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Activist and actor. Henrietta Vinton Davis was born on August 15, 1860, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Mansfield Vinton Davis and Mary Ann (Johnson) Davis. Her father died when she was very young, and her mother soon married George A. Hackett, a wealthy man who was able to provide his stepdaughter with many advantages. When Hackett died in 1870, his widow moved to Washington, D.C., where Davis received the remainder of her education.