Johnnie Mae Davis, a longtime clinical psychotherapist, administrator and community activist, died Friday. She was 74. A graveside service is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Crown Hill Cemetery under the direction of New Dyer Funeral Chapel. Davis was born in Pawhuska to John B. Davis and Pearl V. Davis. She graduated from Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School in 1946 and received a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology from Central State College in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1950. When she earned a master's degree is psychology at the University of Oklahoma in 1951, she was the first black woman to earn that degree from the school. Davis also was the first black person to be elected to the OU Student Senate. She completed additional graduate work in psychodiagnostics and psychotherapy at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and at the University of Chicago. Davis was the state's first black psychotherapist. She worked as chief psychologist at the Consolidated Negro Institutions in Taft from 1951 to 1957. In 1956, she was the topic of an attorney general's ruling that advised integration of tax-supported institutions. While attending a psychology conference in Oklahoma City, she had been refused service in a cafeteria in a state building. During the 1960s, she was deputy director of Tulsa Economic Opportunity Task Force Inc., executive director of the Youth Opportunity Service, and the mayor's youth coordinator. During the 1970s, Davis worked as a psychotherapist at the Tulsa Psychiatric Center and served on the board of directors of the Tulsa Urban League and YMCA. She was also one of the founding members of Tulsa's Margaret Hudson's program and a founding member of Elite Ladies, Inc. Davis joined the Student Services staff at Langston University in 1984 as head manager of Young Hall. In 1990, she began work as a chemical dependency counselor at the Professional Counseling Center, where she also was services coordinator. In addition to her counseling duties, Davis supervised practicum students in psychology, health-care administration and criminal justice. She also taught a class in personal and social development. When she retired from Langston in 1993, she left part of her legacy to the school with the creation of the "Ms. D.'s Micro-Loan Funds." Administered through the university's Development Foundation, the program makes small loans to students for personal and emergency needs. Davis was a member of the Zeta Sigma Pi and Pi Gamma Mu national social science honor societies and the Psi Chi psychology honor society. She was an associate of the American Psychological Association since 1955 and has held membership in the Illinois Psychological Association, the Oklahoma Psychological Association, the Tulsa Psychological Association and the Oklahoma Association on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. Davis was a past Protestant co-chairwoman of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, now the National Conference for Community and Justice. She also was chairwoman of the Community Coordinating Council, a coalition of civil rights groups. Davis was an Eastern Star member and a member of Christ Temple CME Church. She is survived by three sons, John D. Gatewood I and Fred D. Gatewood, both of Tulsa, and Dr. Harry D. Gatewood II of Choctaw; a daughter, Marjorie Thornton Bostic of Oklahoma City; and nine grandchildren.
Tulsa World
Feb. 17, 2004