[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 9, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO MURIEL LOIS CORRIN DAVIS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. DONALD M. PAYNE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 9, 2016

  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 90th birthday 
of a very incredible constituent, Muriel Lois Corrin Davis. Muriel was 
born on February 9, 1926 in Sea Bright, New Jersey. At the age of 1, 
her family moved to East Orange, New Jersey. She graduated from East 
Orange High School in 1944 and left for Spelman College in Atlanta, 
Georgia in 1945. She received her B.A. in English and Spanish in 1950. 
An avid moviegoer, her dream was to see the world she had only seen 
onscreen.
   After graduation in August 1950, Muriel was the first African 
American woman to be hired by Doubleday Publishers. Her position was 
Assistant Secretary in the Executive Office of Doubleday. Her courtship 
with Morehouse College graduate (Class of 1947) Griffith ``Griff'' 
Davis began while he lived in the Harlem home of Langston Hughes. Mr. 
Hughes used them as the prototype for his Simple book series.
   Liberia President William V. S. Tubman commissioned Griff to do the 
first photography exhibit on Liberia at the American Museum of Natural 
History in New York City and the filming of Liberia's first promotional 
film entitled ``Pepperbird Land.'' In March 1952, Muriel flew to 
Liberia to marry Griff. Their ``Global Honeymoon'' on three continents 
was written and photographed by Griff and appeared in the September 
1952 issue of Ebony magazine.
   Upon returning from their honeymoon, Griff took the Foreign Service 
exam in Washington, DC. In November 1952, they returned to Liberia as 
African-American pioneers in President Harry Truman's Point Four 
Program for foreign aid.
   As the spouse of a U.S. Foreign Service Officer during the family's 
tours of duty in Liberia from 1952 to 1957, Muriel was unofficially 
responsible for developing, cultivating and maintaining diplomatic 
relationships with President Tubman, key business and government 
officials of Liberia, citizens and high level visitors to the country: 
like the future Prime Minister of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah in January 1953.
   Muriel was the first Bank Teller for the first indigenous bank in 
Liberia (Bank of Liberia) founded by her former Morehouse classmate A. 
Romeo Horton. She taught Early European History and Political Science 
at Monrovia High School. She gave birth to her two children in 
Monrovia: Dorothy Davis and Ben Davis.
   In 1957, the family was posted to newly independent Tunisia. Muriel 
repeated the same unofficial diplomatic duties she had in Liberia but 
faced an even more multicultural and potentially hostile environment. 
Although women could not attend government activities, Muriel was able 
to meet Tunisia's first President Habib Bourghuiba.
   Muriel returned to New Jersey in 1959 to enroll her two children in 
private school. When she met the principal of The Carteret School of 
West Orange, he rescinded the school's initial offer for admission to 
her daughter, Dorothy, because she was African American. On behalf of 
her daughter, Muriel filed a complaint with the State of New Jersey 
Division Against Discrimination of the Department of Education in 1959. 
She won the next year. This decision enabled African Americans to 
attend New Jersey's private schools. In June 1967, Muriel taught pre-
schoolers at East Orange Co-op Day Care Center until 1980. She became 
an Investigator for the Essex County Probation Department's Bail 
Program in Newark until she retired in 1994.
   Since her retirement in February 1994, Muriel has traveled across 
the United States and to France, Ghana, Switzerland, Barbados and the 
U.S. Virgin Islands and remains friends with people from around the 
world. She has volunteered for several institutions including the 
United Black Episcopalians, the Church of the Epiphany, the United 
Nations International School (UNIS), and the Women's Africa Committee 
of the African-American Institute.
   Ms. Davis is the proud grandmother of Joelle Joseph, Anne-Laure 
Davis and Daniel Davis. She has lived a life that makes me honored to 
acknowledge her 90th birthday and wish her another year of happiness.

                          ____________________