Day 12 📍 Scavenger Hunt
Celebrating Black History Month by exploring hidden Black history in Florida's Capital City.
February 12, 2025
Good morning!
📍Today’s Clue: Sandwiched between two houses on a hill, find the cemetery on a road perpendicular to Thomasville.
📍 Day 5: Anita L. Davis Preserve at Lake Henrietta
🕵🏽 Clue: She was the first Black woman to serve as Chair, visit the preserve named after the woman who dared.
Anita L. Davis was the first Black woman to serve as Leon County Commissioner. She was elected to join the Leon County Commission in 1990, a few years after she and the NAACP successfully sued the Commission for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At the time, all five of the Commission seats were elected at-large. At-large elections were a significant source of Black voter dilution, and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting practices and procedures that discriminate against minority voters.
After the lawsuit, the Commission expanded to seven seats, with only two at-large. The change opened the door for Henry Lewis, who became the first Black person to serve on the Leon County Commission in 1986.
Davis served on the Commission from 1990 to 1996. While Commissioner, she helped restore Lake Munson and Lake Henrietta. In 2018, Leon County Government honored Commissioner Davis with the naming of the County's Anita L. Davis Preserve at Lake Henrietta Park. She passed away in 2021.
See you tomorrow,
Shelby