Curriculum
Reconstruction Unit Docs
Unit Guide, Unit Storyboard, Lesson Calendar; Brief Answers for Teachers
Reconstruction Lesson One
Unit Launch; The Freedman's Bureau (Q1)
Students review the unit storyboard and unit guide, and learn the story of the Freedman’s Bureau. They check their understanding by writing a four-sentence story.
Reconstruction Lesson Two
The Story of "Presidential Reconstruction" (Q1)
Students learn the story of President Johnson’s Reconstruction policies, and check their understanding by writing “Because – But – So” Sentences.
Reconstruction Lesson Three
What were white Southerners thinking when they passed "Black Codes"? (Q2)
Students interpret an excerpt from Mississippi’s “Black Code” of 1865.
Reconstruction Lesson Four
What was Thaddeus Stevens thinking when he proposed "Radical Reconstruction"? (Q2)
Students interpret excerpts from an 1865 speech by radical Republican Senator Thaddeus Stevens.
Reconstruction Lesson Five
The Story of Radical Reconstruction (Q1)
Students learn the story of “Radical Reconstruction,” and tell the story back in a four-box storyboard.
Reconstruction Lesson Six
What were supporters of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments thinking? (Q2)
Students interpret two of the “Reconstruction Amendments.”
Reconstruction Lesson Seven
The Story of white Southern resistance to Reconstruction and the Southern Democrats return to power. (Q1)
Students learn the story of white Southern resistance to Reconstruction and the Southern Democrats return to power, and check their understanding by writing “Because – But – So” Sentences.
Reconstruction Lesson Eight
What were the authors of sharecrop contracts thinking? (Q2)
Students interpret excerpts from an 1870 sharecrop contract signed by formerly enslaved people in Alabama.
Reconstruction Lesson Nine
The Story of The Compromise of 1877 (Q1)
Students learn the story of the “Compromise of 1877” and check their understanding by writing a four-sentence story.
Reconstruction Lesson Ten
What changes led to the Republican Party abandoning Reconstruction in 1877? (Q3)
Students act as political consultants, using election maps and other data to determine what factors might explain the Republican decision to abandon Reconstruction as part of the Compromise of 1877.
Reconstruction Lesson Eleven
Was President Hayes right to remove federal troops from the South in 1877? (Q4)
Students judge Hayes’ decision, and consider when they think politicians should compromise on important goals. They test their principles on the case of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.