calsfoundation@cals.org
June 10, 2012
Ferdinand Havis, though born a slave and receiving only a brief common school education, was elected a Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) city alderman, state representative, assessor, and county clerk. He learned the barbering trade at an early age and later owned a profitable barbershop. He became a prominent local businessman, called by some the Colored Millionaire. Havis died at his home at 920 West Barraque on August 25, 1918, and is buried in Bellwood Cemetery in Pine Bluff.