Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920sUniversity of California Press, 1991 - 228 pages Ignorant. Brutal. Male. One of these stereotypes of the Ku Klux Klan offer a misleading picture. In Women of the Klan, sociologist Kathleen Blee unveils an accurate portrait of a racist movement that appealed to ordinary people throughout the country. In so doing, she dismantles the popular notion that politically involved women are always inspired by pacifism, equality, and justice. "All the better people," a former Klanswoman assures us, were in the Klan. During the 1920s, perhaps half a million white native-born Protestant women joined the Women's Ku Klux Klan (WKKK). Like their male counterparts, Klanswomen held reactionary views on race, nationality, and religion. But their perspectives on gender roles were often progressive. The Klan publicly asserted that a women's order could safeguard women's suffrage and expand their other legal rights. Privately the WKKK was working to preserve white Protestant supremacy. Blee draws from extensive archival research and interviews with former Klan members and victims to underscore the complexity of extremist right-wing political movements. Issues of women's rights, she argues, do not fit comfortably into the standard dichotomies of "progressive" and "reactionary." These need to be replaced by a more complete understanding of how gender politics are related to the politics of race, religion, and class. |
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Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 11 |
Section 3 | 70 |
Section 4 | 98 |
Section 5 | 98 |
Section 6 | 98 |
Section 7 | 98 |
Section 8 | 123 |
Section 9 | 154 |
Section 10 | 175 |
Section 11 | 181 |
Section 12 | 219 |
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Common terms and phrases
American anonymous informant anti-Klan Author's interview Ball State University Barr's Benadum Blackford County campaign Catholic church D. C. Stephenson Daisy Douglas Barr Douglas Barr Fellowship Forum female Fiery Cross Franklin Evening Star gender Gill Comer girls Grand Dragon Hartford City History husbands Indiana Klan Indianapolis interview with anonymous Invisible Empire Jews July June Klan in Indiana Klan leaders Klan members Klan movement Klan's klannish Klansmembers Klansmen Klanswomen kleagles Klonvokation Klux Klan Knights Kokomo Ku Klux Klan male Marion Marion County masculinity meeting men's Klan moral mothers Muncie Muncie Post-Democrat parade percent Press racial racist rally recruits robes role second Klan Sept sexual Simmons social society Stephenson supremacy symbols tion town Tyler Wheatcraft white Protestant women white women WKKK and KKK WKKK chapters WKKK klaverns WKKK's woman women's Klan women's organization women's rights women's suffrage York