Developing Understanding Following the Civil War, newly freed African Americans asserted a social, cultural, and political vision that defined and constructed their freedom. They also sought to protect it while combating growing opposition and increased violence. The resulting circumstances transformed the Black experience, and heralded a movement for self-determination and self-expression. Unit 3 recounts the rise and fall of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, mass migration, and black cultural phenomena. Students will understand how African Americans developed various tools to enrich their familial, spiritual, and social lives. Unit 3 also reveals how terrorism and clandestine political dealings effectively weakened black freedom and harkened the rise of what historian Rayford Logan dubbed, the “nadir.”—the moment when the status of Black Americans was at its lowest point. Responses to this “nadir” gave rise to the Black women’s club movement, black nationalism, increased forays into self-determination, and eventually mass migration from the South to the West and North, along with emigration to Africa. Migration inspired a new generation of Black voices who challenged racist attitudes and beliefs and showcased both the accomplishments and resilience of Black people in the United States. It also ignited an evolution on Black perceptions of self-identity and community that reflected a burgeoning arrival of a “New Negro.” The excitement of this self-expression, however, eventually declined with the advent of economic loss in the Great Depression. Unit 3 covers the span of roughly a hundred years, but within that century the Black experience picks up at an incredible pace. It is important that students understand how African Americans developed their viewpoints and thoughts of freedom, their resilience in the face of oppression and violence, and how these issues led to a re-evaluation of their identities. 

Link to video - Soul Train Line