Humanities Kansas: William Allen White and KKK

The 1920s saw the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan across the U.S.A., and sparked fear and violence among African Americans and other minority groups. As the editor of the Emporia Gazette, 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 by Beverly Olson Buller, follows the 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.