Roy Elonza Davis (April 24, 1890 – August 12, 1966) was an American preacher, white supremacist, and con artist who co-founded the second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915. Davis was Second Degree (second in command) of the KKK under William J. Simmons and later became National Imperial Wizard (leader) of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He worked closely with Simmons, and was a co-author of the 1921 KKK constitution, bylaws and rituals. Davis spent decades as a KKK recruiter, at one point being named "Royal Ambassador" and an "Official Spokesperson" of the KKK by Simmons. Davis and Simmons were both expelled from the KKK in 1923 by Hiram Wesley Evans, who had ousted Simmons as leader. Simmons started the Knights of the Flaming Sword branch of the KKK and with Davis's help retained the loyalty of many KKK members. Davis was later reappointed second in command of the national KKK organization by Imperial Wizard Eldon Edwards, a position he held until being elected national leader by 1959.
Davis used religious meetings and revivals as a tool for KKK recruitment and was a traveling evangelist and pastor, founding churches in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, and Kentucky. Davis was arrested and jailed at least 17 times between 1916 and 1961 on charges of fraud, grand theft, petty theft, forgery, illegal firearms possession, trafficking a minor, cross burning, and libel. Davis was convicted at least twice and served prison terms during 1917–1918 and 1940–1942. Based in Dallas during the 1950s and 1960s, Davis was also investigated in connection to the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Early life Davis was born on April 24, 1890, in Omaha, Texas, as one of eleven children to Joshua Savington Davis and Mary Elizabeth McCoy. In 1906, Davis was living in El Paso, Texas, where he was employed as a clerk at the Southwest Railroad. By 1912, at age twenty-two, Davis was traveling regularly and preaching as a Christian minister connected to the Baptist Missionary Association.
Criminal career Throughout his adult life, Davis was regularly involved in criminal activity and various money making schemes. In 1912, he began traveling to multiple states and selling "Electro Galvanic Rings" which claimed could cure rheumatism. Later that year he was arrested and charged based on complaints filed against him. Davis was indicted by a grand jury and held for trial. The judge set his bond, permitting him to leave jail.
Davis was a nearly lifelong member of the KKK. Davis told newspaper reporters that he had been a KKK member since 1915. Davis was reported to be among the founding members of the William J. Simmons revival of the Ku Klux Klan. Davis also told newspaper reporters that he was a coauthor of the KKK's constitution, bylaws and rituals which were first published in 1921.
Davis continued to commit fraud across the American South. In 1916, he went on a forgery crime spree with his brothers who seem to have operated with him as a gang. Davis presented himself as a minister at a bank asking them to cash a fraudulent cashier's check created by his brother who presented himself as a business owner making a donation to Davis's ministry. Davis's swindle involved multiple banks, including Continental State Bank, First State Bank, and Toyah Valley State Bank in west Texas during 1916. Davis was pursued by local law enforcement for his crimes causing him to flee the state. He abandoned his wife Emma and their three children in Texas and fled to Georgia where he took the alias of Lon Davis and married another woman, Elva Gravley. Davis was apprehended in Georgia during May 1917 after being turned in by a woman who recognized him and was upset that he had abandoned his Texas family and remarried illegally. Davis was returned to Texas where he was convicted on swindling and forgery charges and given a two-year jail sentence on June 29, 1917.
By January 1919, Davis was released from prison, returned to Acworth, Georgia, and had resumed preaching as a Missionary Baptist minister under the name Lon Davis. Davis posed as a Christian missionary bound for Egypt to gain the trust of the community and was later offered the pastorship of the Acworth Baptist Church during the summer of 1920. In 1921 Davis started publishing The Progress newsletter from the church. The newsletter focused on exposing what Davis believed were secret subversive activities of the Catholic Church. Davis also began holding Ku Klux Klan meetings at the church. Although unknown to his church, Davis had been appointed by Imperial Wizard William Joseph Simmons as an official spokesperson for the KKK and charged with organizing new chapters of the KKK. Members of his church became upset about some of the material Davis published in The Progress and began investigating his past. They soon discovered his criminal record in Texas, and discovered he had abandoned his wife and children. At a meeting on July 14, 1921, he was removed as pastor. A newspaper article covering the event contained information suggesting that Davis had been involved organizing KKK groups at Baptist churches in multiple other cities in South Carolina and Georgia.
Davis ran into legal problems again in 1921. He purchased the printing press for The Progress newsletter using a fraudulent check, swindling the seller out of $1,000. After being exposed in Georgia, Davis left the state, leaving by train with his wife and their five-year-old daughter. They traveled to Oklahoma where Davis continued holding revival meetings in Baptist churches and conducting KKK recruiting. On January 12, 1922, as Russell "R.E." Davis, he was elected as mayor of Meigs, Georgia.
