Winner, 2022 J.G. Ragsdale Book Award, Arkansas Historical
Association
The Ku Klux Klan established a significant foothold in Arkansas in the
1920s, boasting more than 150 state chapters and tens of thousands of
members at its zenith. Propelled by the prominence of state leaders such
as Grand Dragon James Comer and head of Women of the KKK Robbie Gill
Comer, the Klan established Little Rock as a seat of power second only
to Atlanta. In The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Arkansas, Kenneth C. Barnes
traces this explosion of white nationalism and its impact on the state's
development.
Barnes shows that the Klan seemed to wield power everywhere in 1920s
Arkansas. Klansmen led businesses and held elected offices and prominent
roles in legal, medical, and religious institutions, while the women of
the Klan supported rallies and charitable activities and planned social
gatherings where cross burnings were regular occurrences. Inside their
organization, Klan members bonded during picnic barbeques and parades
and over shared religious traditions. Outside of it, they united to
direct armed threats, merciless physical brutality, and torrents of
hateful rhetoric against individuals who did not conform to their
exclusionary vision.
By the mid-1920s, internal divisions, scandals, and an overzealous
attempt to dominate local and state elections caused Arkansas's Klan to
fall apart nearly as quickly as it had risen. Yet as the organization
dissolved and the formal trappings of its flamboyant presence receded,
the attitudes the Klan embraced never fully disappeared. In documenting
this history, Barnes shows how the Klan's early success still casts a
long shadow on the state to this day.
