With support from Humanities Kansas, P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter AG presents "William Allen White and the KKK in Kansas," a Humanities Kansas Speakers Bureau program by Beverley Olson Buller.
The 1920s saw the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan across America, and sparked fear and violence against African Americans and other minority groups. As the editor of the Emporia Gazette, William Allen White was acutely aware of the growing presence of the KKK in Kansas following World War I. Seeing no candidates free of Klan influence, White declared, “I want to be governor to free Kansas from the disgrace of the Ku Klux Klan.” This presentation follows the raucous two-month campaign that had White traveling over 2,700 miles to deliver 104 speeches, all directed at expelling the KKK. Though he did not win, White’s efforts led to a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that outlawed the Klan in Kansas.
Beverley Olson Buller is an author, educator, and chair of the William Allen White Children's Book Awards.
