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The Ku Klux Klan Against Women

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The Ku Klux Klan is primarily associated with its male membership. However, it is important to note that women have been involved since the beginning. Particularly since the second wave of the Klan in the 1920s, women have been increasingly more involved in the infamous organization that promotes racist, anti-semantic, anti-catholic, and anti-immigrant ideologies. The KKK first arose in the 1860s as a response to the South losing the Civil War. The organization, if it could have even been called that, was reminiscent of a fraternity. It had neither direction, nor focus, politically or otherwise, and was disbanded in 1870 at the order of the KKK's Grand Wizard [Blee, 1991]. The 1860s KKK committed a multitude of violent actions, from lynching, …show more content…

Their main opposers were blacks, Northerners, and Republicans. Anyone who was not for them was against them. Anyone who was against them had a target on their back. Race, religion, and gender did not matter if someone was against the Klan. Both those who opposed the Klan, and those the Klan opposed were threatened, flogged, raped, lynched, tortured, sexually mutilated, and murdered mercilessly (Blee, ch1, pg 1 back). Their main targets were teachers, Rebuplican officeholders, election officials, and all black people (Blee, ch1,pg1 back). There is no doubt that the first Klan was predominantly male. It purposly excluded women, seeing them as objects that needed protection. Some women still managed to have a part, though. Many female relatives of Klan members sewed the costumes for the men (Blee, ). The 1860s Klan used symbols of innocent and pure white womanhood to provoke a sexual predator image onto black males. Womanhood was symbolic of Protestant values in need of protection. This insentive persuaded men to get involved in the KKK. Black men were sexual predators that pure, white, American women needed protection from [ Pinar, 555

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