Joe Moore THEY CALLED THEMSELVES THE KKK INTRODUCTION “They Called Themselves the KKK,” was written by Susan Cambell Bartoletti in 2010. In the story, she writes about the birth of the American Terrorist Group, the KKK. In the story, she introduces the reader to people who lived after the Civil War, the time known as the Reconstruction. She gathered the information or the book from a variety of sources: interviews with Klu Klux Klansmen and their victims, congressional testimony, interviews, and historical journals, diaries, and newspapers. Bartoletti did not censor the interviews or newspaper articles and photographs; therefore, some people find the book to be racially offensive. SUMMARY/ANALYSIS When the Civil War was over, white Southerners …show more content…
Numerous Confederate soldiers joined the KKK; therefore, they soon dressed as the Ghost of Confederate Soldiers. At first, they would patrol the roads and crash parties. They eventually realized that the freed black people were terrified of them and used this to control their behavior. They started seeing themselves as a law enforcers rather than law breakers. Their law enforcement was traveling at night and randomly beating people who didn't like the klan. Blacks were beaten, as well as White Republicans who pushed for equality. In the book, Bartoletti writes about educating the blacks and a spiritual aspect of the culture. She tells personal stories of members from the Klan and Black Freedman. She uses their testimonies in order to describe the horror at being threatened at night and not feeling safe at their own homes. She describes the whippings, hanging, and other ways they were killed by the Ku Klux Klan. In 1868, Ulysses S. grant was elected President of the United States. Later, he passed the Ku Klux Klan Act which enabled the government to go into areas in which people didn't feel safe or wasn't living free or equal. Grant had Federal Judges and U.S. Marshalls gather up some of …show more content…
They had court and the Freedman came up with their claims. The Klan was broke up and wasn't allowed to call themselves the KKK for a few years. When Grant left office, the KKK was supposedly punished and disbanded. When Hayes came into office, he promised not to mess with the South. He withdrew the federal troops from the South. In the last chapter entitled, "It Tuck a Long Time," Bartoletti discusses how the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's would be viewed as the "Second Civil War." She states that nearly one hundred years after the Ku Klux Klan was formed, the government passed the Civil Rights Act and Federal Hate Crimes Law. She points out that even today, the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist groups do still exist. At the end Bartoletti gives the history as it continues through time. She includes a little of the Civil Rights Movement and a Timeline that shows the history from the beginning of Civil Rights to the Present. REFLECTION OF HISTORICAL
In the time period of 1860 to 1877, the social and constitutional developments caused a revolutionary change to the social structure of the South, but more so to the constitution. The fight for constitutional amendments became very important to the federal government after the civil war and during the reconstruction era. This caused major backlash from many people in the South, and state governments passed laws such as the Black Codes, which restricted black people’s freedom. As the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed, terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were created to scare african americans away from voting, among other activities. The federal government responded to these retaliations by placing armed forces in the
South Rejection Destroyed the Reconstruction. After the civil war there were efforts sent out to reconstruct the south, and they went horribly wrong. During the civil war the south was totally destroyed. So the government decided to send help to rebuild the south’s economy and tradition.
Chapter 16 Elizabeth Modesto 1A Reconstruction Questions Notes Why did Rapier choose to stay and risk his life? Why is life so hard? • Many things were happening in the South and John Rapier, along with his sons, contributed to this occurrence. o John Rapier was determined to fight for the African American rights although all the signs pointed otherwise.
On Sunday, September 15, 1963, there was an explosion that killed 4 girls and injured 22 others at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama (“Vigilance and Victory”). In spite of the deaths, this act of white supremacy was the one that united the nation to combat segregation and discrimination. The 4 KKK members who had induced such pain and sorrow in many Americans were Thomas Edwin Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry. (“16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, Wikipedia”). These four men intended to slow down the progression of the Civil Rights Movement, but rather sprung it ahead into the creation of the Civil Rights Act which desegregated many public areas.
The KKK was a white nationalized group that included former veterans, which created the first branch of the group. The Klansmen founded in 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee, is now known as the birthplace of the KKK. This group dedicated themselves to a campaign of violence to Republican leaders and voters. The KKK targeted many people based on their race or sexuality , including, Gays, Immigrants, African Americans, and Catholics(KKK history). Jim Crow laws,
C121 Task 3 Part A. Reconstruction changed race relations in the United States as illustrated by white resistance groups, black codes and sharecropping. The freeing of slaves by the thirteenth amendment was a huge step in the right direction. Blacks could now live their lives free and make their own decisions, but things weren’t perfect. White southerners were against Reconstruction and emancipation and many came together to express their resistance. These white resistance groups ranged from small local groups to widespread ones such as The Ku Klux Klan.
The KKK was a group of white planters, merchants, and Democratic politicians. In Colfax, Louisiana, in 1873, armed whites assaulted this town with a small cannon. Hundreds of formers slaves were murdered, along with fifty members of a black militia, even after they surrendered. This was their bloodiest attack. Also, in May, 1866, white mobs burned 12 churches and 4 schools.
The KKK began to grow and become a large problem for innocent people. In 1833 the United States passed a bill called the Force Bill (Carson 1). This made the klan disappear for awhile but did not stop them. Still to this day people are struggling with the Ku Klux
The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 by six veterans of the Confederate Army. Over a period of three hundred years of slavery in America White slave owners built a sophisticated structure to sustain their brutally corrupt and immoral system. They founded “The Klan” to protect the interests of the white popularity. Evolving from the Slave Patrol to the Ku Klux Klan. The first generation was known for its brutal and immoral acts against immigrants and former slaves.
This campaign of terror against the former slaves and other supporting them was able to enforce white supremacy. The members of the Klan were cloaked in robes and hoods to disguise their identity. Their disguise made them able to approach the former slaves without noticing and they threatened, beat, and killed numerous African Americans (“Ku Klux Klan”). They also singled out those who supported the African Americans. They threatened school teachers, ministers, and anyone else who might be in a position to encourage former slaves (“Ku Klux Klan”).
Who killed Reconstruction: The North or South? Following the civil war, the south killed the reconstruction of the United States. (Reconstruction was putting the country back together after the Civil War) There are many reasons why, the south slowed down the reconstruction of the United States, the main reason was freedmen were not seen as equals to the white.
The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.
Bartoletti is a white female born after these incidents in the book happened. She just believed that the K.K.K. is a very bad group, what they did to black people was very wrong and she’s sharing her opinions about
The Ku Klux Klan first emerged in Pulaski, Tennessee following the Civil War. As we know today, the mere mention of the Klan triggers fear as the KKK is known for its various tactics of violence that came in the form if lynchings, murders, and mutilations. Following their emergence, the KKK were quickly symbolized and portrayed as the protectors of the South, following the defeat of the Southern states in the Civil War and the beginning of the period of Reconstruction by the federal government (Gurr, 1989, p. 132). During the 1920s, the KKK achieved its greatest political success and growth outside of the South. During this period, the membership of the Klan heavily expanded to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Oregon, to which the KKK obtained two to two and one-half million members at its apex.
The Ku Klux Klan or KKK has created centuries of fear. They originated in Pulaski, Tennessee. The famous hate group was out to re establish white supremacy. The KKK has influenced local governments and people in power. It has also had an impact on American people and specifically black minorities.