Superman vs. the KKK: Hear the 1946 Superman Radio Present That Weakened the Klan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=playlist

Years in the past, again in 2016, we fea­tured a 1950 Tremendous­man poster that urged stu­dents to defend the Amer­i­can manner and combat dis­crim­i­na­tion each­the place. As we speak, we current anoth­er chap­ter from Tremendous­man’s lit­tle-known his­to­ry as a Civ­il Rights defend­er.

The yr is 1946. World Struggle II has come to an finish. And now mem­ber­ship within the Ku Klux Klan begins to rise once more. Enter Stet­son Kennedy, a human rights activist, who man­ages to infil­trate the KKK after which fig­ures out an inge­nious approach to take them down. He con­tacts the professional­duc­ers of the pop­u­lar Adven­tures of Tremendous­man radio present, and pitch­es them on a brand new sto­ry­line: Tremendous­man meets and defeats the KKK. Want­ing a brand new ene­my to van­quish, the professional­duc­ers inexperienced­mild the concept.

The 16-episode collection, “The Clan of the Fiery Cross,” aired in June 1946 and effec­tive­ly chipped away on the Klan’s mys­tique, grad­u­al­ly reveal­ing their secret code­phrases and rit­u­als. Lis­ten to the episodes above. And take coronary heart in know­ing this: Accord­ing to Stephen J. Dub­n­er and Steven Levitt, the authors of Freako­nom­ics, The Clan of the Fiery Cross was “the good­est sin­gle con­trib­u­tor to the weak­en­ing of the Ku Klux Klan.” Mocked and triv­i­al­ized, the Klan’s num­bers went again into decline.

For extra infor­ma­tion on this chap­ter in tremendous­hero his­to­ry, learn the well-reviewed YA e-book, Tremendous­man Ver­sus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Sto­ry of How the Icon­ic Tremendous­hero Bat­tled the Males of Hate. Additionally discover extra infor­ma­tion on these episodes at the Tremendous­man Dwelling­web page.

To listen to extra orig­i­nal Tremendous­man radio exhibits, head over to Archive.org.

Word: There’s a lit­tle little bit of a con­tro­ver­sy concerning the actual position Stet­son Kennedy performed in infil­trat­ing the Klan. You’ll be able to learn up on that right here.

If you need to join Open Tradition’s free electronic mail newslet­ter, please discover it right here. It’s a good way to see our new posts, all bun­dled in a single electronic mail, every day.

If you need to sup­port the mis­sion of Open Cul­ture, con­sid­er mak­ing a dona­tion to our web site. It’s arduous to rely 100% on adverts, and your con­tri­bu­tions will assist us con­tin­ue professional­vid­ing the very best free cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als to be taught­ers each­the place. You’ll be able to con­tribute by Pay­Pal, Patre­on, and Ven­mo (@openculture). Thanks!