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2nd Grade Lesson Units

• Paving the Way to Freedom: History; Civics and Government
  Unit Overview: At the completion of this unit, students will be able to identify, compare, and analyze the journey of the enslaved people to freedom in South Carolina through responding/explaining/reflecting in writing, completing graphic organizers, and accurately completing activities and assessments that accompany this unit.

• Stories of Courage in Beaufort, SC:  2.CG.2, 2.H.1, 2.H.2, 2.H.3
  (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Unit Overview:  Students will employ the historical thinking skills of comparison, cause and effect, continuities and changes, and sourcing to study the diversity of the United States with a focus on Beaufort County. Beaufort, South Carolina, was an important place during the Antebellum period, Civil War/Reconstruction and post Reconstruction eras, where Robert Smalls and Harriet Tubman took action. Communities change over time, and it is important to remember the history and the people who lived there so we understand who we are today.  We will use primary and secondary sources (photographs, documents, illustrations) to learn about Robert Smalls and Harriet Tubman. Students will learn how Robert Smalls and Harriet Tubman demonstrated courage, leadership, and service to others, so they can recognize these qualities in themselves and their communities.

• Thank You, Mr. Gantt! 50 Acres and a School:  Standard 1: 2.H.1, 2.H.3, 2.H.4; Standard 4: 2.CG.2
  (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Unit Overview: This unit introduces students to the work of historians through the life of Hastings Gantt and the history of his land. Students use the 1870 Agricultural Census, land records, newspaper evidence, and The Honorable Hastings Gantt: 50 Acres & A School resource guide to study how Gantt used land for farming, independence, education, and community progress. The unit ends with an evidence-based timeline showing how Gantt's land use changed over time and supported Penn School.
  
  

4th Grade Lesson Units

• Emancipation: Together Again to Create the New South: 4.5.CE
  Unit Overview: The students will be able to identify the causes and effects  of the Emancipation Proclamation and the creation of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Additionally, they will be able to describe how the background of different groups impacted the creation of federal laws, as well as to  be able to understand what happened at Camp Saxton in Beaufort, SC.

• Leadership, Land, and Legacy: The Hidden History of General Robert Smalls and Michael C. Riley: 
  4.5.CE,  4.5.P, 4.5.CC (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Unit Overview: Students will explore how Robert Smalls’ and Michael C. Riley's courage, leadership, land ownership, and political service exemplified both the new opportunities and persistent challenges faced by African Americans during Reconstruction. Through this investigation, they will learn how both men had a positive impact on the broader social and political changes in post–Civil War America, especially in Beaufort, South Carolina.
  
  

• Reconstruction Emancipation Celebration Through Music:  4.5.CC
  Unit Overview: Students will be able to… 

  • • Identify the impact of economic, political, and social events on the African American experience throughout Reconstruction.

    • Evaluate the impact of economic, political, and social events on the African American experience throughout Reconstruction.
      
      

• The Study of Reconstruction: 4.5.CC
  Unit Overview:
  At the conclusion of the lesson unit, students will be able to do the following:

  • • Identify the impact of economic, political, and social events that took place during Reconstruction. 

    • Evaluate the impact of the economic, political, and social events that took place during Reconstruction.
      
      

• What’s Next? Building a New South during the Reconstruction Era: 4.5.CC, 4.5.CX, 4.5.P
  Unit Overview: The students will be able to identify key economic, political, and social events that impacted the African American experience during the Reconstruction era.

7th Grade Lesson Units

• African Americans and Land Ownership During the Reconstruction Era: 7.5.3. HS, 7.5.4. HS
  ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Unit Overview: Students will investigate how geography, Reconstruction policies, land ownership, and migration shaped African American communities in Beaufort and the surrounding Sea Islands. Through historical documents, maps, land records, demographic data, and case studies, students will analyze how access to land influenced freedom, wealth, identity, and community development, and examine the lasting impact of these events today.

• Land, Labor, and Reconstruction: Exploring Newberry County Through Geography:  7.5.5.HS
  ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Unit Overview:  Students investigate how geography influenced Reconstruction in Newberry County following the Civil War. Using historical maps, the Newberry County Parcel Mapper, Freedmen's Bureau labor contracts, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, and other primary sources, students examine how land ownership, labor, and community development changed over time. Students compare historical and modern maps, analyze primary sources, and explain how geography shaped economic opportunities and inequalities during Reconstruction.
  
