William Watson Davis (February 12, 1884 - April 5, 1960) was a professor and author in the United States. He was part of the white supremacist

Dunning School The Dunning School was a historiographical school of thought regarding the Reconstruction period of American history (1865–1877), supporting conservative elements against the Radical Republicans who introduced civil rights in the South. It was na ...

of Confederate sympathizing anti-

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

Southern scholars during the Jim Crow era. Davis was born in Pensacola, Florida to Mathew L. Davis and Annie Laurie Lane Davis. He married Roxana Henderson in 1915 and they had one child, Edward Lane Davis. Davis studied at Wright Military Academy in Mobile, Alabama; Alabama Polytechnic Institute;, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(Ph.D. 1913.). He was a professor of history at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

from 1912 until 1954. His book on Reconstruction era Florida, based on his Phd thesis was reissued as part of a series celebrating Florida's quadracenntennial featuring the governor and cabinet on the opening pages. Other books in the series included '' Carpetbag Rule in Florida'', putatively by John Wallace.

Fletcher M. Green Fletcher Melvin Green (1895 - 1978) was a historian and writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a faculty member from 1936 until 1960 and served as a department chair. The University has a collection of his papers. H ...

wrote a lengthy introduction to the quadracentenbial edition covering Watson's life, publishings, and criticisms of the Dunning School.

Bibliography

*''Ante-Bellum Southern Commercial Conventions'', Montgomery, Alabama, 1905 *''The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida''. Columbia University Press, New York, 1913

References

External links

Findagrave entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, William Watson 1884 births 1960 deaths People from Pensacola, Florida Auburn University alumni Columbia University alumni University of Kansas faculty American writers Dunning School