One of the artists that will be featured in the upcoming Maryland Folk Festival in Salisbury is a boogie woogie piano player named Daryl Davis. When Davis isn’t playing blues, country, rock and roll, or rockabilly, he seeks out contact with members of the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and other hate groups. More than 200 people have left the Klan after befriending Davis since he started talking with them in the early 1980’s.
In this segment, Davis discusses how his upbringing prepared him for the work of engaging with white supremacists. He tells the story of the incident that first made him aware of the existence of racism and he discusses his first encounter with a Klansmen/music fan at a country music gig in Frederick, Maryland.
Larn more about Daryl Davis’ writing, lectures and performances here.
