entitled "Soul Food and Thought", which ran until 1990. In 1984 Davis published "Soul Food for Thought", a book-length compilation of some of her articles. She wrote regularly for the Iowa Bystander, a long-running African-American-owned newspaper, and the Muscatine Journal. She published several articles in Prime Time, a publication for Iowa senior citizens, from 1988 to 1990.

Davis's numerous contributions to her community included serving on the Muscatine Human Rights Commission and the Equity Committee of the school board. She also served on the Muscatine Public Library board from 1977 to 1983.

Davis was a dietary supervisor at a nursing home and designed workshops to train others in nursing home nutrition. She was an active member of the Muscatine Garden Club, serving as historian, and was president of the Muscatine Herb Pals from 1982 to 1994. She taught classes at Muscatine Community College, and was a member of the Writers on the Avenue group, a group of Iowa and Illinois writers devoted to critiquing and publishing members' work. She took up painting after retiring in the late 1970s, and photographs of her work can be found in Box 1.

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