Carnetta and Norm Davis: Civic Leaders in Alabama

Throughout Black History Month 2019, AFP will be recognizing donors, volunteers and civic leaders of color who have been honored by local AFP chapters. Today we recognize the AFP Alabama Chapter’s 2018 Outstanding Civic Leaders, Carnetta and Norm Davis.

Watch the video about Carnetta and Norm Davis.

With their leadership and philanthropy, Carnetta Nabors Davis and Norman B. Davis Jr., together and individually, have spent their careers building a better life for citizens of Greater Birmingham and have been a tour de force and a dynamic duo of civic leadership and charity.

Norm and Carnetta have worked within organizations, the corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors, to achieve their many goals.  The largest and most recent project is their work to establish within the Birmingham Museum of Art and other museums around the county the recognition of artist educators.  Alabama has a great connection to classic artists and one of the Davis’ goals is to revive recognition for artists forgotten or underrepresented because of race.  They established an exhibit, “Alabama and Beyond: African American Educators and their Art.”

Through Carnetta’s study and research they have created a collection of pieces they now share with the public through exhibitions of these works and others in museums around the country.  They also have built relationships with local and regional artist drawing an interest in art and culture locally, creating a larger market and interest in their work.

They also have donated works to the Birmingham Museum of Art and to the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga.  Carnetta has also written a catalog untitled “Alabama and Beyond: African American Artists and their Art Selections from the Carnetta and Norm Davis Collection” The catalogue is sold widely in several museums.  The proceeds of the sales are used to educate art student in Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Alabama.

Individually, both Carnetta and Norm have contributed significantly to the social fabric of Alabama. Carnetta has made specific achievements in community projects such as:

• Advancement of women in the field of engineering;
• Establishment of mentorship in STEM education;
• Support of a Parish Hall Construction project for Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church;
• Establishment of the Sankofa Society, a support group for African American art at the Birmingham Museum of Art;
• Support and development of women and girl programs in health, education, career development, mental health and minority health through The Women’s Fund, The Links, and UAB and
• Led an effort to create and update the history of The Links and presented in various topics at the National Assembly.

Norm has also been incredibly actively, making specific achievements in community projects like these:

• Health and safety, emergency response, housing, regional cooperation and development, economic empowerment, promotion of and improvements in access to healthcare and minority health research.
• He served on committees that promoted economic development in the Black Belt, and other underserved regions.
• He is a collaborator in work that improved tourism and quality of life interests.
• He is recognized for his work to promote diversity and inclusiveness, giving our community more voices in the conversation regarding civic responsibility and justice.

Carnetta and Norm have decades of civic engagement and community service in many projects that, over time, sustained organizations that provide scholarships, leadership development, and improve and promote access to arts, education, and culture for all people.