High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! John Preston Davis (January 19, 1905 - September 11, 1973) was an American lawyer and activist intellectual became prominent for his work with the Joint Committee on National Recovery and the founding of the National Negro Congress in 1935. He went on to found Our World magazine in 1946, a full-size, nationally-distributed magazine edited for African American readers. He also published the American Negro Reference Book covering virtually every aspect of African-American life, present and past.