They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group

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They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 881 ratings · 258 reviews

"Boys, let us get up a club."

With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend’s mansion in 1866. They pulled white sheets over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. Soon, the six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan and began patterning their initiations after fraternity rites, with passwords and m

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Hardcover, 172 pages

Published August 23rd 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

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Jan 08, 2011 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Susan Campbell Bartoletti's They Called Themselves the K.K.K. is the plastic nature of history. The Klan was first formed after the American Civil War, during a period known as the Reconstruction. Essentially, the South was decimated and now the North was struggling to rebuild a united nation, one that would not be based on slavery (it should be noted that the North was hardly as uniformly angelic as they sound). Consequently, many Americans came to view Klan...more Perhaps the most striking aspect of Susan Campbell Bartoletti's They Called Themselves the K.K.K. is the plastic nature of history. The Klan was first formed after the American Civil War, during a period known as the Reconstruction. Essentially, the South was decimated and now the North was struggling to rebuild a united nation, one that would not be based on slavery (it should be noted that the North was hardly as uniformly angelic as they sound). Consequently, many Americans came to view Klan as the last defenders of the "lost cause," a Southern resistance against the tyrannic social and economic regulations of the North.

Can it be argued that some or most of these hooded villains were actually heroes resisting big government?

Bartoletti takes the time to illustrate that whatever these hooded white men thought they were defending themselves against, it was the freed people that had the most difficult life after the Civil War. To be fair, white landowners lost loved ones during the war and much of their property was destroyed. However, Bartoletti explains that if the Klansmen's were defenders of the "lost cause," the lost cause seemed to be about little else than harassing and ruthlessly abusing blacks, unless it was preventing whites from helping blacks to attain equality.

The story of Hannah Tutson suggests that the Klan understood the "lost cause" to be synonymous with the oppression of blacks. Tutson and her husband Samuel managed to acquire three acres of land, which unfortunately struck the Klan as "uppity." As punishment for their ambition, Samuel was beaten, their child was injured, and Hannah was beaten, whipped, and raped. Her complaints to the authorities led to acquittals, followed by a fine for making false allegations against whites. The Klan also attacked whites that supported the Republican party, the education of blacks, or other policies that promoted racial equality. Clearly, this was not the Birth of a Nation, but rather The Birth of an American Terrorist Group.

History is a tricky thing, and it is often more plastic than we should prefer. It seems that the parts of history that are most shameful are the ones that are most likely to be white washed, which perhaps explains why Bartoletti takes the time to admit her regret if readers are offended by any material that has not been edited from any primary document, no matter how offensive the language may sound to our contemporary ears. There is a great deal of hate in They Called Themselves the K.K.K., but there is also reason to hope.

Throughout the history, Bartoletti includes numerous political cartoons lambasting the Northern politicians for their hypocrisy and the South for its acceptance of the Klan. There are many stories of people that made significant sacrifice to help others, particularly teachers and missionaries that moved South, even if they were harassed and in some cases hanged by the Klan. Bartoletti leaves the final chapters of the books to detail the often amazing efforts that Southern blacks made to engage in public education and to save their money even while white Southerners tried to reconstruct racial stratification that mirrored slavery. It's quite impressive to read about what they endured and accomplished, often with little more than resilience.

Sadly, these freed people would need that sense of resilience for many years to come.

Perhaps the most plastic aspect of history is the concept that there are beginnings, middles, and ends. Bartoletti's history focuses on the first organization of the Klan, but although it officially disbanded after President Ulysses S. Grant's federal intervention, racial discrimination was hardly over. The Jim Crow laws would soon begin eroding the rights of the blacks in the South and hooded terrorists would return at other periods of American history to promote racial inequality, hatred, and abuse against others.(less)

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Nov 03, 2010 Wendy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-award-possibilities

