 william stetson kennedy (october 5, 1916 â august 27, 2011) was an american author and human rights activist. one of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century, he is remembered for having infiltrated the ku klux klan in the 1940s, exposing its secrets to authorities and the outside world. his actions led to the 1947 revocation by the state of georgia of the klan's national corporate charter."stetson kennedy, who infiltrated and exposed the klan, dies at 94". the new york times. retrieved january 1, 2013. kennedy wrote or co-wrote ten books. ==biography and activities== kennedy was named for a member of his mother's family, the hatter john batterson stetson. as a teenager, he began collecting folklore material while seeking "a dollar down and dollar a week" accounts for his father, a furniture merchant. while a student at the university of florida, kennedy befriended one of his professors, the pulitzer prize-winning author marjorie kinnan rawlings."florida author, known for infiltrating klan, dies". the gainesville sun. retrieved august 28, 2011. in 1937, he left the university of florida to join the wpa florida writers' project, and at the age of 21, was put in charge of folklore, oral history, and ethnic studies. kennedy traveled throughout florida with african-american novelist and folklorist zora neale hurston as her supervisor, visiting turpentine camps near cross city and the clara white mission soup kitchen in jacksonville. hurston later chronicled these experiences in her book mules and men. the two were forced to travel separately because jim crow laws prohibited them from working together. because of segregation laws operative in florida at the time, "you could get killed lighting someone's cigarette", kennedy told independent producer barrett golding. "or shaking hands -- both colors, white and black."stetson kennedy, interviewed february 2002 by barrett golding on [http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/feb/wpa_florida/020228.wpa_florida.html "t
1916_births 2011_deaths 20th-century_American_writers 21st-century_American_writers African-Americans\'_civil_rights_activists American_anti-fascists American_environmentalists American_folklorists American_historians American_human_rights_activists American_investigative_journalists American_memoirists American_newspaper_journalists American_non-fiction_writers Anti-racism_activists History_of_racism_in_the_United_States Ku_Klux_Klan University_of_Florida_alumni Writers_from_Jacksonville,_Florida