MPR’s Lorna Benson looks at the life of W. Harry Davis, Minneapolis civil rights activist and educator, who passed away on August 11th, 2006. Davis rose from humble beginnings in a poor, segregated north Minneapolis neighborhood to prominent business and civic leadership in the Twin Cities.

In 1942, Davis started his career at ONAN Corporation, where he went on to become one of the first Black executives in the Twin Cities. Two years later, while still working at his day job, he began coaching amateur boxing. His success earned him a spot on the U.S. Olympic boxing committee. But there was much more to come in Harry Davis's life. During the racially turbulent 1960s, Davis helped found the Minneapolis Urban Coalition, a non-profit advocacy organization for communities of color. He also served more than 20 years on the Minneapolis school board during the height of desegregation and became the city's first Black mayoral candidate in 1971.