Ku Klux Klan
In 1922, Davis returned to Georgia where he began to speak openly supporting the Ku Klux Klan. He held rallies and meetings to recruit members in Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Newspapers articles at the time reported Davis to be a "high Klan official". The newspapers also began recording and reporting on his speeches in which he explained the principles of the KKK to include "white supremacy" and "protection of pure womanhood". Davis bragged about his recruitment efforts and the reach of the KKK, stating that he had been involved in recruitment across the southern and midwestern United States. He reported 92,000 KKK members in Oklahoma and Texas. Davis also boasted that governors, congressmen, and United States Senators had joined the KKK in recent years. Davis was quoted as saying "whether you approve or disapprove, the Klan is here to stay so you better watch your step."
The early 1920s were a high point for the second KKK organization. Klan recruitment was a lucrative enterprise. Recruiters got to keep a larger percentage of the membership dues paid by members. Davis was particularly effective at recruiting. During the period he traveled and held multiple rallies with Imperial Wizard William Simmons. Davis faced legal trouble again in September 1922 when complaints were filed against him in connection to a burglary case in Waco, Texas. He was accused of stealing firearms from the United States Marshalls. Davis was also named in connection to a 1923 criminal investigation in Louisiana.
The KKK started a newspaper in 1923 titled The Brick Bat based out of Meigs and Davis was named editor. The paper was published weekly and sold subscriptions to KKK members. The paper focused on what Davis described as "true Americanism" and exposition "of the principles of Ku Klux Klan". The paper was a lightning rod and stirred tensions. Their articles publicly degraded and attacked KKK opponents, calling for boycotts of unsupportive businesses. In May 1923, Davis instigated physical violence when two business owners he targeted in his publication were involved in an altercation with KKK members. Despite the violence, Davis continued to publish his attacks against Klan opponents. One of The Brick Bat'''s targets filed charges against Davis and he was subsequently arrested in Georgia and charged with criminal libel on June 24, 1923. Davis paid bond and returned to Klan recruiting the same day.
Somehow Davis had managed to keep his dual identities secret from many people. He had been employed as president of Georgia Farmer's Union until July 1923 when his fellow board members discovered his activities and had him investigated. They discovered he had abandoned his wife and children in Texas, had been involved in criminal activities across the United States, had remarried illegally, been dismissed as a minister from multiple churches, and was involved in the KKK. They board of the Georgia Farmers Union called a special meeting to show the results of their investigation and publicly expose Davis, but Davis failed to appear and returned to Texas. Upon being exposed, Davis and one of his brothers were subsequently caught by vigilantes in Texas and beat with wet rope. Davis's brother was hospitalized with severe injuries.
About the same time, Hiram W. Evans ousted William Simmons as Imperial Wizard of the KKK and took over leadership of the organization. Evans expelled Davis from the KKK and may have been behind his outing to the Georgia Farm Board and his beating in Texas. By 1924, Davis and Simmons regrouped and began an effort to form a new klan organization, Knights of the Flaming Sword, where Simmons resumed his role as Imperial Wizard. Davis, as a high ranking Klan leader, played a key role in encouraging members to abandoned Evans and remain loyal to Simmons in their new order. Traveling across the south, Davis successfully retained the loyalty of at least 60,000 Klan recruits and had secured over $150,000 ($2.3 million in 2021 dollars) Davis's efforts during this period earned him the accolades of Simmons who appointed Davis as "Royal Ambassador" in honor of his activities.
Pentecostal preacher
In 1924, Davis moved to Tennessee to oversee a new chapter of the Knights of the Flaming Sword. At the same time Davis was working with Simmons to establish the Knights of the Flaming Sword, Davis also began efforts to formally establish the Pentecostal Baptist Church of God where he served as general overseer. After a financial scandal over misuse of funds led to the collapse of the Knights of the Flaming Sword, Davis began to refocus on building up the new denomination. He resumed traveling and holding revivals in Oklahoma and Tennessee in August 1925. Davis continued holding revival though 1926 and 1927. Davis travelled to California to hold revivals in 1927. Davis had begun to adopt Pentecostal beliefs. A newspaper article detailing Davis's criminal history reported that he had been excommunicated as a Missionary Baptist and had his minister's license revoked following an incident with baptists in Florida before 1927.
Davis began working with Caleb Ridley, Imperial Kludd (national chaplain) of the KKK, and Rev. Fred B Johnson, William Joseph Simmons chief of staff, to build a new denomination. Davis planted a First Pentecostal Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee where he served as founding pastor in 1928. He soon ran into issues when most of the other churches in the area refused to cooperate with his revival meetings. Davis challenged other church leaders to a debate and tensions boiled over after Davis made threats against the other ministers. One minister reported Davis's threatenings to police and filed charges against him. Davis was arrested and jailed, but was released on bond pending trial in April 1929.