She was born in
Roxbury, Massachusetts to Mary Davenport and Samuel Davenport, a
Pullman porter. She attended Boston Girls' High School, graduating in 1918, and then went on to the Sargent School for Physical Culture at
Boston University. Afterwards she studied dance with
Ted Shawn. In the 1920s, she opened her first dance school, the Davenport School of Dance, where she taught for a decade. In 1932, she founded her second dance school, the Silver Box Studio, at 522 Columbus Avenue in Boston. In the 1930s, she performed in a number of
musicals and
revues on Broadway, including
Blackbirds and
Flying Colors. At a time when it was rare for African-American and white performers to appear together on the stage, she danced with performers like
Imogene Coca and
Clifton Webb. In 1938, she danced interpretations of
spirituals with the
Boston Pops orchestra, becoming the first African-American woman to appear with the Boston Pops. She toured the East Coast for five years in a show entitled
Chocolate Review. In
World War II, Davenport became one of the first black women to enlist in the
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, rising from first lieutenant to captain during the war. After the war, she worked for the
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination for two decades (1947–1968) and served on the board of directors for the Boston branch of the
NAACP. In 1973 Davenport received the Sojourner Truth Award of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Boston and Vicinity Club. Davenport died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1990. A collection of her papers, photographs, dance programs, and other ephemera is held by UC Irvine's Special Collections and Archives. ==References==