Frank Marshal Davis
Washington University Film and Media Archive and the Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR) at the University of Hawai'i - West O'ahu have partnered to preserve and digitize an interview with notable African-American poet and journalist Frank Marshall Davis. "Frank" is mentioned in Barak Obama's Dreams From My Father, as a drinking buddy of his grandfather and an African American that made an impression on the now President as a young man growing up in Hawai'i.
Davis published several acclaimed books of poetry in the 1930's and 1940's and, despite being based in Chicago and the Midwest, was considered to be a part of the Harlem Renaissance movement along with prominent authors such as Langston Hughes. In addition to being an accomplished poet, Davis was a pioneering journalist and headed the influential American Negro Press. He moved to Hawai'i from Chicago in 1949, in part to seek racial tolerance because his wife was white. In Hawai'i, Davis continued writing as a weekly columnist ("Frankly Speaking") in the labor-oriented Honolulu Record newspaper.
The interview was conducted in 1987 as part of a planned long form documentary about the life Frank Marshall Davis. However, Davis died before the program was completed. A shorter 30 minute program was created as a tribute to Davis for the Rice and Roses series produced by CLEAR. The program aired on Hawai'i Public Television.
All of the original interview tapes were stored in CLEAR's media library along with poetry readings, and photographs and news clippings from Davis' personal collection. These materials now make up the Frank Marshall Davis Collection at Washington University. They can be searched online in the Film and Media catalog.
A resurgence of interest in Davis emerged during the 2008 presidential election campaign when Frank Marshall Davis was called "Obama's Communist Mentor" by conservatives. The association was an attempt at an "old-fashioned red-baiting campaign" notes Conybeare who was contacted on many occasions by many right-wing groups looking to access to the interview he conducted. CLEAR does not have the resources or expertise to preserve and digitize the materials and approached the Film and Media Archive about preserving and putting the collection online for all to access.
Transcript of Interview with Frank Marshal Davis