This unit was created by educators in Michigan, as part of the 2021 cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network. It is designed for facilitation across approximately five days, or five class periods.
Objectives
Students will be able to...
- Describe the legacy and impact of Reconstruction on Black Americans.
- Identify multiple examples of how slavery and the Reconstruction era continue to impact Black Americans today.
- Write a short essay explaining the multiple ways in which slavery and the Reconstruction era continue to impact Black Americans today.
Essential Questions
- What is the legacy of slavery and Reconstruction for Black Americans?
- How does the legacy of slavery and Reconstruction continue to impact the lives of Black Americans today?
Unit Overview
Students will practice reading and understanding primary and secondary sources and will use their “Thinking like a Historian” skills to analyze these sources.
This unit will help students develop a deeper understanding of the impact of slavery and Reconstruction on Black Americans then and now. The themes and ideas covered in The 1619 Project will help students make relevant connections between the experiences of Black Americans during the Reconstruction era and today. Engagement with the project and the essential questions will increase student awareness of systemic issues that continue to impact Black Americans today.
These lessons can be implemented at the end of a Reconstruction unit or a mini-unit connecting Reconstruction, post-Reconstruction, and early 1900s America. They can also be used as a stand-alone mini-unit that can be expanded with new articles, primary sources, or current events. These lessons can also be incorporated into a larger C3 Inquiry unit on the topics.
Performance Task:
Formative:
- Each day students will have questions to answer based on readings or podcasts. They will also present to the class information they learned as well as partake in group and class discussions.
- Students will utilize primary and secondary sources to understand the legacy of Reconstruction, its impact on America, and its impact on Black Americans then and today.
Summative:
- Students will write a short essay explaining the multiple ways in which the legacy of the Reconstruction era continues to impact Black Americans today.
Five-day unit plan for teachers, including pacing, texts and multimedia resources, guiding questions for group discussions, and performance tasks for the unit. Download below, or scroll down to read the complete unit plan.
Facilitation Resources
C3 Standards:
D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes and related consequences.
D2.His.8.9-12. Analyze how current interpretations of the past are limited by the extent to which available historical sources represent perspectives of people at the time.
D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.
Michigan Standards:
P2.4 Use relevant information from multiple credible sources representing a wide range of views, considering the origin, authority, structure, and context, to answer a compelling or supporting question.
8 – U5.3.2 Describe the early responses to the end of the Civil War by describing:
- the policies of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
- the restrictions placed on the rights and opportunities of freedmen, including racial segregation and Black Codes.
8 – U5.3.3 Describe the new role of African-Americans in local, state, and federal government in the years after the Civil War and the national and regional resistance to this change, including the Ku Klux Klan.
8 – U6.2.1 U.S. History Investigation Topic and Issue Analysis, Past and Present – use historical perspectives to analyze issues in the United States from the past and the present; conduct research on a historical issue or topic, identify a connection to a contemporary issue, and present findings (e.g., oral, visual, video, or electronic presentation, persuasive essay, or research paper); include causes and consequences of the historical action and predict possible consequences of the contemporary action.