Civil Rights Worker Befriends KKK Grand Dragon: True Story, New Play

Celeste Headlee is broadcasting from the studios of our partner, WGBH, today. She’s in Boston to speak at the National Race Amity Conference this weekend. Tonight, a new play called “Xernona and the Grand Dragon X” premieres at the conference. The play tells the story of the friendship between Xernona Clayton, an African-American civil rights leader, and Calvin Craig, a Grand Dragon in the Ku Klux Klan. It was his friendship with Xernona that convinced Calvin to publicly renounce the KKK in 1968. Xernona Clayton,  who is now the president of the Trumpet Awards Foundation, and  Gail Mayes, the daughter of Calvin Craig, discuss this remarkable friendship.