After attending the Harand Camp of the Theater Arts summer camp program and Bowen High School. Davis went on to study journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was issued a degree in journalism in 1968. It was not long before his interest in civil rights and anti-war issues converged with his growing interest in filmmaking. Davis was mentored by acclaimed cinematographer Haskell Wexler with whom he worked on "Medium Cool" and began his film career as a cameraman on blaxploitation films like "The Hit Man", "Cool Breeze" and "The Slams" in the 1970s.