Within two years, membership was estimated at 500,000 with chapters in every state of the Union. It was billed, as Blee notes, as “an organization by women, for women, and of women no man is exploiting for his individual gain.” The WKKK grew rapidly. The distance from the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan’s headquarters in Atlanta symbolized the independence of the WKKK from its male counterpart. The WKKK was officially chartered on June 10, 1923, and headquartered in Little Rock, Ark. Despite Tyler’s appointment to oversee the development of a women’s organization that she contended, “would not be a ‘dependent auxiliary of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan’ but would be on par with the men’s organization,” she was pushed out. Although there were some who appreciated her effective organizing and promotion skills, and her dedication to the Klan, many others viewed her as a seductress and attributed her successes to her ability to cater “to appetite and vices.” The controversy over Tyler’s leadership role in the Klan resulted in a 1921 Congressional investigation that came to the exaggerated conclusion that “an ostensibly all-male Klan” was indeed under the leadership of a woman.

As Blee notes, however, Tyler’s gender became a vexing issue for some within the upper echelons of the Klan who feared that their fraternity had been coopted by a woman.

Women of the Klan by Kathleen M. Blee