Bettye Davis
First Black Woman in Alaska State House of Representatives
Meet the late Bettye Davis, long-serving Anchorage School District Board president, Alaska State Representative, and Alaska State Senator. Born in Louisiana in 1938, Bettye came to Anchorage to attend the University of Alaska. After college, she worked at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute as a social worker. In 1982, she was elected to the Anchorage School Board, serving two terms as board president.
In 1990, Bettye became the first African American woman elected to the Alaska State House of Representatives, serving for three terms. In 2000, she became the first African American to be elected to the Alaska State Senate, where she was referred to as the “conscience of the Legislature,” advocating for school funding, economic development, and programs to support vulnerable Alaskans.
Did you know Bettye Davis and have a story you’d like to share about her? We’d love to know more about her and about the powerful women in your life. Share your images and stories with us on Instagram and Facebook by tagging us (@anchoragemuseum and #ExtraToughWomenAK) and we’ll add them to our ongoing digital curation project.
Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming exhibition and be sure to check back for new #ExtraToughWomenAK posts.
Image credits: Johnny Ellis paper, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage, UAA-HMC-1244-b24-f28-sheet8-11 and UAA-HMC-1244-b24-f28-sheet7-26.
UPDATE
June 18, 2021
This week, we are sharing new photos of #ExtraToughWomenAK Bettye Davis (1938-2018). Bettye was a long-serving Anchorage School District Board president, Alaska State Representative, and Alaska State Senator.
Bettye came to Alaska in 1972 to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage and to work for the Alaska Psychiatric Institute as a social worker. She continued to work for as a social worker for the state until 1989.
In 1982, she was elected to the Anchorage School Board, serving two terms as board president. In 1990, Bettye became the first Black woman elected to the Alaska State House of Representatives, where she served three terms. In 2000, she became the first Black politician to be elected to the Alaska State Senate. She was referred to as the “conscience of the legislature,” advocating for school funding, economic development, and programs to support vulnerable Alaskans.
Bettye passed in 2018. Two years later, in October of 2020, the Anchorage School Board voted unanimously to rename East High School the Bettye Davis East High School in honor of her service to the community.
These materials are from the Ed Wesley Collection, recently donated to the Anchorage Museum. We are excited to receive these photos, newspapers, and other memorabilia because they help fill gaps in not only our collection, but in collections across the state. You can see some of Ed’s archival materials, including these, in person in the Museum’s new exhibition, “Black Lives in Alaska: Journey, Justice, Joy.”
Did you know Bettye and have a story you’d like to share about her? We’d love to know more about her and about the powerful women in your life. Share your images and stories with us on Instagram and Facebook by tagging us (@anchoragemuseum and #ExtraToughWomenAK) and we’ll add them to our ongoing digital curation project. Stay tuned for new posts and in the meantime, be sure to check out the exhibition, now open.
Photo credit: Anchorage Museum, Ed Wesley Collection