I just can't help comparing this with Bartoletti's incredible Hitler Youth (which I wanted to wave around and make everyone read). It's a good book, but not as amazing as that; I thought it lacked focus, and was, perhaps, a bit tentative about its subject. It's easy enough to humanize the victims of the KKK, but Bartoletti makes little attempt to make the KKK members themselves seem like real people. Perhaps I was expecting more of this because I've heard a few objections to having the book in s...more

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Nov 23, 2011 TomTom101 rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who is interested in African American History

Recommended to TomTom101 by: My English Teacher

I Thought that this book was amazing because I love the way that they talk about the accomplishments of Black People. Also what I love about it is that they don't try to disguise the things white people have done it tells us exactly what they did and sometimes how they do it. I have been waiting to read a book this mesmerizing. I am glad I read this.
Thanks Stroh!

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May 01, 2012 Dannielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dannielle Nebinski (They call themselves the KKK)
Genre: Informational

This is the story of how 6 young men started a small club in Pulaski, Tennessee, that grew into a self-proclaimed empire that spread quickly and wide across the South. With the words "Boys, let us get up a club" these six young men went into the linen closet, and covered their heads with white sheets, and rode their horses through Pulaski, Tennessee. Soon after that they named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and started initiating...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Dee rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think this would be a good book for 8th graders to read when they are studying US History. I was reading this book as a possibility for high schoolers, but I think the reading level and simplicity of the book would be better suited for middle school.

I found the information interesting and learned quite a bit from it. I felt, at times, that I was reading a textbook. In those instances, it was hard for me to continue reading. However, I rarely (if ever) put down a book before I finish it. I'm a...more

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Mar 25, 2012 LeAnne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-non-fiction

Although an epilogue mentions the resurgence of the KKK in the 1920s and again in the 1960s, the body of the book focuses on the Klan’s rise during Reconstruction following the American Civil War. The main source of information seems to be the Klan trials in the 1870s in which federal prosecutors took statements from former slaves and Klansmen about events. This is gritty, in-their-own-words stuff that tries to represent what people of both sides said about their own actions and motives. I liste...more Although an epilogue mentions the resurgence of the KKK in the 1920s and again in the 1960s, the body of the book focuses on the Klan’s rise during Reconstruction following the American Civil War. The main source of information seems to be the Klan trials in the 1870s in which federal prosecutors took statements from former slaves and Klansmen about events. This is gritty, in-their-own-words stuff that tries to represent what people of both sides said about their own actions and motives. I listened to the audio version, but parts of the print version may be difficult to read because of the dialect in which the original recorders took down testimony. The author warns readers that she has not attempted to clean up rough and potentially offensive language or to soften violent events. The N word is here and a lot of other things that turn my stomach, but reveal the callus disregard of white supremacists for their fellow human beings.

I was impressed with the Freedman’s Bureau that started schools to teach black children who went home at night and taught their parents who had been denied education under slavery. Many of these teachers were sent by Northern missionary societies. They were persecuted by white Southerners and often ended up living with their black students because they were denied any other housing. At least one was lynched by the KKK.

The same author wrote a book on Hitler Youth. This struck me as a similar deception. To young Southern whites, taught from the cradle that they were superior, the Klan’s goals to uphold law and order and protect the weak sound noble. Of course, the laws they want to uphold are laws that keep the black man in subjection; their idea of order is whites on top; and the weak they want to protect do not include African Americans trying to better the lives of their community as teachers or pastors or even just successful sharecroppers.

This is a shameful period in American history. Young people of all races need to be familiar with the facts and choose to never let it happen again.
(less)

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Sep 26, 2011 528_Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1african-american

They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist group is a vivid account of the rise of the KKK at the end of the Civil War. Susan Campbell Bartoletti clearly did her research in this thorough account of the Klan. The book details a fascinating and horrifying time period in American History, from the birth of the Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866, through the end of the Reconstruction period. Barotletti makes her story come alive by including several primary source documents,...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Traci rated it 4 of 5 stars

On an evening in May, 1866, six men in Pulaski, Tennessee, lounged around a law office and decided to “get up a club.” Thus, the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, was born. Its reign of terror would haunt those committed to securing equal rights for all races, and there was no one the Klan wouldn’t try to intimidate or bully.