  

• Reshaping the South- A Case Study of Beaufort During Reconstruction: 7.5.3 HS, 7.5.5 HS
  Unit Overview: Students will look at how historical locations changed over time have been divided and controlled in Beaufort by different cultural groups throughout the 19th century. Students will also use inquiry to look at the distribution and pattern of populations within Beaufort have changed over time due to economic, environmental and politics.
  
  

• Ringing the Bell: The Voices of Beaufort, South Carolina during Reconstruction: 7.5.3 HS, 7.5.4.HS 
  Unit Overview: Students will be able to explain:

  • • The key events and people who shaped the experiences of Beaufort, South Carolina, during the Reconstruction Era.

    • What were the experiences and perspectives of African Americans in Beaufort, South Carolina, during the Reconstruction Era, and how their voices and actions contributed to social and political changes in the Beaufort community?

    • How did the political dynamics in Beaufort, South Carolina, during Reconstruction impact the lives of African Americans and whites, and how did this influence the social and political changes in the community?
      
      

• We Are Not Going Anywhere!: The Gullah Geechee People: 7.5.3 HS, 7.5.4.HS
  Unit Overview: Students will be able to explain:

• • • How did the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Gullah people’s knowledge of rice cultivation influence the culture of Beaufort, South Carolina?

    • What geographic and environmental factors influenced the settlement of the Gullah people in Beaufort, South Carolina?

    • What impact did the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era have on “The Port Royal Experiment” of the Gullah Geechee people in Beaufort, South Carolina?

8th Grade Lesson Units

• Battle for the Ballot: 8.3.P, 8.4.CC, 8.4.E, 8.5.CX, 8.5.CC, 8.5.E
  Unit Overview: By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

  • • When researching a historical topic, read primary and secondary sources and differentiate relevant and essential information.

    • Recognize, compare, contrast, and evaluate different perspectives in historical texts.

    • Explain the contexts, changes, and continuities of the right to vote from the Civil War to the mid-1960s.
      
      

• Faces of Courage: 8.3 E, 8.3.P, 8.4 CC, 8.4 CX, 8.4 E
  Unit Overview: This unit aims to highlight the women, men, and organizations that showed unyielding courage during the Reconstruction period (1861-1900) and enable the students to gain an understanding of the continued fight for freedom, citizenship, and democracy that existed in the historic Beaufort area for African Americans during this period. Numerous activities, including creative writing, creation of artistic pieces based upon informational text, ability to analyze primary and secondary sources, and inquiry-led discussions and questions, should gauge mastery of content.
  
  

• Freedom Promised, Freedom Delayed: Reconstruction Through Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule: 8.3 P
  (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Unit Overview:  This unit uses "Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule" as the anchor text to help students understand the Reconstruction Era in South Carolina. The story follows Pascal, Gideon, and Nelly — three formerly enslaved children — as they leave a plantation, claim land, attend school, survive violence, and ultimately lose everything when President Andrew Johnson overturns Sherman's promise of land. Their story makes Reconstruction personal and easy for students to connect with. By the end of the unit, students will have a better understanding of both the promise and the failure of Reconstruction — and why its legacy still matters today.
  
  

• Freedom Through Faith:  Churches in Beaufort, SC During Reconstruction: 8.5.CO, 8.5.CC, 8.5.E
  Unit Overview:  Students will understand the influence of churches in Beaufort, SC, during the Reconstruction Era by examining the history and significance of seven local churches:  First African Baptist Church, Grand Army of the Republic, Tabernacle Baptist Church, Baptist Church of Beaufort, Brick Baptist Church, and Coffin Point Praise House.

• Mitchelville: 8.4.CX, 8.4.CC, 8.3.CE
  Unit Overview:  As the nation expanded, regional differences were exacerbated creating sectionalism threatening South Carolina’s identity and American unity. South Carolina struggled to maintain its unique culture and economy throughout the Reconstruction Era. In this unit, students will examine historic Mitchelville and its unique Gullah community. 

