Colorado Springs ©Author Adventures

Ron Stallworth, Author of Black Klansman

Ron Stallworth (1953- ) rose to international acclaim as the author of the book on which BlacKkKlansman, a major feature film (2018) was based. It tells his distinctive true story of being a young undercover detective pretending to be a white supremacist while investigating the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) regarding their activity in Colorado Springs during the 1970s. He has carried his KKK membership card for the rest of his life as a reminder of his experience at that time.

Directed by Spike Lee, the film was released in 2018 and won nominations for several Academy Awards, among other prestigious awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Within the Academy Awards, it won in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was also very successful at the box office.

Read more here:

The Book

After Stallworth retired in 2005, he wrote and published The Black Klansman, which was released in 2014 and became a New York Times #1 Bestseller. Read more about it here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37901607-black-klansman.

“Too many people are afraid to talk about the issue of race. We should be willing to address it, and more importantly, when it rears its ugly head, we should be willing to take a stand and try to stomp it out, whatever the action may be at a particular time.”
–Ron Stallworth

The Place

The Colorado Pioneers Museum (CSPM) at 215 South Tejon Street has a gallery of artifacts connected to The Black Klansman story. Read about it here: https://www.cspm.org/cos-150-story/ron-stallworth. Tours can be scheduled at available times and upcoming events are listed here: https://www.cspm.org/events. CSPM also offers virtual and in-person field trips for elementary school students. Discover what’s available here: https://www.cspm.org/forteachers/plan-a-field-trip.

This is the first stop of the Colorado Author Adventures Trail.