Created in response to the defeat of the South in the Civil War, as well as to laws being passed in which former slaves were finally gaining the rights they had been denied in the past...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5201, the-real-stuff, young-adult

Lit. class review:

Bartoletti’s Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow was nominated for a Newbery award in 2006. This work on the “why?” behind the Ku Klux Klan was on a number of “best books” list in 2010, including YALSA and the School Library Journal. It was also one of the nominees for the YALSA award for excellence in non-fiction, given for the first time this year. Bartoletti draws from first-person narrative as much as possible, as well as including photographs and documents from the...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Maricor rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-and-information

They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (2010)
In one of the more comprehensive and objective accounts in young adult literature on the topic, Susan Campbell Bartoletti shares the history and creation of the Ku Klux Klan. Bartoletti does a stellar job building the background of the story and the Reconstruction time period to understand why six men were triggered to form such a club and how it grossly grew out of control, even for th...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Aimee Haderlie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-11-20

This book is a history of the KKK. It goes through the different stages and events that lead up to the building of the KKK. It talks about different personal stories of people who had first hand experience with the kkk either because of family members being killed or even surviving themselves. It has notes written by KKK members. Some of the people who suffered the wrath of the KKK were not even black often all it took for the KKK to go after you was to have some kind of opposing view. They kill...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Marsha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile

This was fascinating but so hard to read. Bartoletti very calmly and fairly explains the social issues, politics, and background that allowed the KKK to come into being and grow into a huge, horrible, out of control, vicious, (I really can't think of an awful enough adjective to insert here) terrorist group. It was hard to read because these men (and women) never came to justice, never felt bad--indeed felt completely justified in terrorizing, beating, and killing any black person simply because...more

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Feb 13, 2011 Karen Ball rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: cybils-mg-ya-nonfic-2010

These days, whenever someone mentions terrorists, most people think internationally. But terrorists have been around in America since before we were a nation, and after the Civil War, the most infamous ones gave themselves a name: Ku Klux Klan. When the Civil War ended, the southern states were destroyed economically and socially, and the Reconstruction caused great fear with the changes being forced into society. A nighttime meeting of six men in Pulaski, Tennessee who were discussing politics...more These days, whenever someone mentions terrorists, most people think internationally. But terrorists have been around in America since before we were a nation, and after the Civil War, the most infamous ones gave themselves a name: Ku Klux Klan. When the Civil War ended, the southern states were destroyed economically and socially, and the Reconstruction caused great fear with the changes being forced into society. A nighttime meeting of six men in Pulaski, Tennessee who were discussing politics and what they wanted, led to: "Boys, let us get up a club or society." They raided a linen closet for sheets, made up names, copied fraternity rituals, and made up handshakes and secret codes. And then they went on night rides... Many joined their "club." New members included ex-Confederate soldiers, local judges, law officers, farmers and businessmen, and they started their own local groups within the Klan as the ideas spread. The night rides were meant to intimidate freed slaves and those who supported their rights into silence and inaction, but in reality this intimidation led to threats, shootings, beatings and lynchings. Fear was the driving force on both sides, but the Klan and their supporters had physical, economic and political power behind them.This is one of the most important books to be published this year, for it gives readers a detailed history of this particular American terrorist group through primary and secondary source documents, drawings and photographs, interviews and articles. Though the Klan was started long ago, it continues today. I remember the Klan coming into my high school parking lot, trying to recruit the white football players as they left campus for lunch. I was amused by the sight of men in suits running from the boys I knew, who did not take kindly to those men telling them that members of their finally-winning team were worthless because of the color of their skin. That was 1986, in Oklahoma. More recently, Susan Bartoletti actually attended a Klan rally one weekend in Arkansas, hearing one speaker tell the crowd "We don't need robes... a silent majority in America agrees with us." Racism will not die a quiet death until more of us learn about it and use that knowledge to stand up to bigots. You don't have to be a linebacker to do it.(less)

