TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — If you’ve ever visited the Quincie Douglas Library, you may have noticed a sculpture that sitting inside.
The art piece depicts Margaret Campbell, Tucson’s first, Black author to publish a book, and Quincie Douglas, a beloved community activist whose legacy in Tucson lives on today.
Both the library and Quincie Douglas Recreation Center are named in honor of her.
"It’s a source of pride to know that every time somebody drives up Keno, they look at a sign that says Quincie Douglas Center," said Quinn Davis, Douglas' grandson and the artist behind the sculpture.
Quincie Douglas was born in Oklahoma in 1905, but her story began when she moved to the South Park neighborhood of Tucson in the 1930s with a family she was working for domestically.
It wasn’t long after arriving in Tucson she began leaving her mark.
"She saw—okay, these are obstacles," Davis shared regarding his grandmother's activism. "Okay, [that] doesn’t mean that I can’t get over these obstacles or I can’t get past these obstacles."
Davis was only three when his grandmother died in 1986. However, he says her contributions are still felt 36 years later.
"The idea of taking care of your community is the lasting impact, you know," said Davis.
She founded the Low Income Free Transportation Service (LIFTS) in 1965, a transportation program for people with limitations.
Douglas saw the need for reliable transportation after a stroke limited her mobility. According to Davis, she would act as dispatch right from her house when the program first began.
"She tried to make a way for that to happen so that people can get to their job, get to the laundromat, get to the grocery store," explained Davis on why Douglas decided to start the program. "These simple things that we take for granted."
Douglas would receive $24,000 from the Tucson Committee for Economic Opportunity towards starting LIFTS. The City of Tucson took over the program six years later, renaming it "Special Needs Transportation Service" and then eventually "Van Tran."
Twenty-three years after her death, Douglas would have the sculpture sitting among a sea of books in the South Park neighborhood library, where she meant so much to so many people back then, and still does today.
"It’s a great legacy to have. I know I’ve said it many times, but I couldn’t be more proud, and every chance we get, we talk about Quincie Douglas in my household," Davis said when asked about keeping her legacy alive.
Today, Van Tran is known as Sun Van, Tucson’s paratransit system incorporating all of the needs Douglas felt were critical to providing reliable transportation to those in the community.
Davis says he hopes to work with the city to create more pieces honoring her, and other prominent figures in the future.
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Kenny Darr is a reporter for KGUN 9. He joined the team in January 2023. Before arriving in Arizona he was an Anchor and Reporter at KADN in Lafayette, LA. Share your story ideas with Kenny by emailing kenny.darr@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
