Original Knights Of The Ku Klux Klan

Before the Third Wave of the Ku Klux Klan, Roy E. Davis and William D. Upshaw began working together to gather funding and support to create a new sect of the Ku Klux Klan. Davis posed as a Federal Agent in the Los Angeles / San Bernardino area claiming to be gathering interest for a children's orphanage, and Upshaw supported his claim. In the legal and criminal trial that followed, Davis was exonerated and filed suits against Los Angeles and San Bernardino officials. Having been pushed out of the 1915 Klan under the leadership of William Joseph Simmons, Davis and Upshaw were not aligned with the direction the organization had taken. They wanted to return to the "original".

With the money he received from the lawsuits, Davis returned to Texas and started recruiting for a new sect named the "Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan". Davis held recruitment drives in southern states from Texas to Florida. In Florida, he was publicly unmasked using a former alias "Lon Davis" as the Imperial Wizard, or leader, of the group. He was also unmasked in Shreveport, LA, where a concentrated effort of recruitment and publicity involving local news media was in progress.

Davis was instrumental in organizing groups to both protest and/or militantly stop the progression of Civil Rights. In Dallas, he was a leader in the White Citizens Council and helped organize the protests at the Trade Mart during to Kennedy's assassination. In Little Rock, AR, Davis was both recruiting and organizing the campaigns against Integration in the events leading up to and during the Little Rock Nine incident.

During the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan were investigated for their involvement. Some claimed that Davis himself was behind the assassination, though a direct connection is unlikely.