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Women
and the Ku Klux Klan |
| by John Adams, Spring, 2003 |
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Women
and the Ku Klux Klan |
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The Ku Klux Klan was a movement of hatred that spread beyond the South to bring in large numbers of members in the Midwest and on both coasts. In the early 1920s, the angry message of the Klan had recruited two million members nationwide. Around 150,000 Texans were members of the Klan's so-called "invisible empire." They held parades wearing hoods and sheets and burned huge crosses to intimidate blacks, Catholics, Jews, and others who disagreed with their definition of "traditional morality." The Ku Klux Klans' members did not only consist of men, but women as well. Women were first initiated into the Ku Klux Klan in 1923. Nationwide, as many as half a million women were members of the Ku Klux Klan. A Klanswomen was to uphold " the sanctity of the home and chastity of womanhood". Their role in the K.K.K. was almost similar to that of a man. They supported militant patriotism, racial segregation, national quotas for immigration and antimiscegenation laws. These women formed rules and beliefs, which were to be followed by the members of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan. These beliefs were recorded in the document, Creed of Klanswomen. In this document the women focused on heritage, great and glorious America, eligibility, and what they believed to be good for America. The Creed Of Klanswomen let everybody know what these women thought to be one hundred percent American. |
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America for Americans |