1876:  Daisy Barr and QGM

Daisy (Brushwiller) Barr was born in Jonesboro.  She was ordained in 1896 as a Quaker minister.  She was a member of numerous Indiana Quaker churches and held several church offices.  In 1911, she participated in an anti-alcohol campaign that involved both African American and Caucasian churches in Muncie.  In 1913, Barr was appointed president of the Humane Society.  She also lobbied the city to create a position for a female police officer whose duties would include reforming prostitutes.  In the 1920s, Barr joined the Klan.  She agreed with the Klan’s opposition to alcohol and its calls to end social and political corruption.  Barr also shared the Klan’s desire to limit immigration; to protect women from immigrants, Catholics, and Jewish suppliers of corruption and vice; and in the superiority of native-born Americans.  Barr later became head of the Queens of the Golden Mask (QGM), which was a female counterpart to the Indiana Klan.

Cited by:  Kathleen M. Blee.  Women of the Klan:  Racism and Gender in the 1920s (Berkeley, etc.:  University of California Press, 1991), Chap. IV: “Joining the Ladies’ Organization” [excerpt] 104-11; 203-205.  [11 pp.]