Madison Davis

{{Infobox officeholder | birth_date = {{birth date|1833|9|27}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1902|8|20|1833|9|27}} | party = Republican | resting_place = Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery | birth_place = Georgia, U.S. | death_place = Georgia, U.S. }}

'''Madison''' "'''Mat'''" '''Davis''' (September 27, 1833 – August 20, 1902) was an American slave who became a member of the Georgia Assembly representing Clarke County, Georgia and the first African American postmaster in Athens, Georgia, after being emancipated. He was active in Republican Party politics.

==Early years== Davis was born into slavery and was owned by a carriage maker.<ref name=lib>{{cite web |url=https://accheritage.blogspot.com/2010/09/27-september-1833-legislator-madison.html?m=1 |title=27 September 1833: Legislator Madison Davis Is Born |author= |date=27 September 2010 |website=accheritage.blogspot.com |publisher= Athens-Clarke County Library Heritage Room|access-date=2 February 2018}}</ref> After the U.S. Civil War he was freed from slavery at age 31.<ref name=lib/>

== Career ==

=== Representative of Georgia === In 1868, Davis and Alfred Richardson, also a former slave, were elected to the Georgia House of Representatives from Clarke County. Later the same year, 25 of 29 African Americans were ejected from office after Georgia's legislature determined that African Americans had no protected right to serve in public office.<ref name="lib" /> Four more were investigated by a committee to determine their heritage and determine whether they were more than one-eighth African-American. That year, he was a delegate to Georgia's constitutional drafting convention.<ref>{{cite web |author= |title=This Day in Georgia History |url=http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/thisday/gahistory/09/27/madison-davis-born |access-date=2 February 2018 |website=georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/ |publisher=DIGITAL LIBRARY OF GEORGIA |quote=}}</ref>

Madison Davis had a light complexion and was one of two African-American representatives allowed to continue in office.<ref name="lib" /> Georgia Supreme Court reversed the decision barring African Americans from office the following year in 1869 and all the legislators were returned to office.<ref name="lib" /> He was reelected in 1870.

=== Later career === Davis went into the real estate business. He was appointed postmaster of Athens in 1890 by President Benjamin Harrison;<ref name=lib/> making Davis the first African American to serve in that role.<ref name="Thurmond">{{cite book|last=Thumond|first=Michael L.|title=A Story Untold: black men and women in Athens History|edition=2|year=2001|publisher=The Green Berry Press|location=Athens, Georgia|isbn=9780967302768|pages=23–36|chapter=Two Lawmakers: from slave cabin to state legislature}}</ref> He faced strong opposition from local whites in Athens. (Monroe Morton was the second African-American postmaster in Athens.)

Davis also worked as U.S. Customs Surveyor in Atlanta and was Captain of Relief No. 2, Clarke County's first black fire company.<ref name=lib/>

== Death == He is buried at Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery in Athens.<ref name="Thurmond" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book|last=Hester|first=Albert Lee|authorlink=Al Hester|title=Enduring Legacy: Clarke County Georgia's Ex-Slave Legislators Madison Davis and Alfred Richardson|year=2010|publisher=Green Berry Press|location=Athens, GA|isbn=9780967302782}}

==External links== *{{Find a Grave|103060294}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Madison}} Category:1833 births Category:1902 deaths Category:African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Georgia (U.S. state) postmasters Category:Politicians from Athens, Georgia Category:19th-century American slaves Category:19th-century American firefighters Category:Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Category:African-American politicians of the Reconstruction era Category:Original 33 Category:American real estate brokers Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century African-American politicians Category:People enslaved in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly