Should ex-Klansman’s name remain on Memphis’ federal building?

Family of the late Clifford Davis says the time has come to remove the segregationist congressman’s name

By  and , Special to The Daily Memphian Updated: November 27, 2020 11:08 AM CT | Published: November 27, 2020 4:00 AM CT
<strong>The Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building, illuminated by the evening sun on Thursday, Nov. 19. Davis, a former congressman, once was a member of the Klan and also a longtime segregationist.</strong> (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)

The Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building, illuminated by the evening sun on Thursday, Nov. 19. Davis, a former congressman, once was a member of the Klan and also a longtime segregationist. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)

For 50 years the name of the late congressman and one-time Klansman Clifford Davis has clung to the federal building in Downtown Memphis. His family says it’s time to take his name down.

Topics

Clifford Davis/Odell Horton Federal Building Ku Klux Klan Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. J. Edgar Hoover FBI U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen
Marc Perrusquia

Marc Perrusquia

Marc Perrusquia is the director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis, where graduate students learn investigative and explanatory journalism skills working alongside professionals. He's won numerous state and national awards for government watchdog, social justice and  political reporting. Follow the Institute on Facebook or Twitter @psr_memphis.

Christopher Fulton

Christopher Fulton

Christopher Fulton is a freelance journalist living in Mountain Home, Arkansas. He is a graduate student in the Journalism Department at the University of Memphis and a former intern for the university’s Institute for Public Service Reporting.


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