Jefferson’s Influential Allies

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis is from Chicago, but he feels a special kinship with Rep. William Jefferson of New Orleans. Davis grew up in Parkdale, Ark., 30 miles along the poorest stretch of America from Jefferson’s hometown of Lake Providence.

“I know about the heritage of picking cotton, of slopping hogs, of going to a little rural school, of walking dusty roads, of wondering if there was any way out of the cotton field and was there any way to stop the sun from shining so hotly in July and August?” said Davis, whose wife later taught school in Chicago with one of Jefferson’s sisters.

Since arriving in Congress, Davis, in his sixth term, has been friends and allies with “Jeff,” as he calls him, now in his ninth term.

Read more: (Jonathan Tilove, “Influential Allies on Jefferson’s Side; He Remains in Fold of Weighty Black Caucus,” Times-Picayune, 10/12/08)