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Feb 06, 2011 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Bartoletti is a well respected writer of historical non-fiction for tweens and teens. Previously, she has looked a the Hitler Youth, winning a Newbery Honor for it, the Irish Potato Famin, coal mining, and child labor. Her Newest book, is a strong study of the Ku Klux Klan. Using all sorts of primary documents such as newspaper clippings, poliical cartoons, slave narratives, and photographs to flesh out the events of the time period on which she is focusing.

The book brings readers through a hist...more

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Jan 30, 2011 Paige Y. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-books-read, 2011-ya-nonfiction

I read this because it was part of School Library Journal's Battle of the Books. It covers the K.K.K. from its birth around the end of the Civil War until the end of Reconstruction, when (at least outwardly) Klan activities diminished, only to return in the early 20th century.

Bartoletti does an excellent job of showing the horrors of the early Klan and explaining how both the whites and the blacks felt intimidated by each other. Complete social change is difficult, and Reconstruction's effort to...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teenbooks, non-fiction

I was immediately impressed by this book when I saw the title: They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: the birth of an American terrorist group. Just the sub-title provides a context that is not often explored (certainly not in public schools)--the fact that the K.K. K. WAS a terrorist group. It is important for teens to be able to associate that word with ALL terrorist organizations, not just the ones currently dominating the headlines.

Bartoletti does a wonderful job of combining extensive historica...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Mrs. Roy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, suggestions-for-students

I was disappointed by this book. After learning about the Civil War this spring, my students were hung up on what kind of people were in the KKK, how it operated, why it began, etc. I bought this book with high hopes that it would answer those questions. The ten chapters of the book focus on the Reconstruction era KKK, from formation to "dissolution" in the late 1870s. The epilogue then goes on to describe the role the KKK played in the the 20th century, briefly describing the murders, church bo...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Susan Campbell Bartoletti is, in my view, probably one of the best two or three writers of nonfiction for young adults actively creating new literature today. The scope of her historical perspective is immediate and compelling, and she doesn't fool around when it comes to getting to the bottom of a serious issue like the history of the Ku Klux Klan. Before starting this book I knew that it was going to be an experience, and Susan Campbell Bartoletti didn't disappoint.

The roots of the Klan reac...more Susan Campbell Bartoletti is, in my view, probably one of the best two or three writers of nonfiction for young adults actively creating new literature today. The scope of her historical perspective is immediate and compelling, and she doesn't fool around when it comes to getting to the bottom of a serious issue like the history of the Ku Klux Klan. Before starting this book I knew that it was going to be an experience, and Susan Campbell Bartoletti didn't disappoint.

The roots of the Klan reach back into the decade of southern reconstruction that the government tried to make work after the official end of the American Civil War. The Confederates were bloodied, beaten and angry, and with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1965, there no longer was a man in the Oval Office who seemed to truly want to uphold the rights of the newly freed slaves while at the same time letting the injured and insulted South get back on their collective feet. Andrew Johnson was sworn in to take Lincoln's place following the assassination, as a southerner himself who might be able to push for a meaningful reconciliation between the sides that had so recently been at war; however, as one might guess, Andrew Johnson was not quite Abraham Lincoln. His administration would eventually bring the office of the presidency into disgrace, and he could not soothe the resentment that burned like hot coals between the North and the South.

One of the really big problems that existed in the attempted reconstruction of the ruined South was the huge financial losses inflicted upon former slave owners by the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation. Suddenly, all of these plantation owners were having to get along without all of the free slave labor that they had taken for granted in the past. The greater the number of slaves that a household had owned the worse it was for them now, since every slave freed simply multiplied the labor that had been taken away by order of President Lincoln. If a southern gentleman wanted a black man to supply work on his place now, then he was going to have to offer him wages just as he would to any white man in want of a job. This suggested equality between the races rankled many southerners, and began to set the stage for the origin of the first real, organized American hate group, which would grow to become the most menacing force in all of the South, stretching from state to state in its reign of terror and plunging freed blacks back into their memories of fear from when they were still slaves.

