Radical Roots Rev Arthur Powell Davies

Rev Arthur Powell Davies – Welsh-American minister, writer and civil rights activist.

Born in Birkenhead in 1902 to Welsh parents, Arthur became a Methodist minister before emigrating to the USA in the 1930s. There, he became a Unitarian and during his ministry in Washington D.C., All Souls Church Unitarian became a centre of social justice and civil rights activism, one of the first churches in the city to have a racially mixed congregation.

Rev Powell Davies and his congregation became known across America and internationally for their activism for racial equality, gender equality, peace and social justice. He died tragically from a blood clot in 1957, aged just 55.

Find out more about him, his church and their role in the civil rights movement here: https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/921