Interviews
“A Century Ago, White Protestantism Marched on Washington,” New York Times (Feb. 7, 2021):
Kelly J. Baker is a writer and scholar of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. She sees frightening similarities between that culture and the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“A White Christian Nationalist Coup Long in the Making with Dr. Kelly J. Baker,” Straight White American Jesus Podcast (Jan. 11, 2021):
Dr. Kelly J. Baker, author of Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930, stops by to discuss how the January 6 insurrection was long in the making. Using the 1920s Klan as a historical precedent, she and Brad discuss White supremacy in American culture and politics, the longstanding entanglement of White Protestantism and White nationalism, the Confederate legacy, the class dimensions of both the Klan and the coup, and what we can expect in the near future.
“The Proto-History of the Religious Right: the KKK,” Straight White American Jesus Podcast (Oct. 31, 2019):
Brad talks with Dr. Kelly J. Baker, author of the award-winning book “Gospel According to the Klan.” They talk about how and why the Klan’s story is THE story of white Protestant America and how the Klan is an important antecedent to the modern-day Religious Right.
“White Supremacy and Nationalism on Social Media,” NowThis Future (June 15, 2018):
Facebook’s rules about banning white supremacy but NOT white nationalism were released online, raising more questions than answers. What should the company’s role be in controlling hate speech?
“Philip Menchaca and Kelly Baker,” MeaningofLife.tv (April 23, 2018):
How the Klan appealed to Protestant America.
“Thinking Historically About Charlottesville,” The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast (September 17, 2017):
A production of the Way of Improvement Leads Home, a blog dedicated to reflections at the intersection of American history, religion, politics, and academic life.
“The White Nationalist, Your Neighbor,” (w)Holy Media (May 26, 2017):
In this episode of (w)Holy Media, I speak with Kelly J. Baker on the historical relationship between Protestantism and white nationalism and how it relates to the current political climate.
“Lessons from Trump’s America,” The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow (March 17, 2017):
Kelly J. Baker is the editor of Women in Higher Education, a feminist newsletter, in its 26th year, with the continued goal “to enlighten, encourage, empower and enrage women on campus.” She is also the author of the award-winning book, Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930.
“Kelly Baker on “The Good White People” Problem,” The Chauncey DeVega Show (January 14, 2017):
In this week’s episode of the podcast, Kelly and Chauncey talk about the “good white people” problem and racism, white identity politics and Donald Trump, the history of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as the various genres of hate mail and white toxic masculinity. Chauncey and Kelly also talk about their shared love of zombies and the not so hidden gender and racial politics of The Walking Dead TV series.
“Gospel According to the Klan–Kelly J. Baker,” Sowing the Seed (March 28, 2016):
Writer and historian Dr. Kelly J. Baker discusses her insights into the Ku Klux Klan as a reflection of Protestant America’s deep-seeded racism. Dr. Richard Newton and his Ethnicity, Gender, and Religion seminar speak with Dr. Baker about her award-winning book, Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant American, 1915-1930 (University of Kansas Press, 2011).
“From the KKK to zombies,” Religious Studies Project Podcast (March 28, 2016):
Many of us only know about the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan through film and television, and much of what we see blurs fact and fiction. Distinguishing each side of that messy divide is the prolific Kelly J. Baker, exploring how media portrayals of the hate group have influenced audiences and, in turn, fed back on its own members.
“Intersections: Plate Interviews Kelly J. Baker,” The Revealer (February 5, 2013):
The imagistic association of one particular piece of clothing to a group ideology is one of the trajectories that Kelly Baker takes in her recent book, The Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915–1930, published by the University Press of Kansas. In her clearly written, meticulously researched prose, Baker notes the role of media (including newspapers, novels, and pamphlets, but also hoods, robes, parades, crosses and flags), and how the spectacle of these symbols communicates the ideals of a Protestant, white supremacist nation. Ultimately, rather than leaving all this in the past, Baker draws upon currents coursing through U.S. religious culture over the past three centuries.
“Episode 5: An Interview with Kelly Baker,” Journal of Southern Religion Podcast (August 6, 2012):
In this podcast, Art Remillard speaks with Kelly Baker about her new book, Gospel According to the Klan: The Ku Klux Klan’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915–1930….During this conversation, Baker discusses how she used ethnographic and historical methods to examine the print culture of this “unloved group.”
“Gospel According to the Klan,” New Books in Religion (June 24, 2012):
If images of white robes, pointed hoods, and a burning cross represent racism and violence for you then you are not alone. But do they also evoke ideas of nationalism, Protestantism, and masculinity? In the early twentieth century, the second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan tied their faith to patriotism and in the process produced a unique self-fashioned religious identity.
“Dr. Kelly Baker on Extremism in America,” Trailblazers with Dr. Howard Gluss (August 19, 2011):
Dr. Kelly J. Baker received her Ph.D. in Religion with emphasis on the hate movement, religion and material culture, and religion and gender (specifically masculinity)….Her new book The Gospel According to the Klan is forthcoming.
