Curiosity Cabinet Project on Susan Campbell Bartoleti's They Called Themselves the KKK

1. In what ways does the model reflect your understanding of the story? Refer to and integrate your summary into this response. This response should be no more than one double-spaced page in size 12 font.

“They Called Themselves the KKK” by Susan Campbell Bartoleti is a real-life horror story documenting the creation and reign of white supremacy in the form of an American terrorist group known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).   After the Civil War, many Democrats in the South became frustrated with the way the freedmen were using their new freedoms. As we are currently studying slavery and it’s after effects in social studies I already knew this but the description Bartoleti uses in the book gives a more in depth understanding of the feelings of anger felt by the Southern white public during the Reconstruction Era. “In the last days of fighting, Confederate leaders warned white Southerners that if the South lost the war, the slaves would rule over their former masters and other whites. This false rumor was scare talk, intended to whip white Southerners into a state of great fear and make them hate the Yankees even more, but many white Southerners believed it could happen.” (Page 5) This fear caused acts of terror against the black community to become more common, which inspired fear in this community. As the terror continued to permeate the South, each of the Klan’s attacks became more vicious than it’s predecessor. “I don't reckon there is a colored man in ten miles around me who has got any heart to work. I reckon I have as good a crop as the general run of darkeys, and I declare I can’t get it. I have no heart to work all day and then think at night I will be killed.” (page 82)  Hopelessness became a normal emotion to see on any former slaves face as time went on. We tried to represent that fear and anguish by having a burning church, showing one form of violence that the KKK used and also representing how the dreams of the former slaves were being burned by this newly formed organization.     Former Union General Ulysses S. Grant’s election inspired hope in the fearful hearts of the oppressed minority. After Grant began to make laws and deploying the national guard to get rid of the KKK, on once enslaved people began to unite and work with the government and fight back against the Ku Klux Klan. WE represented this by having a head under the mask that symbolised humans from the world uniting against the KKK. At the end of the book the KKK is not fully eradicated but it is repressed and it shows the theme of how Uniting against fear can save millions. Because the freedmen finally stood up and showed the world how bad it was becoming for them they were finally able to achieve some peace.

2.              Theme - Identify and state an important theme and corresponding symbol represented in your display. Use at least TWO in-text quotations connected to that symbol which show how the author develops that theme.

An important theme in this book is how uniting against fear can save millions and we decided to express this by having a globe painted on the head underneath the KKK mask. The globe represents unity between the world and the head stands for people. When put together it represents the unity between the people of the world. You can see how the government attempts the harmony towards the end of the book, “To the most violent regions, President Grant dispatched U.S. Marshals and federal soldiers to deal with the nightriders. Using his new authority, Grant suspended the writ of habeas corpus in nine South Carolina counties so that suspected Klansmen could be arrested and jailed in mass numbers without a wait for evidence.“ (page 136) President Grant tries to unite the United States by putting a stop to the white supremacist reign in the South beginning with the capture of the Klansmen.    Before President Grant began capturing the Klansmen to unite America, he first inspired the hope of a harmonious USA by simply signing a piece of paper. “In April President Grant signed the Civil Rights Act of 1871, better known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. This new law enforced the Fourteenth Amendment, which had been ratified nearly three years earlier in 1868. The Ku Klux Klan Act made it a federal offense to interfere with an individual's right to vote, hold office, serve on a jury, or enjoy equal protection of the law. “ (page 129) These both try to represent communities from different parts of the world uniting to beat the fear. The different origins connect to the globe and since the people are uniting the head shows people.

3.              Analyzing perspectives - Explain how your display represents at least three different points of view and how those viewpoints connect to one another. Be sure to include at least ONE in-text quotation to support each perspective, for THREE in-text quotations in total.

In our project we attempted  show the perspectives of the black men and women, the KKK and the American Government. These three perspectives are synonymous with a victim that is too scared to fight back, a bully that abuses their power, and a bystander that is afraid that is they fight back they will become the victim.   The black community was frightened into submission in the south after the civil war. “Night after night, they rode through the countryside, searching black homes, beating the occupants, and confiscating all weapons.” (pg 124) With such violent attacks on the freedmen, they were too terrified to fight back. The same treatment that was done to them was applied to the white men and women that sympathised with the former slaves. In the project this was represented by a burning church that we painted black.    The KKK’s perspective is one of power and superiority. They believe themselves above the law and that the people they are torturing and killing are actually deserving of the punishment. “They have dishonored the dignity of the white blood”(pg 66) (about Republican white men)    We tried to represent this in the project by making the mask larger than the church in order to symbolise power and dominance.     The government during this time was shrouded in mistrust, in fear of receiving retribution for siding with the African Americans; therefore, it remained hidden in the KKK’s shadow. “When there were conferences, no one would be able to tell who was an enemy and who was loyal.” (pg. 58)The way this is represented in our project is the head painted to look like the globe to represent a wish for unity and having it hidden under a KKK mask to signify the fear and dominance of the Ku Klux Klan.