Daniel and
Katrina both made a connection between the symbols of a Southern ladies’
society and the Klan. I, for one,
think that they are stereotyping the members of this group. In her
original posting Beth stated that the society was 100 years old, i.e. dates
from about 1900. At that time the
Klan was dormant. White supremacists
were in firm control of southern society and were openly going about their
business of disenfranchising undesirable voters (poor whites as well as blacks)
legislatively rather than through secret societies. It was not
until after World War I that the Klan made a comeback at which point one does
find KKK-inspired organization southern campuses (and probably elsewhere). Moreover, the original Klan and related
societies had drawn much of their symbolism from Greek mythology so one will
have to come up with stronger evidence than a few Nordic symbols to make a
convincing case that this society was some sort of a KKK Junior League. Paul R.
Scott Records
Management Officer Harris
County, TX |