Margaret Davis Bowen Biography

Margaret Davis Bowen (May 24, 1894 – April 1976) was a religious leader, civil rights activist and educator who led the Gilbert Academy, a top private black college in New Orleans, during the late 1930s. She received her M. Ed. from the University of Cincinnati in 1935. From 1936 to 1939 she served as international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, which has a Margaret Davis Bowen Outstanding Alumni Award for the Southeast Region. In 1948 she resigned from Gilbert and moved to Atlanta where she was active in the Methodist church.