On March 6, author Edward Ball will lead a talk titled “Life of a Klansman,” exploring the life of Ball’s great-grandfather, who violently opposed racial democracy in Louisiana between 1865 and 1877.

Ball will discuss the birth of white identity through the eyes of his great-grandfather, a French-Creole carpenter and Klansman, to better understand why attempts at racial equity failed and how that failure gave way to white supremacy.

“White people in Louisiana — by the hundreds of thousands — come from former slaveholding families,” said Ball. “In addition, many come from families that fought for white supremacy in the various movements to maintain white domination, from white citizens’ councils, to the Ku Klux Klan, to the White League, all of which were very popular among millions of Louisianans.” Click here to read the full article.