The character arc of Daryl Davis
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 26 March 1958 in Chicago, the son of a Foreign Service officer, and schooled abroad among the children of many nations. Between then and now sit a return to the United States at ten, an all white Cub Scout pack, a parade in which he was struck by rocks and bottles while carrying the flag, the conversation in which his father explained racism to him, a music degree from Howard in 1980, a career playing behind Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, an interview with a Klan leader arranged without saying he was black, a friendship that followed, and dozens of people who left. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Daryl Davis?
He asked them why they hated him. Then he listened to the answer.
His father was a Foreign Service officer, so most of his early childhood was spent moving around the world, including in African countries, in the casually integrated schools of diplomats where children of every nation, race and culture sat together. That is the important detail. He grew up without the American arrangement, so when he met it he could see it plainly.
He came back to the United States at ten and joined what had until then been an all white Cub Scout pack in Massachusetts. Carrying the flag in a local parade, he was struck by rocks and bottles thrown from the crowd, and the pack leaders formed a ring around him. He did not understand what had happened. That evening his father explained racism to him for the first time. The sheer irrationality of it lodged, and became a question he has never put down: why do you hate me when you know nothing about me?
He became a musician. He absorbed the style of the Mississippi Delta bluesmen who had come north, took a music degree from Howard University in 1980, and was mentored by two legendary pianists who both called him their godson. He has played backup for Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis for years, was a friend of Muddy Waters, and has performed with B. B. King, Bo Diddley, the Platters, the Drifters and Percy Sledge. He won a regional award for traditional blues in 2009.
Then he went and asked the question. He decided to interview Klan members and write a book, because that question from the age of ten had never been answered. He had his secretary arrange a meeting with the Imperial Wizard of the Klan in Maryland and told her not to mention that he was black, only that he was writing a book. The meeting was tense and the man arrived with an armed bodyguard.
They became friends. Davis was later invited to be that man's daughter's godfather, and when he left the Klan he gave Davis his robe. Davis went on to befriend over twenty members, and reckons he is directly responsible for between forty and sixty people leaving and indirectly for over two hundred. They keep giving him the robes; by 2016 he had twenty five or twenty six of them. He was the subject of a 2016 documentary, and now runs a podcast about changing minds, on which former Klansmen appear as guests.
The moments
Daryl Davis's timeline.
The 1960s
Schooled among every nation
Milestone, and it changed everything. A childhood in classrooms where nobody had explained race to anybody.
Rocks, while carrying the flag
Setback, and it changed everything. Ten years old, carrying the flag, and the crowd threw things at him.
His father explains it
Milestone, and it changed everything. The conversation that set the question, and he never put it down.
The 1970s
The Delta, learned north
Milestone, and it changed his direction. He learned the piano from the men who had carried it out of Mississippi.
The 1980s
A music degree at Howard
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A proper music degree, from Howard.
Two godfathers at the piano
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two legends of the instrument called him their godson.
Behind Chuck Berry
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A working life spent behind the people who invented the music.
The 1990s
Write about them, or meet them
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: sit down with them, taken, or write it from outside. He became friends with that man, was made his daughter's godfather, and was given his robe when he left.
He decides to go and ask
Milestone, and it changed everything. Thirty two years old, and he went to ask them himself.
The meeting in the motel
Milestone, and it changed everything. He walked into a motel room to meet a man who did not know he was black.
They become friends
Milestone, and it changed everything. Godfather to the daughter of the man who had arrived with a gun.
The 2000s
Dozens leave
Milestone, and it changed everything. Between forty and sixty people, out, because he sat with them.
An award for the blues
Milestone. Still, through all of it, a working blues pianist.
The 2010s
Twenty five robes
Milestone, and it changed everything. A cupboard with twenty five robes in it, each one somebody who stopped.
The 2020s
Changing Minds
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A podcast where the guests are the people he talked out of it.
The robes are still arriving, one at a time, each one from somebody who decided to stop. What he set moving is the least fashionable idea there is and the only one with a cupboard full of evidence behind it: sit down with the person who hates you, ask them why, and then be quiet long enough to hear it.
Your turn
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His began with a question a ten year old asked and nobody could answer. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Daryl Davis: frequently asked questions
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What is Daryl Davis's character arc?
How many people has Daryl Davis convinced to leave the Klan?
What happened to Daryl Davis as a child?
How did Daryl Davis first meet a Klan leader?
Is Daryl Davis a musician?
What is Daryl Davis's method?
Where does this timeline of Daryl Davis's life come from?
More character arcs
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Sources
- Daryl Davis, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- His own accounts of the 1968 parade, the question it left him with and the 1990 meeting, as quoted there.
- The 2016 documentary Accidental Courtesy, and his own estimates of how many people have left.
- No position is taken here on the organisation, its doctrine or American politics. This page records what one man did.