Irvin Davis Sr.
Oral History
Recorded in Fall 2020 with StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. It was facilitated by Mary Bess Ser.
Biography
Irvin Davis Sr., was born and raised in Chicago and has been a North Lawndale resident since 1956. He attended Roswell B. Mason elementary, while a teenager at Farragut High School and in college, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale; so education became a high factor in his upbringing.
While in college he vividly remembers the death of King, the riots happening, not seeing many blacks at school who looked like himself and very few African-American families living on the Westside particularly North Lawndale. “During that time, people were close-knit. There weren’t fences, yards were completely open, many families didn’t have to worry about being safe and folks even left their doors unlocked at night.”
While growing up, Irvin enjoyed basketball, football and tennis and still does. A fun fact about Irvin is during the late 80’s he played tennis at Garfield Park (where the Garfield Park Conservatory is housed) and performed well enough to become the Westside Open Champion and won a trophy for his sportsmanship. “I can remember education being very important during my upbringing.”
“My mother had a sixth grade education and my father had a third grade education. I hardly saw my Dad because he worked two jobs, and most of the time sixteen-hour days.”
Irvin considers himself a family-oriented role model and admits to his personality as a serious demeanor, but says this because at a young age he learned and witnessed his mother and father working hard. Their morals, values and wisdom has motivated him to be the best father, grandfather and great-grandfather he can possibly be.
Irvin’s motto is “hard work and a great work ethic pays off,” because as a young adult his parents were true examples of that by purchasing two homes in North Lawndale and leaving them to their children as a family staple in the community. So he credits his father for teaching him the importance of home-ownership at a very young age.
His greatest hope for North Lawndale is for the community to prosper at all levels. “We need education advantages in the community, more social events and positive opportunities for the youth that will give them something to do so they’re not getting in trouble.”