Died April 10, 2021

Brain inflammation

Houston

He was a columnist for The Texan in the early 1960s.

After graduating with a degree in philosophy, he earned master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology at Princeton University. He became a scholar of voting rights and co-founded Rice University’s sociology department.

He spent his life advocating for racial equality, social justice and voting rights, and was often sought out by legislators and lawyers for his expertise. Davidson’s scholarly work was cited in several court opinions around the country.

In the early 1990s, Davidson teamed up with political scientist and University of California at Irvine professor Bernard Grofman on a project that assessed the effects of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the South. The initiative, which engaged nearly 30 political scientists, historians, sociologists and lawyers, gave way to Davidson and Grofman’s award-winning book “Quiet Revolution in the South.”