1914:  Daisy Barr and the Friendly Inn

Daisy Barr, a Quaker evangelist who later led the Women’s Ku Klux Klan, became president of the Friendly Inn, a home for reformed prostitutes.  Barr asked the Muncie community to contribute to the fight against prostitution by supporting the Friendly Inn.  According to Barr, prostitutes were victims of, as well as perpetrators of, crime and immorality.  To live in the house, women could not be addicted to alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes.  They also could not practice prostitution and must be free of “loathsome and infectious diseases.”  These stipulations severely limited who was welcome in the house, which also limited its usefulness to prostitutes.  The Friendly Inn closed in 1914.

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.]