‘Can’t wipe out our history.’ Overtown street renamed after Black Miami hero Dr. Ira P. Davis
For far too long, the man often called the “Mayor of Colored Town” had nothing bearing his name. His was a history untold for many years, known by only a select few.
Until now.
The life and legacy of Dr. Ira P. Davis was celebrated Friday morning in Overtown where Northwest 16th Street between Second and Third avenues was renamed in his honor. A staunch advocate for civil rights and one of Black Miami’s unsung heroes, Davis worked behind the scenes to help the city become a bit more equitable.
“It’s great to see that he has finally got some recognition for all that he did and make people aware what was going on at the time in our history and how much they had to go through to get to where we are today,” Davis’ daughter Carol Henley Byrd told the Miami Herald. “I was in the same household and I didn’t have any idea all that he had done until I started researching.”
Born in Jacksonville in 1896, Davis was raised in Orlando. He later graduated from Florida A&M College and then Howard University School of Dentistry in 1929. Seven years later, Davis moved to Miami where he set up his dental office at 1036 NW Second Ave. and married Louis Stirrup, the daughter of Coconut Grove pioneer E.W.F. Stirrup.
It is Davis’ time in Overtown that his activism really began to flourish.
With the help of significant figures like Father John Culmer and Judge Lawson Thomas, Davis began to plan how to better the lives of Black Miamians. He was involved in the founding of the Negro Police Force in 1944; the 1945 “Wade-In” that led to the opening of Virginia Key Beach, the first Black beach for Miamians of African descent; the appointment of Thomas, Miami-Dade County’s first Black judge; and the integration of both Miami Springs Country Club and the Orange Bowl.
“Everything he did was in service to better our community,” Miami Commission Chairwoman Christine King told the audience gathered at the Historic Black Police Precinct Courthouse and Museum in Overtown.
Davis’ other contributions included helping to bring the Urban League to Miami as well as establishing both the Beta Beta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Alpha Rho Chapter of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. Representatives from both fraternities attended Friday’s ceremony where they praised Davis’ achievements.
“This is a proud day for the Alpha men of South Florida,” said Judge Daryl Traywick, the vice president of the Beta Beta Lambda chapter.
Despite Davis’ legacy, the task of renaming a street in his honor wasn’t easy. It took Henley Byrd five years, she said, to get both the city and county on board.
But as she stood at the lectern, her father’s name enshrined on a green placard that will eventually hang in the neighborhood he helped build, she appeared grateful — especially for community activist Enid Pinkney, who made the final push for the renaming to the city commission.
“I thought this day would never come,” Henley Byrd said.
“It’s our responsibility to toot our own horn,” Pinkney added, referring to the importance of uplifting Black history. “If you’re going to sit back and wait for somebody to praise you or tell you what you have done, then you will always talk about what they are not doing for us. We have to get rid of that mentality and start working to prove what we have done.”
At a time when the accurate teaching of Black history is being challenged in Florida, Davis’ contributions deserves to be recognized to get a better understanding of America, according to Henley Byrd.
“I’m just hoping that as things that are happening today, that people will take notice and say, ‘Look, you can’t wipe out our history,’ ” she said.
“’We struggled to get all of this. You can’t take it for granted. We’ve come a long way and we can’t turn back. And if we’re not careful, that’s exactly what will happen.’”
This story was originally published November 17, 2023 at 2:56 PM.