  • • Lesson 1 - Mitchelville: The First Self-Governed Community for Formerly Enslaved People

    • Lesson 2 - Mitchelville: A Rehearsal for Reconstruction
      
      

• Moses in the Lowcountry: 8.3.CE, 8.3.E
  Unit Overview: By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

  • • Read primary and secondary sources and differentiate relevant and essential information when researching a historical topic.

    • Recognize, compare, contrast, and evaluate different perspectives in historical texts.

    • Examine the military role of Harriet Tubman during the Civil War in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
      
      

• Patriots Without a Country: 8.3 E, 8.3 P, 8.4.CC, 8.4.CX, 8.4.E 
  Unit Overview: Students should understand and comprehend the extent to which progress was made toward equality for African Americans in South Carolina in the last half of the 19th century. Numerous activities will gauge content mastery, including comparing and contrasting the accomplishments of individuals creating artistic pieces to present content knowledge, analyzing primary and secondary sources, and inquiry-led discussions and questions.
  
  

• Reconstruction Through the Eyes of Rev. Arthur Waddell 1866: Standard 3: 8.3.CC, 8.3.P,  8.3.E; Standard 4: 8.4.CX, 8.4.CC, 8.4.E (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Students will analyze a Reconstruction-era primary source document and explain the challenges and hopes of African Americans in South Carolina after the Civil War, as they transition from slavery to freedom and the social and economic realities facing formerly enslaved people in South Carolina, including but not limited to issues involving education, religion, labor, economics, and equality.
  
  

• Robert Smalls: “The King of Beaufort County”: 8.4.CC, 8.4E
  Unit Overview:  This unit examines and evaluates the significance of Robert Smalls as a case study of Reconstruction in South Carolina. It touches on two themes from the 2019 South Carolina Social Studies College - and Career - Ready Standards: “Continuity and Change” and “At a Crossroads.” Smalls’s life as an enslaved person and his courageous career fighting for freedom and civil rights illustrate the continuity and change of the African American experience during the antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras. In addition, his life and career came at a crossroads in United States and South Carolina history when the South Carolina Constitution of 1895 postponed the promises of the 14th and 15th amendments for nearly a century.
  
  

• The Battle for Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness: 8.3.P, 8.4 CX, 8.4.CC, 8.4E
  Unit Overview:  Students will be able to successfully analyze the Civil War Amendments (i.e., 13th, 14th, and 15th) as a turning point in the economic, political, and social structures of South Carolina. Students will be able to successfully demonstrate an understanding of South Carolina’s role in and response to the dynamic, economic, political, and social developments in the United States and specifically in Beaufort, SC during the period 1861 - 1901. Students will be able to gather a variety of primary and secondary sources to analyze multiple perspectives of the challenges and changes within Beaufort, South Carolina during the time period 1862-1929.
  
  

• The Impact of the Reconstruction Amendments on African Americans in the South:  8.3.E
  ***(This lesson was designed for 8th grade special needs students)***
  Unit Overview: The purpose of this lesson is to explore the development and implementation of the Reconstruction amendments, how they played a major role in the development of the rights of African Americans, and the unique role they played during the Reconstruction period in South Carolina.
  
  

• The Impact of the Union Army occupation of Beaufort, SC 1861-1868: 8.3.P, 8.3.CC, 8.3.E, 8.4.CC, 8.4E
  Unit Overview:  The students will be able to explain the importance of the impact of large-scale emancipation on the sea islands and the formation of the first African American army unit of formerly enslaved men. Students will be able to understand the impact of Port Royal Sound to Northern troops and how it helped shape Beaufort. Students will be able to distinguish differences from the first South Carolina Colored Troop to later all-black regiments produced in Northern states. Students will be able to examine the reasoning behind the drive for freedmen to join the US Army to fight and explain how this impacted the war.
  
  

• This Land is Your Land, This Land is my Land?: Standard 3: 8.3.CC, 8.3.P,  8.3.E; Standard 4: 8.4.CX, 8.4.CC, 8.4.E (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  Students will analyze a Reconstruction-era primary source document and explain the challenges and hopes of African Americans in South Carolina after the Civil War, as they transition from slavery to freedom and the social and economic realities facing formerly enslaved people in South Carolina, including but not limited to issues involving education, religion, labor, economics, and equality.
  
