The Winkest Link

By Wink

On a Monday night in late June 1936 the KKK burned a cross on the lawn of a family in the tiny town of Minatare, Nebraska. Was it a black family? Nope, there were no blacks in Minatare at that time.

There were still plenty of people for the Klan to hate though: Mexicans, Indians, Catholics, etc.

Was this family any of those? Nope. This was just a typical white family in small town America. The parents, James and Evangeline McAllister, were born in the early 1890’s. They started having kids around 1920, so the kids were all home when the cross was placed there.

James never attended high school, but had mechanical skills, so he built things, and directed the building of things. So far, nothing for the Klan to get worked up about, but…..

A local business owner was Catholic, and James was told by Klansmen that he could no longer do business with a Catholic. James was an independent sort, and not inclined to be told who he could and could not do business with. He continued to do business there.

This was surely troublesome to the Klan, but probably not enough to burn a cross. What about his wife?

Evangeline was short in stature, but not short on moxie. She was educated and, for someone born in a sod house, world-wise. School principal was just one of the many jobs she held in her life. She had an insatiable love of learning, and did not suffer fools readily. To her, and to James, Klansmen were fools and worse.

Of course she needed an outlet for her opinions, so she wrote a weekly article for the Minatare Free Press, under the heading of “The Sage Hen.” Her musings were often related to small town goings-on, but frequently included social and political commentary aimed at local, national and international issues.

At a time when it was still dangerous to do so, her targets included the Klan, a similar hate group called the Black Legion, and others she called “one hundred percenters.” She wrote with a chip on her shoulder, and belittled them with her small-town sense of humor. Thus, the burning cross…

Next week, the Winkest Link will be running, in three parts, the July 2, 1936 article she wrote in response to the cross-burning. Please tune in for the thoughts of a woman from the plains, perhaps a bit ahead of her time.

< TOMORROW: Part 1 of Evangeline vs KKK >

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