In 1866, six southern men, all highly educated and of fine standing in their community, began meeting in a house in Pulaski, Tennessee, presumably to discuss the ostensible failures of reconstruction and other important issues of the day. The disaster that was the Civil War had destroyed the South and left many of its white citizens without a number of their basic rights (including the right to vote and hold political office), but it had also created a world in which there was very little to keep them occupied, or entertained. It couldn't have been terribly surprising, then, when one of the six men meeting in Pulaski tendered the suggestion that they should get up some kind of a club in their area. His five friends readily agreed to the plan, and they began to draw up ideas for a code language and pretentious, authoritative Klan nicknames to give to their various officers of both high and low rank. It's hard to say whether or not this new organization, named the Ku Klux Klan, was initially designated to deal with southern racial frustrations by the use of violence or if it was at first intended to be more of a social club, but there's no getting around the fact that the fledgling group soon morphed into the latter. Many southern white men had been holding on to their anger over the results of the Civil War with clenched fists and white-knuckle grips, and here was their chance to finally relieve some of that tension in a way that would prove darkly satisfying to the frightening fantasies that had so far been cooking up mostly in the shadowy caverns of their own minds.

After reaching this point, most of the rest of They Called Themselves the KKK is a series of chilling stories of the abuses perpetrated by the Klan upon blacks, as well as upon whites who disagreed with the Klan's intransigent stand on ultimate white supremacy. Many of these harrowing tales come from the mouths of the affected blacks themselves, speaking directly to official government archivists in a set of interviews conducted during the 1930s. The people who had lived through the days of reconstruction South were all at least in their late seventies by that point, and many were in their eighties, nineties or even one hundred years of age, but their recollections of what went down at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan in the ten years following the conclusion of the Civil War were etched with seemingly perfect detail in their minds. I guess that such violence isn't something that one forgets easily or quickly.

As the Klan reached the height of its powers in the late 1860s and into the early 1870s, the federal government under new president Ulysses S. Grant realized at last that something had to be done. The gains of the bloody Civil War were in all practicality going for nought, as the Klan strengthened its hold on the South and commonly used its power to deprive black Americans of their basic rights. A series of hearings were held to determine the fate of the Klan, and after all of the testimony was given it was decided that the federal government should have the authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in regard to the illegal acts of this particular supremacist group, as it would be unrealistic to try to bust any Klan factions with a set of specific charges against each member already written up ahead of time. This change in rule allowed the federal government to swoop in and arrest Klan members in hordes, doing the work that state and local government had up to that point been either unwilling or too afraid to do. The northern ideas of reconstruction for the South had still turned out to be flops, but the core power of the Ku Klux Klan had been dealt its death blow, and the organization no longer would have the central cohesiveness or resolve to conduct the terrifying raids that had been all too normal in the South just a short while before.

As Susan Campbell Bartoletti describes it, the Ku Klux Klan was anything but permanently finished after the rash of arrests that occurred following President Grant's issue of the decree that habeas corpus could be suspended in some instances. In 1915 the Klan rose from the ashes with the release of the controversial movie The Birth of a Nation, which offered a less harsh view of the history of white supremacy in the United States. The Klan would see surges in popularity at various times after that, but never came close to matching the power that it wielded in its prime years during the reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. Today the Ku Klux Klan still continues to operate, existing as a warning to everybody of what the ominous hooded masks have represented in the past, and what they mean today for those of us of any race or creed who value the freedom of all groups of people to be themselves and express their beliefs openly and without fear in the United States of America.

