The women’s auxiliary of an American terrorist group had its headquarters in Little Rock.
The Women of the Ku Klux Klan was formed on June 10, 1923, with temperance activist Lulu Markwell as its imperial commander. Within a year the organization claimed a quarter million members in 48 states.
Markwell resigned in 1924 and Robbie Gill replaced her; Gill married state Klan leader James Comer a year later.
The WKKK held ritualized initiations and circulated screeds promoting the Klan’s nativist, racist philosophy. A power struggle in 1925 led to lawsuits that exposed the group’s finances, showing that the Comers “squandered $70,000 of WKKK funds, equipping WKKK headquarters with goldfish, songbirds, police dogs, flowers, and a piano and purchasing for their own use a $5,000 sedan.”
The women’s Klan splintered and its fortunes faded with those of the male group. By 1930, membership in both had dwindled to fewer than 50,000.
To learn more, visit encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
