Imperial Grand Dragon
Newspaper references to Roy E. Davis as an "Imperial Grand Dragon" reflect both his high-ranking role in the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the confusion reporters sometimes had over Klan titles, since "Grand Dragon" normally referred to a state leader while "Imperial Wizard" designated the national supreme leader; Davis nevertheless presented himself as one of the most credentialed men in Klan history, claiming to have helped write the constitution, bylaws, and ritual of the 1915 Klan, to have received all Klan degrees, and later becoming publicly unmasked in Florida and Shreveport as a national Klan figure whose real identity linked William Branham's mentor to the inner structure of organized white supremacy.
Newspaper reporters used the title "Imperial Grand Dragon" when describing Roy E. Davis' leadership role in the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Davis was, according to newspapers (under his alias Lon) the first Imperial Wizard to be unmasked before the public in Florida, and fully unmasked using his real name in Shreveport, Louisiana. The national supreme leader of the Ku Klux Klan was given the title "Imperial Wizard", and was elected by a majority of Grand Dragons, or state leaders. Reporters, often unfamiliar with the ranks and designations of the secret society, were not always accurate in their description of Klan leadership. During a large Klan membership drive in the South, Shreveport, LA newspapers reported that Roy Davis was one of the men who created the constitution and bylaws of the 1915 Ku Klux Klan. Davis said that "he is the only Klansman who can boast having all the degrees of the Klan conferred on him. He said that he helped write the constitution, by-laws, and ritual of the original Klan when it was revived in 1915."