![]() ĭavis eventually went on to befriend over twenty members of the KKK, and claims to have been directly responsible for between forty and sixty, and indirectly over two hundred people leaving the Klan. When Kelly left the Klan, he gave his robe to Davis. Davis eventually became friends with Kelly and was later invited to be Kelly's daughter's godfather. Kelly arrived at the motel with a bodyguard armed with a gun. She called him and he didn't ask what color I was, so we arranged to meet at a motel. I knew enough about the mentality of the Klan that they would never think a white woman would work for a black man. I wanted her to call because she's white. Just tell him I am writing a book on the Klan'. My secretary called him, and I told her, 'do not tell Roger Kelly I'm black. In meeting with the Imperial Wizard of the KKK in Maryland, Roger Kelly, Davis concealed his race before the interview. Ī few years later, Davis decided that he wanted to interview Klan members and write a book on the subject, to answer a "question in my head from the age of 10: 'Why do you hate me when you know nothing about me?' That question had never been answered from my youth". The two became friends and eventually the man gave Davis contact information on KKK leaders. The white patron was skeptical and over a drink admitted he was a member of the KKK. Davis explained to the man that "Jerry Lee learned to play from black blues and boogie-woogie piano players and he's a friend of mine". In 1983, he was playing country western music in a "white" bar in Frederick, Maryland, when a patron came up to him and said it was the first time he had "heard a black man play as well as Jerry Lee Lewis". That weapon is called communication.ĭaryl Davis, " Klan We Talk?", TEDxCapeMay, 9 January 2018.ĭavis has worked to improve race relations by seeking out, engaging in dialogue with, and befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan. What I have come to find to be the greatest and most effective and successful weapon that we can use, known to man, to combat such adversaries as ignorance, racism, hatred, violence, is also the least expensive weapon, and the one that is the least used by Americans. Discography Īctivism Davis holding up KKK robes at Blues and Rock for Humanity in November 2017 "Davis' piano work impresses with his winning combination of technique and abandon, and his vocals are strong and assured", wrote a reviewer in Living Blues Magazine. For several years, Davis served as artistic director of the Centrum Acoustic Blues Festival. He was awarded "Best Traditional Blues/R&B Instrumentalist" at the 2009 Washington Area Music Awards. He has played with artists such as Elvis Presley's Jordanaires, The Platters, The Drifters, The Coasters, Bo Diddley, Percy Sledge, and Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave). Davis has also performed with blues icon B. He was a friend of Muddy Waters and played piano in The Legendary Blues Band. ĭavis has frequently played backup for Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. ![]() Davis "was mentored by legendary pianists Pinetop Perkins and Johnnie Johnson, who both claimed him as their godson and praised his ability to master a piano style that was popular long before he was born", according to his Kennedy Center profile. In 1980, he earned a bachelor of music degree from Howard University, where he was a member of the Howard University Choir and Jazz Vocal Ensemble. Music career ĭavis absorbed the style of blues musicians from the Mississippi Delta who had migrated north. The irrationality of the incident, in his mind, led to a curiosity about the origins and basis for such racist attitudes, which would later shape much of his future activity. Davis did not understand the incident until he discussed it with his father. In one incident, he was carrying the flag and marching with his troop in a local parade, when he was struck with rocks and bottles thrown from the crowd, prompting the pack leaders to form a protective ring around him. At the age of ten, he returned to the United States and joined an all-white Cub Scout pack in Belmont, Massachusetts. Living in various foreign countries, including African nations, Davis grew accustomed to the casually integrated schools of foreign diplomats, where children of many nations, races, and cultures were schooled together. Early life īorn in Chicago, Illinois, Davis was the son of a Department of State Foreign Service officer and moved around the world with his parents during most of his early childhood. He is the subject of the 2016 documentary Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America. Known for his energetic style of boogie-woogie piano, Davis has played with such musicians as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, B. His efforts to fight racism, in which, as an African American, he has engaged with members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), have convinced a number of Klansmen to leave and denounce the KKK. Daryl Davis (born March 26, 1958) is an American R&B and blues musician and activist. ![]()
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