Drummond, Traci

English

Georgia State University

Georgia State University
ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University
Selections from the University Library Blog University Library Publications
11-4-2013
Klan infiltrator’s papers now available online
Traci Drummond
Georgia State University, tdrummond@gsu.edu
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_blog
Part of the Library and Information Science Commons
This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Library Publications at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has
been accepted for inclusion in Selections from the University Library Blog by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University.
For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu.edu.
Recommended Citation
Drummond, Traci, "Klan infiltrator’s papers now available online" (2013). Selections from the University Library Blog. 8.
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_blog/8
Klan infiltrator’s papers now available online 
Posted on November 4, 2013 by Traci JoLeigh Drummond 
The personal papers of Stetson Kennedy, author, 
folklorist, and human rights advocate, are now available online through Georgia State 
University Library’s Digital Collections portal. The papers are housed in the Southern 
Labor Archives at GSU, the largest collection of labor-related primary resources in the 
Southeast. 
Kennedy’s career began in the 1930s with his work on the Federal Writers Project Guide 
to Florida. He went on to write the Florida volume in the American Folkways series 
(Palmetto County), Southern Exposure (1946), and Jim Crow Guide to the 
U.S.A. (1959). 
Out to expose the social and political inequities of the South in the mid-20th century, he 
infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia in the 1940s. The secrets he learned in Klan 
meetings led to writing I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan (1954) and sharing their rituals 
with writers of the Adventures of Superman radio show, who incorporated the 
information into one of their story arcs. Because of Kennedy’s efforts, the Ku Klux Klan’s 
national corporate charter was revoked in 1947. 
The digitized collection includes correspondence, subject files, typescripts and clippings 
of articles written by Kennedy, bulletins and fliers, pamphlets, propaganda, and 
photographs. Topics within the collection include civil rights, the Ku Klux Klan, poverty, 
labor and anti-black violence, peonage, lynching, the Works Progress Administration, 
and Kennedy’s campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida in 1950. 
The Southern Labor Archives at Georgia State University is the 
first repository to make its Kennedy collection available online. Other Kennedy 
collections can be found at the University of Florida, the Florida State Archives, 
the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the University of North 
Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
The collection is available online to any interested user at no cost. Questions about the 
collection should be directed to Traci Drummond, archivist, Southern Labor Archives. 
 


Klan infiltrator’s papers now available online

ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University

Georgia State UniversityScholarWorks @ Georgia State UniversitySelections from the University Library Blog University Library Publications11-4-2013Klan infiltrator’s papers now available onlineTraci DrummondGeorgia State University, tdrummond@gsu.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_blogPart of the Library and Information Science CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Library Publications at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Selections from the University Library Blog by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University.For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu.edu.Recommended CitationDrummond, Traci, "Klan infiltrator’s papers now available online" (2013). Selections from the University Library Blog. 8.https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_blog/8Klan infiltrator’s papers now available online Posted on November 4, 2013 by Traci JoLeigh Drummond The personal papers of Stetson Kennedy, author, folklorist, and human rights advocate, are now available online through Georgia State University Library’s Digital Collections portal. The papers are housed in the Southern Labor Archives at GSU, the largest collection of labor-related primary resources in the Southeast. Kennedy’s career began in the 1930s with his work on the Federal Writers Project Guide to Florida. He went on to write the Florida volume in the American Folkways series (Palmetto County), Southern Exposure (1946), and Jim Crow Guide to the U.S.A. (1959). Out to expose the social and political inequities of the South in the mid-20th century, he infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia in the 1940s. The secrets he learned in Klan meetings led to writing I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan (1954) and sharing their rituals with writers of the Adventures of Superman radio show, who incorporated the information into one of their story arcs. Because of Kennedy’s efforts, the Ku Klux Klan’s national corporate charter was revoked in 1947. The digitized collection includes correspondence, subject files, typescripts and clippings of articles written by Kennedy, bulletins and fliers, pamphlets, propaganda, and photographs. Topics within the collection include civil rights, the Ku Klux Klan, poverty, labor and anti-black violence, peonage, lynching, the Works Progress Administration, and Kennedy’s campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida in 1950. The Southern Labor Archives at Georgia State University is the first repository to make its Kennedy collection available online. Other Kennedy collections can be found at the University of Florida, the Florida State Archives, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The collection is available online to any interested user at no cost. Questions about the collection should be directed to Traci Drummond, archivist, Southern Labor Archives.  

https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&amp;context=univ_lib_blog

Klan infiltrator’s papers now available online

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