A history of the Ku Klux Klan founded in 1866 by six young men in Pulaski, Tennessee. Describes the brutal activities of this terrorist group against former slaves who tried to exercise their rights as free citizens. Provides personal accounts as well as information from other primary sources. Includes photographs, newspaper and magazine illustrations, and a civil rights timeline from 1863 through 2008.

A note to the reader -- "Bottom rail top" -- "Boys, let us get up a club" -- "I was killed at Chickamauga" -- "Worms would have been eating me now" -- "They say a man ought not to vote" -- "I am going to die on this land" -- "A whole race trying to go to school" -- "They must have somebody to guide them" -- "Forced by force, to use force" -- "The sacredness of the human person" -- Epilogue : "it tuck a long time" -- Civil rights time line.