A District educator of 44 years, Elizabeth Davis, former president of Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU), fervently championed educators rights, childhood literacy, and educational equity. While it’s been four years since Davis tragically died in a car accident in April 2021, her dedication to educational justice continues through former students and colleagues, WTU initiatives, and District-wide efforts to keep her legacy alive.
Serving as WTU president from 2013 until her death, Davis garnered a reputation among both her colleagues and detractors as an orator and staunch advocate for teachers, particularly those working in schools east of the Anacostia River.
As Chantal Fuller, a special education teacher at Excel Academy Public School, recounted to The Informer, Davis often had a way of encouraging teachers around her to stand up for themselves without apology.
“We recognized that Elizabeth Davis was here for a purpose and she was here for us. She reiterated that teaching conditions are learning conditions,” Fuller told The Informer in April 2021, after Davis was one of two victims in a fatal Easter Sunday crash.
Remembering her fearless advocacy, Fuller said Davis’ death was “a big loss” for the District’s education community.
“She had no qualms about expressing that for us. If we got our needs met, that translated to students getting their needs met,” Fuller continued. “Elizabeth had tenacity and bravery in dealing with local and national politicians who had things to say about how she chose to advocate for us.”
Throughout the reopening process, WTU, with Davis at the forefront, engaged DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee about the conditions under which students would return amid a raging COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2021, not long after some teachers returned to the classroom for Term 3, WTU came close to approving a teachers’ strike via a vote.
In the days before her death, Davis remained in the throes of a battle with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) central office about proposed budget cuts that would have significantly reduced the teaching staff at nearly 50 schools located east of the Anacostia River even with little to no change in student enrollment.
In the statement announcing her death, Washington Teachers’ Union remembered Davis as a transformational leader.
“President Davis has been at the forefront of public education advocacy and reform, leading the WTU’s transformation into a social justice, solution-driven organization dedicated to advancing and promoting quality education for all children, irrespective of their zip codes or results of the school lottery, improving teaching and learning conditions and aggressively amplifying the voice of teachers in the dialogue around issues of teaching and learning,” WTU said. “We are confident that her legacy will continue to shape the WTU as well as education across the District.”
Continuing the Commitment to Literacy
Davis was a staunch advocate for student literacy, working for funding that places at least one librarian in every District public school.
As president, she had a Little Free Library installed at 1239 Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast in 2017. For years, the free library became a source of literature for those in Eastern Market, where WTU headquarters is located.
In April 2023, WTU remembered Davis by renaming the library in her honor.
Current WTU President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons served as vice president under the late leader and was her successor. While reflecting on her memory, she said the rededication ceremony not only recognized Davis’ role in bringing the free library to the WTU office, but reaffirmed WTU’s mission of tackling illiteracy and better equipping teachers in their mastery of the Science of Reading.
“President Davis understood and strongly supported [childhood literacy]. When she got the free library, we put books in it and some of our community members would leave books,” Pogue Lyons said.
K.C. Boyd, a school librarian who was on the front lines of those efforts, said Davis taught her to ask questions and hold school officials and politicians accountable to their word. She added that Davis’ dedication to the cause garnered her respect, and at times disdain, among city officials and DCPS central office figures alike.
“Liz fought extremely hard for all children, and she was laser-focused on children across the Anacostia River because she didn’t want them left behind,” Boyd said at the library unveiling in 2023.
In speaking about the Elizabeth Davis Free Library, Boyd commended WTU for furthering its commitment to childhood literacy.
For Boyd, closing the literacy gap means going back to the basics, including infusing a love for independent reading in children. She told The Informer that the late Davis would be in agreement about such a concept.
“With all the craziness in the District, you wondered if children were being put first and you had someone who did it. To be an independent reader, you have to pick up a book and read,” Boyd said. “Liz embedded in the Washington Teachers’ Union how important it was for children to do that.”