Much of They Called Themselves the KKK is actually more a portrait of the battle for civil rights in the last quarter of the nineteenth century than just a profile of the Ku Klux Klan. Despite the basic downfall of the Klan in 1871, blacks who had never stopped struggling for true freedom after being emancipated would face very dark days in the future. Conventional slavery may have no longer been a big issue, but by 1896 it appears that the majority of Americans had bought into the government enforced state of white supremacy expressed by the Jim Crow laws, and for more than half a century that was the law of the land in our very own United States of America. The Ku Klux Klan had been more or less eradicated, but there was still a long way to go in the fight for freedom in which blacks still engaged as fervently as ever.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti has taken the idea of a book about the Ku Klux Klan and turned it into more, describing in terrific detail some crucial moments in American history and what the presence of the Klan in the past and present had to do with those moments. They Called Themselves the KKK focuses mostly on the era directly after the Civil War even though the Klan has done significant things since that time, but I think that the emphasis makes sense. The book's subtitle is The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, so I think that it's appropriate to center primarily on the events surrounding the genesis of the group. They Called Themselves the KKK is a work of insightful, deep research and remarkable historical value for readers of all age, and I would recommend it as probably the definitive book on the subject for young adult readers. I would give at least two and a half stars to this book. (less)

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Jan 14, 2011 stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, american-history, non-fiction, prize-winners, young-adult, would-rec

review to come.

regardless, the history in this is utterly fantastic, with a real emphasis on contextualizing the time period and the actions, without being apologist or condemning. in fact, i was surprised by the LACK of condemnation in the book.

the use of primary documents, including political cartoons, throughout was impressive. would be a good book for AP US History students as well, to get their bearings on Reconstruction and see how good DBQ's are written. (or how to get ideas).

i also appr...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-books

They Called Themselves the K.K.K. was well written, contained great facts and tidbits of history, and provided an ample amount of visuals including pictures of former slaves, political cartoons, historical places, ect. This book read more like a story, which is probably what ended up grabbing my attention at the beginning of the book. Rather than just giving a straightforward history of the K.K.K., there was United States history given, first hand accounts of the experiences with the K.K.K., and...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Daniela rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: american, award-winners, historical, childrens, non-fiction

Author:
Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Age Group:
Marketed to children but appropriate for all ages.

Genre:
Non-Fiction, American History, Black History, Race

Awards:
Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of the Year for Nonfiction (2010), YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Nominee (2011)

Summary:
In this new non-fiction work, Bartoletti takes readers back to the origins of the infamous Ku Klux Klan. Beginning with the Civil War, the abolition of slavery and concluding with the...more

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Mar 03, 2012 L12_sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: info-bios

They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group is the latest informational text from Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Similar to Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow , They Called Themselves the KKK tells the well-researched story of how a terrorist organization was born, how it thrived, and how it eventually came to an end. This book would be a valuable addition to any American History course (grade 7 and up) because it explains in detail what caused the KKK to b...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Holly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: engl-420

I really loved this book. Wow. I knew a lot of the things that were talked about, but hearing the first hand accounts was amazingly powerful. By the end I felt moved to action. In the back of my mind I knew that the KKK is still around, but seeing proof of it just made me sick. I am amazed that the Bartoletti went to a KKK meeting and came away safe and sound.
I also felt that Bartoletti was fair in her representation. She made sure to describe the situation of the South after the Civil War and...more

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Oct 20, 2010 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-nonfiction

"Boys, let us get up a club." With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend's mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses & cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. Soon, the six friends had named their club the Ku Klux Klan & all too quickly, their club would grow into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.

This is the story of how a secret, terrorist group took root in America's democracy. Fi...more "Boys, let us get up a club." With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend's mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses & cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. Soon, the six friends had named their club the Ku Klux Klan & all too quickly, their club would grow into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.

This is the story of how a secret, terrorist group took root in America's democracy. Filled with chilling & vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, & diaries, it is a book to read & remember. (Goodreads Summary)

They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, is an outstanding look at the formation of the Ku Klux Klan after the American Civil War and its activities afterward, focusing especially on the Reconstruction period. This much needed look at the KKK, started by former Confederate soldiers, should be essential reading for Americans.

