Women of the Ku Klux Klan ephemera, 1920s

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Summary

Creators:
Women of the Ku Klux Klan
Abstract:
The Women of the Ku Klux Klan ephemera comprise sixteen pieces of ephemera relating to membership in the Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in Little Rock, Arkansas and St. Louis, Missouri. Most of the material in the collection is undated, though at least one item is dated in 1927. Following are brief descriptions of each item in the collection: "Constitution and Laws of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan" (46 pp.); "The Code of the Flag" booklet (16 pp.); "Installation Ceremonies" ritual instruction booklet (16 pp.); "Musiklan" songbook (24 pp.); "Oath of Allegiance" (4 pp.); WKKK letterhead (1 p.); "Application for Admission to the Second Degree... [of the] Women of the Ku Klux Klan," (two copies, 1 p. each); small general membership application card (1 p.); "Pledge of Loyalty" for a WKKK leadership position (1 p.); membership creed (1 p.); receipt forms (two copies, 1 p. each); notice of membership (1 p.); WKKK member identification card (1 p.); and a red-and-white cloth sash. All of the forms in the collection have been left blank.
Extent:
0.21 Linear Feet 1 box
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Women of the Ku Klux Klan ephemera, Collection no. 6259, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Background

Scope and content:

The Women of the Ku Klux Klan ephemera comprise sixteen pieces of ephemera relating to membership in the Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in Little Rock, Arkansas and St. Louis, Missouri. Most of the material in the collection is undated, though at least one item is dated in 1927. Following are brief descriptions of each item in the collection: "Constitution and Laws of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan" (46 pp.); "The Code of the Flag" booklet (16 pp.); "Installation Ceremonies" ritual instruction booklet (16 pp.); "Musiklan" songbook (24 pp.); "Oath of Allegiance" (4 pp.); WKKK letterhead (1 p.); "Application for Admission to the Second Degree... [of the] Women of the Ku Klux Klan," (two copies, 1 p. each); small general membership application card (1 p.); "Pledge of Loyalty" for a WKKK leadership position (1 p.); membership creed (1 p.); receipt forms (two copies, 1 p. each); notice of membership (1 p.); WKKK member identification card (1 p.); and a red-and-white cloth sash. All of the forms in the collection have been left blank.

Biographical / historical:

During the 1920s, at least half a million white Protestant women joined the Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK). In some states, they made up half of the Klan's membership. In Women of the Klan, Kathleen M. Blee writes that WKKK members leveraged their influence on their communities to "spread hatred through neighborhoods, family networks, and elusive webs of private relations" (p. 3). Women significantly bolstered the Klan's violence, and were, as Blee writes, "major actors in the Klan, responsible for some of its most vicious, destructive results" (p. 1).

"For thousands of native-born Protestant women [...] the women's Klan of the 1920s was not only a way to promote racist, intolerant, and xenophobic policies but also a social setting in which to enjoy their own racial and religious privileges. These women recall their membership in one of U.S. history's most vicious campaigns of prejudice and hatred primarily as a time of friendship and solidarity among like-minded women[...] In an effort to recruit members among women newly enfranchised in the 1920s, the Klan also insisted that it was the best guarantor of white Protestant women's rights. The political efforts of a women's order, the Klan claimed, could safeguard women's suffrage and expand women's other legal rights while working to preserve white Protestant supremacy."

Kathleen M. Blee, Women of the Klan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), 1-2.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Michael R. Thompson Rare Books, March 1, 2022.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Women of the Ku Klux Klan ephemera, Collection no. 6259, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Location of this collection:
Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US
Contact:
(213) 740-5900
specol@usc.edu
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