Ellie Kemper? The 'Queen of Love and Beauty?' At a 'Veiled Prophet' debutante ball, which has possible links to the Ku Klux Klan? Let us unpack
Ellie Kemper Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images Another day, another main character on Twitter. Today’s focus? Ellie Kemper or, rather, Ellie Kemper in 1999, when she was crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty at St. Louis’s Veiled Prophet ball. That sentence is … a lot, so please take a moment to process.
People on Twitter were quick to call out the very questionable origins of the Veiled Prophet ball, or VP, with many referring to this 2014 Atlantic investigation into the organization and its history. Here’s what to know about the VP’s inception and the backlash against Kemper. The next year, the Veiled Prophet Organization was founded by brothers Alonzo and Charles Slayback, a confederate colonel and a confederate cavalryman, respectively. They envisioned a “secret society” of wealthy St. Louisans — self-styled “city fathers” — as a means “to reinforce the values of the elite on the working class of the city,” as Scott Beauchamp wrote in his Atlantic report.
But even if the ties between the Veiled Prophet Organization and the KKK are not explicitly confirmed, the Klan’s history of power in St. Louis is. And then, the Veiled Prophet Organization was a “whites only” organization for over 100 years, barring Black Americans from membership until 1979. It also barred Jewish people from joining until recent decades, and in 1987, its members lobbied the St. Louis Police Department to shut down the Eads Bridge to bar “East Side street gangs” from East St.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why Twitter thinks Ellie Kemper is racist over a debutante crown she won in 1999'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' star Ellie Kemper was named Queen of Love and Beauty in 1999 by a group with a racially exclusionary past. Now Twitter is on fire.
Read more »
Ellie Kemper Was Crowned Queen of an Allegedly Racist BallShe reportedly dressed in KKK-style clothing.
Read more »
Democrat Melanie Stansbury wins U.S. House race in New MexicoDemocrat Melanie Stansbury has won election to Congress for New Mexico to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Read more »
Democrat Melanie Stansbury wins US House race in New MexicoDemocrat Melanie Stansbury has won election to Congress for New Mexico to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Read more »
Democrat Wins New Mexico House Seat in Special ElectionDemocratic state Rep. Melanie Stansbury won a closely watched U.S. House special election in New Mexico, keeping the seat in Democratic control
Read more »