In 1972 Wolff earned his B.A. and then his M.A. from Oxford University with First Class Honors in English three years later.
WB T L E
To be continued on the next page.
Lesson 5—Say Yes
WB T L E
The end of Racism.
III. Ku Klux Klan
Koo Klucks Klan also known as KKK: a secret white supremacist organization at various times in American history terroriviolent acts of lynching, shootings and whippings.
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To be continued on the next page.
Lesson 5—Say Yes
I. Author
That period of Wolff’s life is recounted in This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, which was later made into a film.
Part Two
Lesson 5—Say Yes
WB T L E
ENTER
Background Information
I. Author II. Racism III. Ku Klux Klan IV. Jim Crow Laws
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Lesson 5—Say Yes
I. Author
Lesson 5—Say Yes
I. Author
He is the author of the short novel The Barracks Thief, which won the 1985 PEN/Faulkner Award; two collections of short stories, Back in the World (collecting “Say Yes”) and In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, which received the Saint Lawrence Award for fiction in 1982.
He lives with his family in upstate New York and teaches writing at Syracuse University.
From 1964 through 1968, Wolff served as a lieutenant with the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) in Vietnam. He later recounted his wartime experiences in the memoir In the Pharaoh’s Army: Memoirs of the Lost War.
Founded: 1866
Founder: Confederate Civil War veterans
Headquarters: Powderly, Kentucky; Butler, Indiana; Jasper, Texas
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Lesson 5—Say Yes
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The end of Author.
II. Racism
Racism: the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
Tobias Wolff (1945—) was born in Alabama in 1945. His parents divorced when he was a boy. Wolff’s mother retained custody of him. As a child, Wolff traveled with his mother, Rosemary, to the Pacific Northwest, where she remarried. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, young Tobias soon was forced to endure life under his strict and cruel stepfather. His efforts to get away from his stepfather led to his selftransformation.
Lesson 5—Say Yes
III. Ku Klux Klan
Background: The Klan has fragmented into scores of competing factions. Most of these are nominally independent.
Estimated size: no more than a few thousand, organized into slightly more than 100 units
Media: mass mailings, leafletting and the Internet
Strategy: public rallies and protests
Ideology: some Christian fundamentalist beliefs, Christian Identity, white supremacy