Women of the Ku Klux Klan ephemera
Scope and Contents
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.
Dates
- Creation: 1920s
Creator
- Women of the Ku Klux Klan (Corporate Entity)
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
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.
Extent
0.21 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Michael R. Thompson Rare Books, March 1, 2022.
Subject
- Women of the Ku Klux Klan -- Archives (Corporate Entity)
- Title
- Finding aid for the Women of the Ku Klux Klan ephemera
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Bo Doub -- with collection-level notes adapted from the seller, Michael R. Thompson Rare Books.
- Date
- 2022 April
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu