Why the U.S. Civil War is Important:

This domain will introduce students to an important period in the history of the United States. Students will learn about the controversy over slavery between the North and the South, which eventually led to the U.S. Civil War. They will learn about this war and how the end of the war also meant the end of slavery. “Enslaved Africans” is the term used to describe Africans and the descendants of those Africans taken from Africa against their will and forced into slavery in the United States through the conclusion of the Civil War. The communities of people enslaved in the South established a new culture that combined the homeland of their ancestors and the Americas. Although slave trade was abolished in the United States in January 1808, and at the time of the Civil War very few enslaved Africans had actually been born in Africa, the term “enslaved Africans” is used in place of “slaves” to honor the history of the enslaved people. Students will also learn about some women and men who were significant during this time, including Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Clara Barton, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant.

This domain will lay the foundation for in-depth studies of the U.S. Civil War in later grades. It will also set the stage for the Grade 2 Fighting for a Cause domain, which will be taught later in the school year.