Reflections Series: “The (Not So) Invisible Empire: The KKK in Southwest Minnesota in the 1920s” Program

Anita Talsma Gaul will present on, “The (Not So) Invisible Empire: The KKK in Southwest Minnesota in the 1920s” at the Lyon County Museum, 301 West Lyon Street, Marshall on Tuesday, October 14 at 6:30 PM.

The 1920s was a period of rapid change, causing many Americans to feel a sense of nostalgia and fear – nostalgia for an idealized, simpler past and fear that America was in a state of moral decline. This prompted the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, particularly in the Upper Midwest. Klan activity in Southwest Minnesota began in 1922, peaked in 1924, and virtually disappeared by 1927. Dozens of cross burnings occurred, but there were also Klan rallies, parades, picnics, and meetings.

What attracted rural Minnesotans to this organization? How and why did it become popular in this area? And what accounts for its sudden demise? The brief but intense presence of the KKK in Southwest Minnesota is a hidden chapter in the region’s history and one that merits closer scrutiny.

Anita Talsma Gaul is a History Instructor at Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Worthington, MN. She is the author of several local history publications including The Women of Southwest Minnesota and the Great War (published by the Society for Local & Regional History) and Homely Girls and Pretty Babies: A History of the Murray County Fair (published by the Murray County Agricultural Society). She is also the author of seven MNopedia articles, a digital encyclopedia published by the Minnesota Historical Society.

The program is free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served.  Programs at the Lyon County Museum are sponsored by members.  For more information, contact the Lyon County Museum at 507-537-6580 or director@lyoncomuseum.org