The Called Themselves the KKK: the Birth of an American Terrorist Group

 

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. They Called Themselves the KKK: the Birth of an American Terrorist Group. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, New York: 2010. 172 pages. Tr. $19.00 ISBN 9780618440337

Annotation

They Called Themselves the KKK is a history of the South after the Civil War.  Bartoletti describes the disparity between the whites and blacks in the South during Reconstruction and how the Ku Klux Klan was founded as a medium to continue racism and the white establishment. 

Review

In They Called Themselves the KKK Susan Campbell Bartoletti has written a comprehensive and unflinching history of one of America’s best known terrorist groups.  The Ku Kluxers, as they were referred to, was started in Tennessee by six former Confederate officers.  The men began the club by disguising themselves and harassing locals at night, but soon the group spread throughout the South and focused on the intimidation of African Americans who the Ku Kluxers deemed too successful, who dared to exercise their right to vote, or who thought themselves equal to whites.  The KKK also targeted whites who aided blacks by helping African Americans register to vote or educating them. Bartoletti appeals the readers emotions with the inclusion of firsthand accounts of the atrocities the KKK committed against freedman in era of Reconstruction.  She accurately describes the terror that must have reigned in the South for blacks who dared exercise their new rights and demand equal treatment. 

Awards/Honors

ALSC Notable Book

Front and Back Matter

TOC, Note to Reader, Civil Rights Timeline, Quote Attributions, Bibliography and Source Notes, Index

Author’s Website

http://www.scbartoletti.com/