Women & The Klu Klux Klan

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the book 'Women of the Klan Racism and Gender in the 1920s' by Kathleen M. Blee. It discusses how Blee's work argues that the Klan offered an opportunity for white Protestant females to expand and consolidate their own socio-political position by working against groups perceived as threatening to the station and ambitions of Protestant white women. Generally speaking, Blee argues against the typical depiction of the Klan as being a wholly male phenomenon by noting that many proto-feminists were among its ranks.

From the Paper:

"Blee's book starts with an examination of how symbols such as "masculinity" and "womanhood" were employed by the early Klan; from there, the book looks at the travails women faced as they entered what had been a male bastion and then looks at the Klan's use of moral and sexual symbols and how this appealed to many Protestant women of the age. "

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