An article on a troubling element of Newberg’s past has garnered praise from the Oregon Historical Society and was recently recognized among the finalists for the organization’s annual Joel Palmer Award.

A story headlined “Gendering White Supremacy: Edna Cummins’s Defamation Suit Against the Newberg, Oregon, Ku Klux Klan in 1924,” appeared in the spring 2024 issue of the scholarly journal Oregon Historical Quarterly.

Written by historian Kimberly Jensen, the 10,000-plus word article examined the case of Edna Cummins, who was a “white, divorced, single mother and former Klanswoman who won a civil suit for defamation of character against members of Newberg, Oregon’s, Ku Klux Klan,” according to the Oregon Historical Society.

In “Gendering White Supremacy,” Jensen documents how Cummins sought protection from the Klan during her divorce after charging her husband with domestic violence. When the Klan not only failed to protect her, but threatened to harm her, she sought redress in the courts.

“Jensen argues that the case ‘illustrates the durability of gendered white supremacist ideas and actions beyond the Klan in Oregon and the nation,” the release said. “During that time, Jensen notes, ‘White Protestant supremacy remained a powerful, systemic force in Oregon, a force with which we continue to contend today.’”

Jensen’s piece was among two works that earned honorable mention in the writing contest. The other was called “Federal Investments and Civil Rights Contradictions: The Mixed Legacy of Congresswoman Edith Green in Oregon’s Third Congressional District, 1955-1974,” written by Christopher Foss.

The overall winner of the Joel Palmer Award, which is given to the best article published in the journal the previous year, was Marie Hashimoto’s article, “To Begin Again Where I Left Off: Narrating Japanese American Resettlement in Portland, Oregon, 1945-1946.”

In the article, Hashimoto addresses the question of what life was like for Japanese Americans returning to Portland after the federal government released them from concentration camps where they were incarcerated during World War II.

The Joel Palmer Award is a bespoke honor designed to celebrate the Oregon pioneer and political leader during the mid-nineteenth century. Winners receive $500 for the honor, which is bestowed by the historical society’s editorial advisory board.