Hayes-Davis residence

The Hayes-Davis residence is a two-story Queen-Anne style house at the corner of Center Street and 11th Court North. It was constructed in about 1900 for the Hayes family.

In 1946 the Hayeses sold the house to Frank Davis, a gas station owner, and his wife, Sallye, a school teacher. The couple raised their young daughter, Angela there, despite the threat of violence from Ku Klux Klan-affiliated terrorists who burned crosses and bombed houses sold to black families in the area known as Dynamite Hill.

The house, now called the Angela Davis House, is highlighted on the Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail. In 2015 the Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust proposed the creation of a Davis Women’s Cooperative and Cultural Resource Center in the house.