Davis, Alexander Kelso, u.-1884

Alexander K. Davis was a representative in the Mississippi legislature and served as the state’s lieutenant governor from 1874 to 1876, during Reconstruction. He was the first African American lieutenant governor of Mississippi.

Little was recorded of Davis’ past. His date and place of birth are not known. During testimony before Congress in 1871 he explained that he moved to Noxubee County, Mississippi, from Tennessee in 1869, and said he had been admitted to the bar (a reference that he had been accepted as a practicing attorney in a city or county), but did not specify in which state. He won a seat in Mississippi’s House of Representatives shortly after coming to Mississippi and became a leading figure in the state’s Republican Party circles. In 1873, Radical Republicans backed by a majority of African American voters in Mississippi, won a series of state elections. Davis was one of three African Americans elected to statewide office that year, winning the lieutenant governor seat. (The other Black figures to win statewide election were James Hill as secretary of state and T. W. Cardozo as state superintendent of education.) The following year, white conservatives carried out a campaign of intimidation and violence to suppress Republican and African American voting and put Democrats into political power. The effort worked and by 1875, Democrats held a majority of state legislative seats. Emboldened by their political power, Democrats tried to rid Republicans from many state positions. They specifically targeted Davis and northern-born and Radical Republican Governor Adelbert Ames, accusing both men of improprieties in office. Davis was charged with illegal granting of pardons. Despite his effort to fight the trumped-up charges, Mississippi Democrats impeached Davis in March 1876. Knowing that the conviction would result in him being removed from office, Davis resigned. Governor Ames, also facing politically-driven impeachment proceedings that would require extensive time and financial resources to fight, resigned as well. Following his resignation, Davis abandoned politics. He moved to Canton, Mississippi and worked as a pastor. He died on November 21, 1884.

(Wikipedia; Dernoral Davis, "Alexander K. Davis," Mississippi Encyclopedia; Clyde Tucker, “Alexander K. Davis (?-1884),” Black Past)

Alexander Kelso Davis belonged to the following social groups: