Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings (August 30, 1895 â€" December 8, 1968) was
an American actress and teacher, and a founder of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Incorporated.Hemmings was born in Gonzales, Texas to Henry
and Susan (Dement) Davis. In 1909, she graduated from Riverside High
School in San Antonio, Texas. At Howard University in Washington,
D.C., Davis was a part of the group of seven who were newly initiated
into the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1912, where she was
elected president. A dichotomy ensued between the combined 22
undergraduate Alpha chapter women and the newly graduated
establishment of Alpha Kappa Alpha, with the younger women, led by
Davis, becoming progressively more dissatisfied with the campus
society-focused agenda of the sorority.The seven along with the
fifteen other members of the undergraduate Alpha chapter who voted to
reorganize Alpha Kappa Alpha into a public service-centered
organization and, after declining an ultimatum from a key dissenting
graduated Î'ΚÎ', formed Delta Sigma Theta. She was later named first
president of Delta Sigma Theta's Alpha chapter. In 1913, Hemmings
graduated from Howard University. After graduation, Davis began
teaching in 1913 in San Antonio, Texas. In 1922 Davis married John W.
Hemmings, a former actor on Broadway.Hemmings was active in amateur
theater and participated in the San Antonio Negro Little Theater by
directing productions. She and her husband helped to organize Phyllis
Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players. In her career, she appeared in three
films. First, in the 1941 tragic drama film Go Down Death: The Story
of Jesus and the Devil, she starred as the martyr Sister Caroline. In
addition to acting, Hemmings co-produced and co-directed the film. In
the 1943 film Marching On, she played Mrs. Ellen Tucker. In Girl in
Room 20 (1946), she played Sarra Walker.
an American actress and teacher, and a founder of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Incorporated.Hemmings was born in Gonzales, Texas to Henry
and Susan (Dement) Davis. In 1909, she graduated from Riverside High
School in San Antonio, Texas. At Howard University in Washington,
D.C., Davis was a part of the group of seven who were newly initiated
into the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1912, where she was
elected president. A dichotomy ensued between the combined 22
undergraduate Alpha chapter women and the newly graduated
establishment of Alpha Kappa Alpha, with the younger women, led by
Davis, becoming progressively more dissatisfied with the campus
society-focused agenda of the sorority.The seven along with the
fifteen other members of the undergraduate Alpha chapter who voted to
reorganize Alpha Kappa Alpha into a public service-centered
organization and, after declining an ultimatum from a key dissenting
graduated Î'ΚÎ', formed Delta Sigma Theta. She was later named first
president of Delta Sigma Theta's Alpha chapter. In 1913, Hemmings
graduated from Howard University. After graduation, Davis began
teaching in 1913 in San Antonio, Texas. In 1922 Davis married John W.
Hemmings, a former actor on Broadway.Hemmings was active in amateur
theater and participated in the San Antonio Negro Little Theater by
directing productions. She and her husband helped to organize Phyllis
Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players. In her career, she appeared in three
films. First, in the 1941 tragic drama film Go Down Death: The Story
of Jesus and the Devil, she starred as the martyr Sister Caroline. In
addition to acting, Hemmings co-produced and co-directed the film. In
the 1943 film Marching On, she played Mrs. Ellen Tucker. In Girl in
Room 20 (1946), she played Sarra Walker.
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