Susan Bartoletti Campbell has written a well-researched exploration of the origins of the Ku Klux Klan and the depth of their cruelty and control in They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Organization. After a brief overview of the end of the Civil War, the book provides great detail about the Reconstruction period. Through primary source documents such as letters, photographs and KKK bylaws, we hear from Klan members (both voluntary and coerced), politicians, Klan victims (both black and white) and too-silent bystanders. The first explanation of the KKK’s beginnings comes from the six men that founded the organization. They recollect its beginnings as a social club for self-proclaimed bored men that developed into a citizens’ justice organization out of need. After presenting the KKK’s story of their origins, however, Bartoletti turns to the broader body of evidence of their power and crimes in the Reconstruction Era. The victims’ stories are heart-breaking and leave the most lasting impression. Overall this an excellent work for learning about both the Ku Klux Klan and the Reconstruction.

This history must be taught and remembered. While the heyday of the KKK is over, 1002 hate groups operated in the United States in 2010 (including 6 in Iowa). For that reason, while she is upfront that the book is about the KKK’s origins, I was hoping for more information on its twentieth century reshaping as a wide-ranging hate group that targetted not just African-Americans, but also Jews,  Catholics, union members, and immigrants.

For more information read Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s interview at Chasing Ray or visit her website with details of the challenge to They Called Themselves the KKK (rejected by the Nashville school board) and her visit to a Klan Congress. For more information about hate groups in the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center is at the forefront of fight against hate groups.

One hundred years ago today, 146 people, mostly young immigrant women, died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the largest workplace tragedy in the United States until September 11, 2001. Their deaths were a direct result of the factory owners emphasis on profit over workers. Albert Marrin in Flesh & Blood so Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy ably covers the events leading up to, during and after the fire.

Marrin introduces us to the new wave of Jewish and Italian immigrants and the socioeconomic conditions that led them to view unsafe factory jobs as an improvement. The corruption in the police department, insurance industry and Tammany Hall political machine all contributed to the unsafe working conditions.The 1920 garment workers strike elicited some gains, but many were reneged on just one year later.The shocking greed behind the decision to lock the only exit from the ninth floor led to the indelible images of women leaping to their deaths. The public sorrow and outrage at the women’s deaths was clearly evident in the 400,000 who attended the funeral procession for the unidentified victims.

1911 May Day parade dedicated to the Triangle Fire victims.
From the Bain Collection, Library of Congress, LC-B2- 2193-1.
No known restrictions.

Their clamour was heard and the post-fire commission resulted in 34 changes in the law, such as requiring outward opening fire doors and barring children under fourteen from working in canneries and tenements. The chief investigator Frances Perkins would go on to become Labor Secretary where she would continue to influence labour legislation with the lessons of the Triangle Fire ever in mind. The fire has been referred to as the birth of the New Deal.

While Flesh & Blood so Cheap highlights the benefits of collective bargaining and labour laws, Marrin does not shy away from the problems that unions brought upon themselves in the garment industry after the gangster-laden 1926 strike. The final chapter is an excellent reminder of the poor working conditions that continue to exist in many places today. Just last year, women leapt from windows to their deaths in a garment factory fire in Bangladesh. Marrin, however, is careful to tackle both sides of the issue and present the benefits foreign sweatshops can offer young women alongside the negatives, just as they did for immigrant women in New York 100 years ago.

For more information on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Iowa City Public Library has a number of fiction and nonfiction works including the PBS documentary, Triangle Fire. The companion website includes many primary and related resources such as the Price of Fashion photo gallery.

Since first reading Cod by Marc Kurlansky, I’ve loved microhistories. While microhistories look at world history from the perspective of something small (most frequently a commodity or an animal), my favourite thing about them is the way they pull together so many aspects of history. Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos continue this fine tradition in their teen book, Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science. Aronson and Budhos connect sugar to science, trade, diet, slavery, revolution, and religion (to name a few). In doing so, 10,000 years of history transforms from dry facts learned in textbooks to an engaging narrative. Common myths such as the Trade Triangle are exploded and the cruelty of the sugar plantations exposed in a human as well as factual manner. For bringing sugar’s story to life, it certainly helps that Aronson and Budhos both have family connections to disparate aspects of the sugar trade.

While very readable, Sugar Changed the World is serious history. The notes and sources are particularly in depth. There’s also an encouraging note for teachers explaining how they researched the book and the ability of children and teens to delve into complex history.

If you’ve a taste for microhistories, check out some of these titles at the Iowa City Public Library.