Gerald L. Davis (1941-1997) received his B.A. degree in English/speech and drama from Fisk University in 1963 and his M.A. (1973) and Ph.D. (1978) degrees in folklore from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively. He was the Associate Director of Folklife Programs of the Smithsonian Insitution in the early 1970s. He taught in the Africana Studies Department at Rutgers University and subsequently in the American Studies Department at University of New Mexico.