Davis received her primary and secondary education from the Eddy School located in Milledgeville, Georgia. The Eddy School was created by the American Missionary Association in the early part of 1868 for black children. 

After completion, Davis attended Atlanta University in Georgia and graduated with a normal school degree in 1899. Davis attended Atlanta University during the tenure of W.E.B. DuBois. Sallie Davis started teaching at the Eddy School even before graduating from Atlanta University and remained there for over 50 years both as a teacher and principal from the mid 1890's to 1949.

 In these roles she influenced and encouraged countless young people to excell in their fields and become mentors in their own right. 

Sallie Ellis Davis died at home on October 7, 1950 and was buried Bone Cemetery in Milledgeville, Georgia (corner of Clark Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive).

 "After she died in 1950, Baldwin County recognized her by naming the Sallie Ellis Davis School in her honor. In 1990, the Sallie Ellis Davis Foundation was formed by a group of Baldwin County citizens, several of whom were former students of Davis. Their mission is to create an African American heritage museum in her former home to promote African American history."

 James C. Bonner, author of Milledgeville: Georgia's Antebellum Capital describes the Eddy School at the end of the 1800s: 

"At the end of the century it was the only high school serving blacks in a large area of Middle Georgia. While it received aid from philanthropic sources not available to white schools, its classrooms were overcrowded and its teachers underpaid. A total of 250 pupils were taught in only three rooms designed to seat fewer that 200. Two teachers occupied a single classroom packed with almost 200 students."(Bonner, 238) 

On March 31, 2000 at the Ninth Induction Ceremony Georgia Women of Achievement, Sallie E. Davis was honored.

 For more information see:

Georgia Women of Achievement

 Lamonica Jenkins' tribute