Mildred Davenport

Mildred Davenport (November 12, 1900 – 1990) was an African-American performer, dance educator, and civil rights advocate born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Her parents were Mary Davenport and Samuel Davenport, a Pullman porter. She completed her secondary education at Boston Girls' High School in 1918 and subsequently enrolled at the Sargent School for Physical Culture at Boston University. She later studied dance under Ted Shawn.

Davenport launched her first dance school, the Davenport School of Dance, in the 1920s, operating it for a decade. In 1932, she established a second institution, the Silver Box Studio, located at 522 Columbus Avenue in Boston.

Her Broadway career took shape in the 1930s, when she performed in several musicals and revues, among them Blackbirds and the 1932 revue Flying Colors. During a period when African-American and white performers rarely shared a stage, Davenport appeared alongside performers including Imogene Coca and Clifton Webb. She also toured the East Coast for five years in a production called Chocolate Review. In 1938, she performed dance interpretations of spirituals with the Boston Pops orchestra, becoming the first African-American woman to appear with that ensemble.

During World War II, Davenport was among the first Black women to enlist in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, advancing in rank from first lieutenant to captain.

Following the war, she served the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination for two decades, from 1947 to 1968, and held a position on the board of directors of the Boston branch of the NAACP. In 1973, she received the Sojourner Truth Award from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Boston and Vicinity Club.

Davenport died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1990. A collection of her papers, photographs, dance programs, and related ephemera is preserved in the Special Collections and Archives at UC Irvine.