As White women saw their political opportunities expand in the 1920s, many of them felt their role in the KKK should too.
In a Q&A with @keaux_, sociologist Kathleen Blee discusses how a voting rights movement facilitated an extremist one.https://bit.ly/3rBXd2b
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2/ Blee authored the book “Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s” — published in 1991 and again in 2009, with a new preface. According to Blee, 250,000 White women joined the Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in its first four months.https://bit.ly/3rBXd2b
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3/ “There were women — primarily in the South, but not exclusively — who wanted to ensure votes for women ... they’re thinking of White women here, because they wanted White women’s votes to counteract the votes that had earlier been given to Black men.” https://bit.ly/3rBXd2b pic.twitter.com/TiekTLNcka
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4/ “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,” Blee writes in her book.https://bit.ly/3rBXd2b
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5/ And as Blee told
@keaux_, women joined the WKKK independently of the men in their lives. In the 1920s, the women were actually much more effective than the men’s Klan in carrying out racist politics due to their networking and “whisper campaigns.” https://bit.ly/3rBXd2b pic.twitter.com/cHvXAuSSJt
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6/6 Blee on interviewing aging Klanswomen: “People just had no regrets; I really expected them to be confessional, regretful or embarrassed, or any of those kinds of things. And they really weren’t.”
More from @keaux_'s Q&A: https://bit.ly/3rBXd2b pic.twitter.com/QWwP3DGinB
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Great story. I’d like to say the response from the women is surprising.
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