The Pennsylvania College of Art & Design (PCA&D) Liberal Arts Department invites the public to "The Voice and Music of Daryl Davis" on Friday, Oct. 4. The program will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the atrium at PCA&D, 204 N. Prince St., Lancaster. The hourlong musical portion of the program will start at 6 p.m.

During the program, which is a part of the Diverse Voices Speaker Series, Davis will speak about his work to achieve racial harmony and share his blues piano playing and singing.

Davis will share the life experiences that led to his 1998 book "Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey" and the documentary film screenplay "Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America." He will speak about the power of conversation to ignite positive change, understanding hate groups in America, and how music broke down racial barriers in the 1950s and 1980s.

Davis, whose parents were in the United States Foreign Service, traveled extensively as a child. At 10, when the family moved to Massachusetts, he encountered racism firsthand. As an adult, Davis sought to explore the phenomenon of racism by interviewing Ku Klux Klan members, some of whom became his close friends and left the Klan. Many Klan members were initially drawn to Davis because they enjoyed his music.

Davis' awards include the Elliott-Black Award from the American Ethical Union and the Bridge Builder Award from the Washington Ethical Society.

He is also an international performer, songwriter, vocalist, pianist, and guitar player with a bachelor's degree in music from Howard University. Mentored by Pinetop Perkins and Johnnie Johnson, he mastered the boogie-woogie piano blues in the Delta and Chicago styles. Today he mentors young musicians through the artist in residence program at the Strathmore Institute in Bethesda, Md. He was named Best Traditional Blues/R&B Instrumentalist at the 2009 Washington Area Music Awards.

Davis has performed with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Legendary Blues Band - formerly the Muddy Waters Blues Band - and many others, and he has released several albums. He owns Lyrad Music, a music publishing and licensing business; has a podcast called "Changing Minds"; and has had stage, film, and TV roles.

PCA&D, the Blues Society of Central PA (BSCP), Nola Blue record company, and numerous donors are community sponsors of this event.