What do you get when you mix righteous fury, deep South grit, and the undercover instincts of a spy thriller hero? You get Stetson goddamn Kennedy: writer, folklorist, and the man who infiltrated the KKK from the inside… and exposed them to the world.
Born in Jacksonville in 1916, Stetson was collecting oral histories for the WPA at just 21 years old, interviewing everyone from turpentine workers to former slaves. But after WWII, he set his sights on America’s most violent terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan.
Armed with a tape recorder and steel nerve, Stetson infiltrated Klan meetings under a fake name, memorized secret codes, and passed everything to law enforcement and journalists—but most famously, to the writers of “The Adventures of Superman” radio show, who used real Klan intel in their storylines. Imagine the rage when Klansmen turned on the radio and heard Superman using their secret passwords!
Stetson’s 1954 book “I Rode With the Ku Klux Klan” (originally published as “The Klan Unmasked”) ripped off the hood and laid bare their cowardice, corruption, and cruelty. The Klan tried to discredit him. He didn’t care. He kept fighting for justice, housing rights, and integration across the South.
Even later in life, Stetson stayed wild. He ran for office on a platform of “Outlaw Strip Mining,” lived in the historic Beluthahatchee sanctuary, and inspired generations of activists and folklorists—including yours truly, baby! Florida Folk History is part of his legacy.
“It’s my belief that writers, like ordinary people, serve one of two purposes in life: either social or anti‑social. I cannot see how a writer can be neutral.” — Stetson Kennedy
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