Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago

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Adrianne Black has an incredible story along with a profound evolution. Her father was a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and she was raised as a frequent spokesperson for the white nationalist movement as a child. Her memoir “The Klansman’s Son” details the shift from spreading hate on TV to attending weekly Shabbat dinners. In today’s program, she’s joined at her alma mater the University of Chicago by her friend and National Jewish Book Award Winner Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg for a conversation spanning Black’s transgender identity, her relationship with her family, and how to stay progressively productive in the face of increasingly visible white supremacy.

SHOW NOTES:

Read the podcast transcript.

PHOTO: Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and Adrianne Black at the University of Chicago in Fall 2024.



Learn more:

R. Derek Black, The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism: A Memoir

Danya Ruttenberg, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World



Live event programmed by Michael Green

Live event produced by Jesse Swanson

Live event stage managed by Rebecca Dose

Live event produced and mixed by Kyle Anderson

Production assistance by Bucky Emmerling, Hope Mignini, and Cody Kressman

Podcast edited and mixed by Alisa Rosenthal

Podcast story editing by Alexandra Quinn



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