WWU Professor to Discuss ‘Pledging Allegiance, the Ku Klux Klan, and Religious Freedom in Bellingham in the 1920s’ on May 19
Kevin Leonard, professor of History at Western Washington University, will give a talk titled “Pledging Allegiance, the Ku Klux Klan, and Religious Freedom in Bellingham in the 1920s” from 7 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19 in the Bellingham City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie St., in Bellingham.
The free, public talk is an installment of the WWU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by the City of Bellingham.
In September 1925, a Bellingham judge removed 9-year-old Russell Tremain from the custody of his parents, who had refused to send their son to school. John W. Tremain and his wife, Ethel Tremain, insisted that the mandatory flag salute was incompatible with their religious beliefs. Even as local community leaders condemned John and Ethel Tremain, they struggled with the presence of the Ku Klux Klan in Whatcom County. In his presentation, Leonard will explore the tensions between religious freedom and patriotic nativism that were evident in Bellingham in the 1920s.
Leonard has taught at Western since 1997. He is the author of “The Battle for Los Angeles: Racial Ideology and World War II,” which was published in 2006 by the University of New Mexico Press. His interest in the Tremain case and the Ku Klux Klan in Bellingham grew out of his research interest in race in the 20th century United States and his teaching of courses in the history of the Pacific Northwest.
Audience questions for the May 19 talk will be welcomed. The lecture will be recorded and shown on Bellingham TV Channel 10.
For more information on this lecture, please contact Kirsten Anderson, WWU College of Humanities & Social Sciences, (360) 650-3763, orKirsten.Anderson@wwu.edu
The College of Humanities and Social Services(CHSS), the university’s largest college, includes the 13 departments of: Anthropology; Communication Sciences and Disorders; Physical Education, Health and Recreation; Political Science; Psychology; Sociology; CommunicationStudies; English; History; Journalism; Liberal Studies; Modern and Classical Languages; and Philosophy as well as three interdisciplinary programs: East Asian Studies; Linguistics; and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.