A Hideous Upcoming Battle: Women Preparing for White Power Apocalypse

Between the end of the Vietnam War and the entrenchment of mainstream militarism in the mid-1990s—a period commonly understood as colorblind and nonviolent—a unified social movement connected Ku Kux Klan, neo-Nazi, Christian Identity, skinhead, and other white power activists in overt war on the state. This fringe movement employed highly stylized ideals of women and family: male leaders referred to the sanctity of white motherhood in their call to arms and frequently invoked model white women to appeal to the mainstream. But the movement’s embrace of a coming Christian Identity apocalypse—in which believers would have to do battle, ridding the earth of nonwhites, before Christ could return and lead the faithful to heaven—also created new possibilities for militant women. They prepared for the end times as directed, as nurses and managers of survivalist homes and food stocks, as mothers of “three or more” white children, and as wives—sometimes second wives—to respected movement leaders. But they also sought out military-level weapons training; learned hand-to-hand combat; and took oaths of allegiance previously reserved for male warriors. Apocalyptic rhetoric, in other words, had unexpected outcomes, augmenting both violence and separatism within the movement, but also worked as a bridge issue with the New Christian Right, thereby creating opportunities for recruitment. Building upon accounts of the movement by religious studies scholars and sociologists, this paper is based in archival analysis and traces the actions of real women in the movement alongside their portrayal (and self-portrayal) in movement publications.