Roy Elonza Davis

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Roy Elonza Davis (April 24, 1890 – August 12, 1966) was an American preacher who became a prominent figure in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). He helped revive the KKK in 1915, rose to high leadership, and later led the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He worked closely with William J. Simmons and helped write the KKK’s early rules and rituals. Davis spent many years as a KKK recruiter, and at times was described as a key organizer and spokesperson for the group.

Davis had a long history of criminal activity alongside his KKK work. He was arrested and convicted for fraud and forgery in the 1910s, and he spent time in prison from 1917 to 1918. He used aliases, including Lon Davis, and moved often across states. He abandoned his Texas family and lived with another woman in Georgia before being captured in 1917 and sent back to Texas.

In addition to his KKK leadership, Davis was a traveling preacher and church founder. He used revival meetings to help recruit for the KKK and helped start churches in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, and Kentucky. He published newsletters such as The Progress and later The Brick Bat, which promoted KKK ideas and attacked opponents. His publishing activities led to legal trouble, including charges of criminal libel.

Davis held political and religious positions at various times. He was elected mayor of Meigs, Georgia, in 1922. He also served in several church roles and became involved with the Pentecostal Baptist movement, founding churches and leading revivals. His religious activities often overlapped with his KKK work, and he remained a controversial and polarizing figure.

Throughout the 1920s to the 1960s, Davis continued to be involved in KKK actions, recruitment drives, and public rallies across the South and Midwest. He publicly defended segregation and white supremacy, and he was sometimes linked to cross burnings and other intimidation tactics. He faced repeated legal troubles over the years, including fraud charges, and was investigated by authorities after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 due to concerns about his influence.

In the 1960s, Davis was active from Dallas, Texas, and he claimed to lead the national KKK. Congressional investigations beginning in 1966 found that he had helped reactivate the KKK in several states and that the organization had fractured into multiple groups. By the mid-1960s, the Original Knights had weakened, while other Ku Klux Klan factions grew or re-formed under different leadership.

Roy Davis died in Dallas in 1966 at the age of 76 and was buried in Restland Memorial Park. His career shows how the KKK expanded and fought to stay influential during the mid-20th century, often using religious rhetoric and public rallies to recruit and spread its message.