Book Report

"They Call Themselves The K.K.K."  Summary
Santiago Poncy

In Susan Campbell Bartoletti's book, "They Call Themselves The K.K.K.," she recreates and tells the story on the history of the Ku Klux Klan and how they started. She talks about the years before and after the civil war and the atmosphere of the south. Throughout the book she introduces us to some of the people who lived during this time, both freed slaves and clan members. You read the stories these people and some of the events of the K.K.K. through various sources she gathered.
Bartoletti talks about the south before the war and how it was the big agricultural area of the country. This meant they required lots of worker and because of that they were also the center of the slave industry in America. She then moves on to after the war with the freeing of the slaves, and how it hurt the souths economy with the loss in the work force. Abraham  Lincoln created a Reconstruction Plan to help the south, but before he could start he was assassinated. Next she introduces us to Lincolns successor, Andrew Johnson, who took over in rebuilding the south. However, Johnson was from the south so he sided with the southerners more than Congress. She explains how he tried to take away some of the african americans freedom with the black codes, which were a set of laws that restricted african american freedom. They were later overcome by Congress when they passed the Civil Rights Act to negate the Black codes. Because of this, the south started referring to the civil war as The Lost Cause. The white southerners thought that the freed slaves would take control and enslave the white man.
Many of the confederate solders who had returned home were still not fully accepting of this change going on in the south. Bartoletti talks specifically about six confederates who return to there hometown in Pulaski, Tennessee. After coming home filled with resentment and all of the problems with the reconstruction, these six friends decide to make a secrete club. The members of this club ran around town dressed as ghost of the confederates soldiers, harassing african american people. This small little club soon grew into what is known as the Klu Klux Klan. Overtime, the clan became more violent and radical. Bartoletti adds in some stories of people who were attacked by the K.K.K. in some of the chapters of the book. Many of them talk about how they never felt safe even with their freedom.
At the end of the book, Bartoletti give a short history on the K.K.K. and some of the events as time went on. She talks about racism today and also how the black man too has the chance to live the american dream.