Mildred Davenport (1900–90) housed her dance studio at this address. Born in Roxbury, Davenport became a trailblazing dancer and renowned dance instructor. A graduate of Boston University’s Sargent College, she taught physical education at Tuskegee Institute (later University) in Alabama from 1921 to 1932. Later she entered show business. In 1938 she danced her interpretation of African American spirituals with the Boston Pops. She appeared on Broadway with such revues as Blackbirds and Flying Colors and danced with white performers including Imogene Coca and Clifton Webb, virtually unprecedented for an African American dancer in that period. For more than five years she toured in the Chocolate Revue in New York, Baltimore, and Washington, D. C. When she put her dancing career behind her, she served as an officer in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. From 1947 to 1968, she worked for the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination. She also founded the 464 Community Workshop, a fund raising auxiliary of the Women’s Service Club.
