AP English
Independent Reading Project
The book that I choose to write about is called They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Why I chose this book is because I enjoy reading history and this book relates to history. This book is mainly about how the beginning of the Ku Klux Klan began in Pulaski, Tennessee. It shows how they spread throughout the country and how it created much violence for America.
One thing that I learned form the novel was that it all started by 6 young men in 1866 by the seven words “Boys, let us get up a club”. Once this began they roamed the streets of Pulaski and they created all psychological and physical terror against former slaves who dared to vote, own land, attend school, or worship as they pleased. I found this interesting because this eventually led to a countrywide organization and it all started because of six young men.
Another interesting fact that I learned from this book is that the main reason why the KKK was created was because they wanted to threaten and to test the rights of people and the United States of America’s democracy. They mainly wanted to begin this group because they were angry that the Confederate soldiers lost the war and they wanted to get back at America. Mostly former confederate soldiers were involved in this, until it began to spread all over the south and then later across the country.
Other aspects that I learned from this book was that many people who joined the Ku Klux Klan or any other group did not join because of the hatred, they joined because they felt insecure and they felt a need to belong to something that made them feel powerful or superior. This is one of the main aspects that Bartoletti was talking about how we came to have homegrown terrorism in America and how it began to increase so quickly and rapidy.
The reason why I chose to learn about this subject is because I enjoy reading history and I feel a need
The book that I choose to write about is called They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Why I chose this book is because I enjoy reading history and this book relates to history. This book is mainly about how the beginning of the Ku Klux Klan began in Pulaski, Tennessee. It shows how they spread throughout the country and how it created much violence for America.
One thing that I learned form the novel was that it all started by 6 young men in 1866 by the seven words “Boys, let us get up a club”. Once this began they roamed the streets of Pulaski and they created all psychological and physical terror against former slaves who dared to vote, own land, attend school, or worship as they pleased. I found this interesting because this eventually led to a countrywide organization and it all started because of six young men.
Another interesting fact that I learned from this book is that the main reason why the KKK was created was because they wanted to threaten and to test the rights of people and the United States of America’s democracy. They mainly wanted to begin this group because they were angry that the Confederate soldiers lost the war and they wanted to get back at America. Mostly former confederate soldiers were involved in this, until it began to spread all over the south and then later across the country.
Other aspects that I learned from this book was that many people who joined the Ku Klux Klan or any other group did not join because of the hatred, they joined because they felt insecure and they felt a need to belong to something that made them feel powerful or superior. This is one of the main aspects that Bartoletti was talking about how we came to have homegrown terrorism in America and how it began to increase so quickly and rapidy.
The reason why I chose to learn about this subject is because I enjoy reading history and I feel a need
Bibliography: 1) .http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/482188/They-Called-Themselves-the-KKK-The-Birth-of-an-American-Terrorist-Group-by-Susan-Campbell-Bartol/) 2) http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-they-called-themselves-the-kkk/ 3) http://richiespicks.pbworks.com/w/page/26998657/THEY%20CALLED%20THEMSELVES%20THE%20KKK%3A%20THE%20BIRTH%20OF%20AN%20AMERICAN%20TERRORIST%20GROUP