Ku Klux Klan Night Hawk hood and mask used by Stetson Kennedy

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A Ku Klux Klan (KKK) (a) hood with attached mask and a (b) hood liner, belonging to 2011.144.2.1ab, a robe, worn by the Night Hawk rank officers, whose main role is to act as security at "klonvocations." The hood, mask, and liner are part of a set of Night Hawk’s regalia worn by writer and human rights activist Stetson Kennedy, who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s, exposing its secrets to authorities and the outside world. The hood is conical-shaped with a back flap with squared corners. It has been made from the same plain, navy blue cotton fabric as the robe (2011.144.2.1ab) and has a burgundy colored, rayon tassel attached at the point of the hood. Four (4) centimeter wide, round eyeholes have been cut out of the front of the mask. The hood liner (b) is made from stiff white, canvas with a drawstring at the crown.

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