Alice Brown Davis (front row center) stands with other women on the steps of the Federal Building in Muskogee on the day she was sworn in as chief of the Seminole Indian Tribe, August 16, 1922. Pictured are (front row left) Alice Locke, Davis, Joyette Jones, (back row left) Joyce Davis Jones, Mrs. Ben Locke, Mrs. MC Jones, Mrs. HW Livinam, Mrs. Vernon Kiker and Mrs. WS Key.
Courtesy of Oklahoma Historical Society
After Alice Brown Davis was sworn in as chief of the Seminole Indian Tribe in 1922, a reporter from the Muskogee Phoenix asked her how it felt to be the first female Indian chief in history.
“It was a little scary at first, but I got through it,” Davis said.
Davis, 69, was appointed by President Warren Harding to resolve tribal issues on the recommendation of Maj. Victor Locke Jr., superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes.
Her brother, John Brown, felt he had completed his tribal duties and stepped down as chief in 1916 after 30 years.
At Davis’ installation ceremony at the U.S. District Court in Muskogee, Locke explained that the Dawes Commission had been trying to end Indian tribal issues since 1893, and that Indian government was abolished when Oklahoma became a state in 1907.
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But according to Alice & JFB by Vance Trimble of Wewoka, Washington bureaucrats discovered that some deeds required the signature of a Seminole chief recognized by blood.
The appointment of a woman raised eyebrows among Native Americans and whites: an editorial in the Tulsa World stated that “those wise men who asserted that there was nothing new under the sun were only roughly wise.”
“Mrs. Alice B. Davis has proven that there is something new. She is the new chief of the Seminole tribe of Indians.”
The editorial noted that while the traditional job of an Indian chief was to fight, “the days of pursuit and war are gone.”
Davis was referred to by reporters in the Muskogee and Daily Oklahoman newspapers, and in feature articles in many parts of the country, as the first woman chief of an Indian tribe, but Trimble points out in her book that this is not accurate. Davis’ daughter, Indian historian and author Maud Jones, found that Indian tribes in Virginia had occasionally had female chiefs, dating back to the time of Pocahontas. But Davis was the first woman chief since the Five Civilized Tribes were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory.
Within a year, the Kaw had a female chief, and much later, the Cherokees elected Wilma Mankiller as their chief. Davis was undisputedly qualified. She had worked on tribal issues in many places, including Mexico in 1903, 1905, and 1910, served as an interpreter for the U.S. government at a famous murder trial in Florida, and was a missionary and teacher. She was respected for her knowledge of languages, her intelligence, and her willingness to help her people.
“Alice did not receive her position as chief through hereditary privilege, but was selected solely on the basis of her ability and qualifications,” Locke, a former Choctaw chief, told the audience at Davis’ installation.
Davis was born in Park Hill in 1852 after his parents arrived there from Florida along the “Trail of Tears.”
Her father, Dr. John F. Brown, a Scottish-born, Edinburgh-educated physician, was attached to the Seminole tribe and accompanied them on their migration to Indian Territory, during which time he met and fell in love with a young Indian maiden.
Alice Brown married George Davis in 1874 and established a trading post called Arbeka in the northern Seminole region. George Davis had 11 children, but the youngest died when he was three years old, leaving Alice Davis to raise them all on her own.
Alice Davis’ obituary says she served as chief until her death in 1935 at age 82, but Trimble said that’s incorrect. He said she served as chief only for one month in 1922 and again briefly in 1923, when the government needed a signed document to transfer some Seminole property to white people.
Davis was summoned to Muskogee and asked to sign several documents, including the deed for the Emahaka Mission Academy, of which she was the superintendent, but she refused to do so and the government instructed the Muskogee office to appoint another chief, George Jones, who was appointed.
However, Jones also refused to sign the deed ceding the land to the whites. The government then appointed a third chief, Harry Tiger, but he also refused to sign. The government gave up and continued with the deal without the signature of the Seminole chief.
Davis was not wealthy as chief: According to Trimble’s book, she was paid just $85 for her first month as chief.
Davis was inducted into the Oklahoma State Hall of Fame in 1930, and Davis House at the University of Oklahoma was named in her honor in 1951. She was inducted into the American Indian Hall of Fame in 1961.
A bronze bust of her by Willard Stone was unveiled at the New York World’s Fair in 1964.
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“Only in Oklahoma” is a series in the Tulsa World Archives written by former Tulsa World editor-in-chief Gene Curtis for Oklahoma’s Centennial in 2007. The column tells fascinating stories about the history of the nation’s 46th state. The Tulsa World Archives contains more than 2.3 million articles, 1.5 million photos and 55,000 videos. Tulsa World subscribers have access to all content in the archives. Not a subscriber? For a limited time, a special offer is available for three months for $1 digital subscription at tulsaworld.com/subscribe.
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