Unit Description: Regional tensions following the Civil War complicated efforts to heal the nation and redefine the status of African Americans.
Stage 1- Desired Results
Essential Questions:
Enduring Understandings
Students understand that...
Can the Union be saved?
Was Reconstruction a success or a failure?
The U.S. Constitution is a living document and is a major tool to protecting individual's Civil Rights.
Common Core Standards and Performance Indicators:
Unifying Themes:
Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures (MOV)
Development and Transformation of Social Structures (SOC)
Civic Ideals and Practices (CIV)
Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems (ECO)
Social Studies Content Area Standards:
History of the United States and New York
Geography
Economics
Civics, Citizenship, and Government
Social Studies Practices (begins on page 3)
Gathering and Interpreting Evidence
Chronological Reasoning
Comparison and Contextualization
Geographic Reasoning
Economics and Economic Systems
Civic Participation
Common Core Learning Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science,and Technical Subjects (begins on page 76)
Knowledge
Students know that...
8.1a Different approaches toward and policies for Reconstruction highlight the challenges faced in reunifying the nation.
8.1b Freed African Americans created new lives for themselves in the absence of slavery. Constitutional amendments and federal legislation sought to expand the rights and protect the citizenship of African Americans.
8.1c Federal initiatives begin during Reconstruction were challenged on many levels, leading to negative impacts on the lives of African Americans.
Key Terms:
Skills
Students will be able to...
Compare and contrast the differences between Reconstruction under Lincoln's Plan, Johnson's Plan, and congressional (Radical) Reconstruction.
Examine the Reconstruction amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th) in terms of the rights and protections provided to African Americans
Examine the Freedmen's Bureau's purpose and successes.
Examine the effects of sharecropping.
Examine the reasons for the migration of African Americans to the North.
Examine the rise of African Americans in government.
Explore the methods by Southern state governments to affect the lives of African Americans. (Black Codes, Literacy Tests, Poll Taxes)
Explore the reasons for the creation of conservative groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, and the White League.
Examine the ways in which the Federal government failed to follow up on its promises to freed African Americans.
Examine the effects of the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling.
freedmen
Reconstruction
Ten Percent Plan
Freedmen's Bureau
13th - 15th Amendments
black codes
Radicals
impeach
scalawag
carpetbagger
Conservatives
Ku Klux Klan
sharecropper
poll tax
literacy test
grandfather clause
segregation
Jim Crow Laws
Plessy v. Ferguson
Stage 2- Assessment Evidence
Summative Tasks
Formative Tasks
New York State Social Studies Assessment June 2010: DBQ on efforts made to deal with slavery
Source Reliability assignment (Beyond the Bubble)
Ku Klux Klan document activity (Beyond the Bubble)
Students will create a chart identifying the Reconstruction plans proposed during this time period.
Reconstruction: Success or Failure? (Interactive - Docs Teach)
A Former Confederate Officer on Slavery and the Civil War (with questions - Gilder Lehrman)
"I Think" : Page 35. Thomas Nast Cartoon "Worse Than Slavery"
Stage 3- Related Lessons
Lesson Plans and Content
Videos, Documents, and Resources
Structured Academic Controversy (from SHEG): Were African Americans free during Reconstruction? (Provides documents to argue both sides)
What was good and bad about the treatment of the freedmen? (from "I Think", pages 14-16)
The South: Before and After and Plans for Reconstruction (from Civil War and Reconstruction resource book pages 77-78)
Sharecropper Lesson: Students analyze documents to answer the question How accurate is the textbook’s description of sharecropping?. Includes a Sharecropper contract (SHEG)
"I Think" Series (Reconstruction):
Pages 8-11- Defines Reconstruction and the plans. Students can create a chart depicting the differences.
Pages 12-16. Amendments explained.
Pages 17-22. Sharecropping readings and photographs.
Inquiry based unit: Is freedom free?: Did emancipation help or hinder freedom for former slaves?
US History Activity Book -go to pages 85-104 Reconstruction Materials
I Think=US History-activities for Reconstruction topics pp.9-43
Resolution Submitting the Thirteenth Amendment to the States (from 50 Core American Documents Page 302-303)
Transcript of 14th Amendment (Docs Teach)
Transcript of the 15th Amendment (Doc Teach)
Interactive timeline of Reconstruction, with terms and definitions (Gilder Lehrman)
Freedom's Choices: primary sources of ex-slaves after the Civil War (page 80)
Reconstruction and You: students take on different roles in Reconstruction (page 81)