Daryl Davis

Daryl Davis (born March 26, 1958) is an American R&B and blues musician and activist.

His efforts to fight racism by engaging members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) have convinced dozens of Klansmen to leave and denounce the KKK.

Known for his energetic style of boogie-woogie piano, Davis has played with such musicians as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, B. B. King, and Bruce Hornsby.

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.

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.

Davis has frequently played backup for Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis.

He was a friend of Muddy Waters and played piano in The Legendary Blues Band.

Davis has also performed with blues icon B. B. King.

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).

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".

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".

The white patron was skeptical and over a drink admitted he was a member of the KKK.

The two became friends and eventually the man gave Davis contact information on KKK leaders.

A 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".

In meeting with the Imperial Wizard of the KKK in Maryland, Roger Kelly, Davis concealed his race before the interview.

"My secretary called him, and I told her, 'do not tell Roger Kelly I'm black. Just tell him I am writing a book on the Klan'. I wanted her to call because she's white. I knew enough about the mentality of the Klan that they would never think a white woman would work for a black man. She called him and he didn't ask what color I was, so we arranged to meet at a motel."

The meeting was tense.

Kelly arrived at the motel with a bodyguard armed with a gun.

Davis eventually became friends with Kelly and was later invited to be Kelly's daughter's godfather.

When Kelly left the Klan, he gave his robe to Davis.

Davis 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.

Over the course of his activities, Davis found that Klansmen have many misconceptions about black people, stemming mostly from intense brainwashing in their youth.

When they got to know him, Davis claims, it was more difficult to maintain their prejudices.

The artist has recounted his experiences in his 1998 book, Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan.

Klan members have often invited Davis to meetings, and they have given him their robes and hoods.

He was awarded "Best Traditional Blues/R&B Instrumentalist" at the 2009 Washington Area Music Awards.

For several years, Davis served as artistic director of the Centrum Acoustic Blues Festival.

"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.

Davis has worked to improve race relations by seeking out, engaging in dialogue with, and befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan.

He is the subject of the 2016 documentary Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America.

Born 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.

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.

At the age of ten, he returned to the United States and joined what had previously been an all-white Cub Scout pack in Belmont, Massachusetts.

During a local parade with his pack, he was carrying the flag when he was struck with rocks and bottles thrown from the crowd, prompting the pack leaders to form a protective ring around him.

Davis did not understand the incident until he discussed it with his father.

In this conversation, his father explained racism to him for the first time.

The irrationality of the incident led to his curiosity about the origins and basis for racist attitudes, which would shape much of his future activity.

Davis is a Christian.

Davis absorbed the style of blues musicians from the Mississippi Delta who had migrated north.

In 2016, Davis estimated having collected 25 or 26 robes.