Margaret Davis Bowen

Margaret Davis Bowen (May 24, 1894 – April 1976) was a religious leader, civil rights activist and educator who led the Gilbert Academy, a top private black college in New Orleans, during the late 1930s. She received her M. Ed. from the University of Cincinnati in 1935^[1]. From 1936-1939 she served as international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority^[2], which retains a Margaret Davis Bowen Outstanding Alumni Award for the Southeast Region. In 1948 she resigned from Gilbert and moved to Atlanta where she was active in the Methodist church.

She was the first president of the neighborhood association of Just Us, a tiny westside neighborhood of Atlanta near Washington Park^[3], which has dedicated a small park in her honor.

She died in April 1976 after a period of illness in a nursing home in Columbus, Ohio^[4].

She was married to John Wesley Edward Bowen, a bishop in the Methodist church^[5].

A son, John W.E. Bowen III, was a state senator in Ohio.

Publications

"Youth in a Changing World", The Ivy Leaf, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, March 1939. Vol. 17, No. 1.

References

1. ^ "The American Negro in College, 1934-35". The Crisis: p. 235. August, 1935. http://books.google.com/books?id=CVgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA235&ots=SHILXd-5jQ&dq=Margaret%20Davis%20Bowen%20at%20the%20University%20of%20Cincinnati%20in%201935&pg=PA235#v=onepage&q=bowen&f=false. 
2. ^ Alpha Kappa Alpha
3. ^ Just Us Neighbors site as retrieved 2010-12-07: cached copy
4. ^ "Census: Died". Jet: p. 9. May 27, 1976. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZMADAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA9&ots=_-3z1eGRwU&dq=%22margaret%20davis%20bowen%22%20born&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q=%22margaret%20davis%20bowen%22%20born&f=false. 
5. ^ Cavazos, Mary Kay (1960). Considering What Others Say I Am: African American Women and Foreign Mission (Thesis). Drew University. http://divinity.duke.edu/oxford/docs/2007papers/2007-3Cavazos.pdf. 

External links

• New Orleans Tribune, "Gilbert Academy’s Legacy of Distinction", November 1985
• "Award from Alpha-Bettes". Jet: p. 19. May 4, 1961. http://books.google.com/books?id=h7QDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=%22Margaret+Davis+Bowen%22+atlanta&source=bl&ots=DyYFv7HI_I&sig=iIkBGgp30L1PLkht6jLklyh-4fY&hl=en&ei=jp8fTYm1IMOAlAfUyK3MCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22Margaret%20Davis%20Bowen%22%20atlanta&f=false. 
• Margaret Davis Bowen's frozen custard recipe: The historical cookbook of the American Negro. Boston: Beacon Press. 2000. p. 75. ISBN 0-8070-0964-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=iOpD6b3irOAC&lpg=PA75&ots=nh60rVECbZ&dq=%22Margaret%20Davis%20Bowen%22%20morehouse&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q=bowen&f=false. Retrieved 2011-01-01. 

Persondata
Name	Bowen, Margaret Davis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 24, 1894
Place of birth
Date of death	1976
Place of death