Using primary source naterials & extensive research, Bartoletti's text does contain historical stereopypes & racial slurs. The use of oral accounts brings the story to life, as do Bartoletti's captions for newspaper illustrations & a few photographs, providing source information. Thomas Nast's political cartoons added historical context. The information is well organized.

Bartoletti's source notes and bibliography, in narrative format, include photgraphs form her travels in the South. She recommends a wide variety of sources and perspective. Her remarks regarding her attendance at a Klan Congress are particularly chilling.

I was persomally struck by the similarity of some views & remarks by former Confederates, Klansmen, & Southerners, and contemprary stands regarding the funding of public schools, and states rights by some, not all but some, current Tea Party candidates in the 2010 election.

Reconstruction and the KKK need to be studied, imo, along with topics like the treatment of Native Americans on this continent & the Holocaust.

They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group should be in every middle school & high school in America and be used by hostory teachers across the country. For history students, teachers, & those interested in American history, the Civil War, and justice.(less)

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Sep 24, 2011 Crista rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chapter-book, teen, multicultural, african-american

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Bartoletti excellently blends facts, documents, and emotional stories in this true account of life for African Americans after the Civil War. What I enjoyed most was that this book was more about the struggle and plight of African Americans then the rise of the KKK. I loved the human interest stories, even those with gruesome details, because I feel they bring a personal side to this story. This is such an emotional and encompassing time period that a lot...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Samantha Heare rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was a YALSA Non-fiction award nominee for 2011, and as Jennifer said, it is an extremely detailed accounting of the formation of the KKK, and their terrorizing tactics that for too long were often look at with a blind eye down in the South. The historical photographs, illustrations, original newspaper articles / illustrations, and first person testimonial truly bring to life the fact that discrimination and racism was alive and well long after the Civil War ended, and witnessing them b...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Sheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Susan Campbell Bartoletti is my favorite non-fiction YA author. This is another fantastic book. She tackles the most difficult of subjects and makes them readable and memorable. This one has a bit of an issue with flow. That could be because she uses as so much first person narrative in the book. She talks about her decision to do so in an afterword or authors note. It is effective but it does take just a little away from the ease of reading and thus for me, the ease of understanding. I found my...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit-class, 104-in-2011

Because the cover of this book creeps me out so much, I was very apprehensive to start this for my YA non-fiction unit. Although I liked it for the most part, I was mostly disappionted in it. I didn't learn as much as I wanted to about such a dark time in America's history. I wanted to come away feeling moved and maybe even understand what it would've been like back then, or even understand the Klansmen. I'm a firm believer in not villianizing something just for the sake of it. If we don't want...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Will rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book was very good. There was a lot of new things that I didn't know about in the book. Such as how the cost of the civil war was equal to nearly 25 trillion dollars now. It was also equal to 5 million deaths now. I learned a lot of new things such as how the the K.K.K was originally just a group of jokesters trying to get some people to laugh. But then other people started to join in and started to think of cruel ideas. It started in Tennessee and started spreading really quick a...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Kelly Kiesel rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had mixed feelings about this book and was debating between a 2 and a 3. The book is well written and very educational - but I personally do not like this genre. The book's title is somewhat deceiving - the storyline focuses a lot more on the time period directly after the Civil War and paints a picture of what life was like as a freed slave. I picked this book up for a few reasons one being the title calls the KKK an American Terrorist Group. I think American Terrorist really grabbed me, beca...more

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About Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an American writer of children's literature. She was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but eventually the family ended up in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. Susan started as an English teacher and inspired many students before deciding to pursue writing in earnest. She sold her first short story in 1989. Three years later in 1992 she published her first pict...more

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Books by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

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A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska, Lattimer, Pennsylvania, 1896 (Dear America)

Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850

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Quotes from They Called Themselves...

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

—Frederick Douglass” — 1 person liked it

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They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group

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