Behind The Mask Of Chivalry

Behind The Mask Of Chivalry

Adult nonfiction
"This book is about the most powerful movement of the far right
that America has yet produced: the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s. The
story it tells is disturbing. For it has to explain, among other
things, how it was that sane, ordinary men came to believe that
Catholics were stockpiling weapons to take over the country, that a
cabal of Jewish bankers controlled world affairs, and that white
people must ready themselves for an imminent race war with people of
color..."
Nancy McLean's Behind The Mask Of Chivalry, a well researched
and eminently readable narrative, tells the story of one of the most
alarming chapters in American history. I found it especially
fascinating for three reasons.
1) The cross burners were reacting to a number of perceived
threats to their identity. As men used to a patriarchy under which
they were unquestioned heads of households, they had to contend with
wives becoming more assertive after working outside the home and
daughters indulging in dangerous pastimes like dancing. As lower
middle class folks they were simultaneously afraid of the power of
monopolies and other big businesses and the striking and union joining
of the impoverished working class. As fundamentalist Protestants they
harbored suspicions about Catholics and Jews. As whites who saw many
other whites falling from farm ownership to tenancy and factory labor
while some blacks were overcoming formidable obstacles to become
educated, enter the professions, and acquire property, they were
desperate to keep "inferiors" in their place. MacLean weaves all the
threads together to describe a movement that is much more complex than
most people think.
2) MacLean focused on one particular Klan chapter: Athens
[Georgia] Klan Number Five. Its leaders didn't destroy their records
like most of their peers did. So she had at her disposal materials
such as tracts, correspondance, and minutes which she could integrate
with other sources like oral histories, public record, and published
materials.
3) Many of the factors we read about in the book give evidence
of the too strong similarities between the world of the revived Klan
and the one we're inhabiting today. Isn't there something about those
who don't learn from history being doomed to repeat it?
On a personal note, I had an amazing day yesterday. It was the
Women's Resource Center's clothes swap. Basically people brought in
clothes they no longer wanted. A group of us laid them out on
tables. People browsed and took what they wanted. A couple of people
called it a free for all. (Obviously they'd never witnessed the old
Filene's basement sales where women in pin curls and dresses and
stockings assaulted one another over sheet sets and blouses.) I called
it a love in. People were so excited over their finds. People around
them were so happy for them. People were thrilled if someone they
knew took home something they donated. The stuff that wasn't taken
went to Black Bear Exchange.
I worked from set up to clean up with a short lunch break. I even
made the rounds of the Union telling everyone about their chance for
free clothes. Of course I found a lot of super cute stuff including
cat shirts, cat socks, a hoodie with cat paw prints, a Hogwarts
hoodie, and all kinds of awesome clothes. (When my partner saw the
bags of clothes I was going to donate he thought I was slimming down
my wardrobe. Little did he know!)
As if that wasn't enough to make a day the folks at the student
employment office, who are doing student employee appreciation week,
had a feast featuring Moe's barbeque. Any day featuring free clothes
including cat shirts, free barbeque, assessment class, and continuing
compliments on my drag show performance is purrrrrfect. (As I write
this Joey is draped across my shoulders purring.)
Great big shout outs go out to the WRC crew for putting the swap on,
Anna McDormand for giving the day off so I could volunteer at it, the
student employment office people, my assessment classmates and prof,
and, of course, my best little cat in the world.
jules hathaway


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