  

High School Lesson Units

• 40 Areas and a Mule: RH.6-8.3, RH.9-10.9, W.4.7and W.5.7, SL standards
  (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  The concept, "40 Acres and a Mule" originated from Union General William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 in January 1865. It promised formerly enslaved families plots of land along the southeastern coast and a mule to work the land. However, President Andrew Johnson overturned the order later that year, seizing the land and returning it to white southern landowners.
  
  

• Did Reconstruction Reconstruct?: USHC.2.CC, USHC.2.E
  Unit Overview:  Through this unit of four comprehensive lessons the students will investigate the successes and failures of Reconstruction by comparing local Reconstruction in Beaufort South Carolina to the rest of the state and the regional failures of Reconstruction. Lessons use primary and secondary sources to examine significant historical events, people and places in Beaufort, SC. 

  • • Lesson 1 - Port Royal: An Experiment for Freedom

    • Lesson 2 - Robert Smalls’ Contributions

    • Lesson 3 - The Impact of Property Rights in Reconstruction (Sherman's Field Order 15, and 40 Acres and a Mule)

    • Lesson 4 - Did Reconstruction Reconstruct?
      
      

• Operation Freedom: Harriet Tubman’s Raid on the Combahee River: USHC.2.CC, USHC.2.E
  Unit Overview: The purpose of this lesson is to explore Harriet Tubman’s pivotal role in the American Civil War, focusing on her leadership in the Combahee River Raid in 1863. By examining this significant event, students should gain a deeper understanding of Tubman’s contributions to the Union war effort, the strategic importance of the raid, and the broader context of African American participation in the Civil War. The Combahee River Raid was led on June 2, 1863,  by Harriet Tubman, under the command of Union Colonel James Montgomery; she became the first woman to lead a major military operation in the United States when she and 150 African American Union soldiers rescued more than 700 enslaved people in the Combahee Ferry Raid during the Civil War.
  
  

• Reconstruction: Women, Black Codes, Reconstruction Amendments and Restrictions to Natural Rights: USHC.2.CX, USHC.2.E
  Unit Overview:  This unit consists of three lessons to help students understand the efforts made by the federal government to extend natural rights to African Americans recently freed from enslavement. It explores the backlash that occurred in the South as former Confederates and slave owners attempted and were ultimately successful in denying African American rights. This unit also explores the contributions of several key female figures during this time: Susie King Taylor, Frances Rollins, Charlotte Forten, and Laura Towne.

• Lesson 5 - Women and Reconstruction

• Lesson 6 - Black Codes and Reconstruction Amendments 

• Lesson 7 - Restrictions to Natural Rights
  
  

• Reconstruction in Beaufort, SC: Local Leadership and Lasting Impact: High School – U.S. History / SC History (ACE/Mellon Grant 2026)
  This unit explores the Reconstruction Era through the unique lens of Beaufort, South Carolina, one of the first regions in the South to experience emancipation and Reconstruction. Students will investigate how formerly enslaved African Americans navigated the transition from slavery to freedom and how local leaders helped shape political, educational, and social change. Using the lives of Harriet Tubman, Robert Smalls, and Susie King Taylor, students will examine the challenges and opportunities of Reconstruction. Through primary source analysis, collaborative inquiry, historical writing, and place-based learning, students will connect national events to local history and evaluate the lasting impact of Reconstruction on Beaufort and South Carolina.
  
  

• Robert Smalls: Enslavement to War Hero: USHC.2.CC, USHC.2.E  
  Unit Overview: This lesson explores the life and legacy of Robert Smalls, a key figure in American history who played a pivotal role during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. Through this inquiry-based unit, students will understand the historical context by gaining insight into the economic, social, and political conditions of the United States. This unit focuses on themes of economic and continental expansion, natural rights, and federalism. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to develop critical thinking and analytical skills while connecting with Robert Small’s life, including his daring escape, political career, and advocacy for civil rights. 

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• • • Understand the context of Robert Small’s escape and its significance. 

    • Analyze primary sources to explore the motivations and implications of Small’s actions.

    • Connect Smalls’ story to border themes of natural rights and federalism.