Milton Carver Davis: The Alpha Phi Alpha President Who Made the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial in Washington "Untouchable" for MAGA Racists

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted on May 11, 2026

Tuskegee, Alabama native Milton Carver Davis, the 29th General President of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (1993-96).

In April 2025, President Donald Trump tasked Lindsey Halligan, a White House Special Assistant and former personal attorney, with leading an effort to remove what Trump called "divisive race-centered ideology" from the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, the National Art Gallery, the National Zoo, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Trump instructed Halligan to remove any content or artifact that reflected negatively on “white culture.”

Privately, Trump also directed Halligan to find a way to get rid of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial on the National Mall, according to confidential White House sources.

As part of Halligan’s compliance work, the famous portrait of Union Army Sgt. Peter Gordon’s scourged back was removed from all federal property. Sgt. Gordon was a former slave who escaped a Louisiana plantation and reached Union Army lines in March 1863. During a medical examination by Union surgeons, the horrific keloid scarring on his back was discovered and photographed. The image became a powerful tool for the abolitionist movement.

Union Army Sgt. Peter Gordon's scourged back.

Removing the King Memorial Became an Impossible Task

The King Memorial presented Halligan and Trump with a daunting challenge for two reasons. First, Dr. King is a national hero. Second, Milton Carver Davis, Alpha Phi Alpha's 29th General President, structured the King Memorial deal from 1993 to 1996 in a such way that no future racist U.S. President could remove the Memorial.

On July 21, 2025, Trump released the classified files on Dr. King’s 1968 assassination in the hope that they would smear King in some way. Trump planned to use the anticipated smear as a pretext for removing the King Memorial. The release of the documents failed to produce a public backlash against Dr. King.

Privately, Trump detests Dr. King. On March 2, 2024, Trump declared that North Carolina gubernatorial candidate, porn addict, scammer, and serial liar Mark Robinson is “Martin Luther King on steroids.” Trump has now distanced himself from Robinson.

Davis' Brilliance Made the King Memorial "Untouchable"

Trump’s plan to remove the King Memorial failed because Milton Carver Davis, who is a visionary leader, a brilliant strategist, and superb lawyer, knew how to secure the King Memorial against political regression, chaos in government, and future racist actors in the White House. Davis made the King Memorial "untouchable."

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The $120 million Memorial was constructed by Alpha Phi Alpha with private donations. The federal government's contribution to the project was limited to $10 million. Davis always kept control of the project in the hands of Alpha Phi Alpha, no matter who is U.S. president.

For all practical purposes, the King Memorial is a privately-owned memorial on public land that is open to the public, forever. It is Alpha Phi Alpha's biggest gift to the free world.

Davis' Knowledge of History Guided His Deal-Making Strategy

Davis, a Tuskegee, Alabama native and expert in American history, knew that the U.S, government broke every one of the 500+ treaties it executed with Native American tribes between 1778 and 1871. He also witnessed the severe harm inflicted by the U.S. government on 623 unsuspecting black men in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study that ran from 1932 to 1972. Finally, Davis was the Assistant Attorney General for the state of Alabama whose archival research and personal review of 45 years of legal documents and evidence paved the way for "Scottsboro Boy" Clarence Norris to get a full and unconditional pardon on November 29, 1976, based upon his innocence in this rape case.

Unable to circumvent the ironclad legal protections Milton Davis draped around the King Memorial in Washington, Trump moved on to his dubious White House Ballroom project, which he announced on July 31, 2025. Trump’s oversized ego has made the Ballroom a $1 billion project because it must be bigger than the King Memorial. Of course, taxpayers are footing the bill for Trump’s Ballroom project.

Davis has never gotten the credit that his leadership and brilliance deserve, but he is getting it now.

Thank you, Milton Carver Davis!