25th Annual Cleveland Jewish Book Festival
The Klansman’s Son is an astonishing memoir of a childhood built on fear and of breaking from a community of hate. Derek Black was raised to take over the white nationalist movement in the United States. Their father, Don Black, was a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and started Stormfront, the internet’s first white supremacist website. Derek built the kids’ page. David Duke was also their close family friend and mentor. Racist hatred was all Derek knew. Derek traces a unique insider account of the rise of white nationalism and how a child indoctrinated with hate can become an anti-racist adult, committed to combating antisemitism.
R. Derek Black (they/them) is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Chicago. Since 2016, they have spoken to many audiences at universities, foundations, institutions, museums, synagogues and churches. They received the Elie Wiesel Award and a humanitarian award from the Anti-Defamation League. The Klansman’s Son is their first book. Free, but registration is required.
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