2008 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News Archives

Superman on Radio

December 10, 2008: Superman Defeats the Ku Klux Klan

MentalFloss.com has posted an article titled "5 Comic Superheroes Who Made a Real-World Difference" in which they examine how certain comic book characters actually affected real world change.

It's no surprise that Superman is one of those five characters, with the Man of Steel having a real world affect on the Ku Klux Klan's popularity and power through the 1940s Superman Radio series.

    With the war over and the Nazis no longer a threat, the producers were looking for a new villain for Superman to fight. The KKK was a great fit for the role. In a 16-episode series titled "Clan of the Fiery Cross," the writers pitted the Man of Steel against the men in white hoods. As the storyline progressed, the shows exposed many of the KKK's most guarded secrets. By revealing everything from code words to rituals, the program completely stripped the Klan of its mystique. Within two weeks of the broadcast, KKK recruitment was down to zero. And by 1948, people were showing up to Klan rallies just to mock them.

Read the complete article at MentalFloss.com.

You may also be interested in reading the complete synopsis and review of the "Clan of the Fiery Cross" radio saga by James Lantz right here at the Superman Homepage.

Thanks to Dan Sanders for the link to this article.



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