Reconstruction
Lesson 5: The End of Reconstruction
Time Estimated: 1 day
Objectives:
- Understand the reasons that Reconstruction ended
- Explain the Amnesty Act and the Compromise of 1877
- Understand how the progress made during Reconstruction was reversed by Jim Crow laws, voting restrictions, and Plessy v. Ferguson.
- Understand how Reconstruction ended by examining an exhibit about events that brought Reconstruction to an end
Materials:
- Walking Tour exhibits: Print out materials related to walking tour topics and attach to poster paper. Sample sets of materials included: Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson
- Questions to answer during Walking Tour (see below)
- Images for wrap-up activity: Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/09/0909001r.jpg
March on Washington http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/09/0913001r.jpg
School Desegregation, Little Rock http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/images/br0130bs.jpg
Strategies:
- Walking Tour: Students will visit exhibits around the classroom. Each exhibit will give information about an event that brought Reconstruction to an end or a new law passed after Reconstruction ended. Sites on the walking tour will include: the Amnesty Act, the Compromise of 1877, Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson, and voting restrictions. Each chart will have pictures and written information about the event. As students visit each section of the walking tour, they will answer these questions:
- What was the event/item?
- How did it change life for African Americans?
- How did it contribute to the end of Reconstruction?
- Wrap Up: Display several images from the Civil Rights movement, such as the March on Washington, the bus boycott, school desegregation, and sit-ins. Ask students to consider why the Civil Rights movement was necessary, even though the 14th and 15th Amendments guaranteeing equality and the right to vote had been passed 100 years before.
Differentiation:
In this lesson, students complete a Walking Tour in which they gather information by looking at displays. The questions for this are differentiated, starting with simple fact-gathering questions, and moving up the taxonomy to interpreting information and making connections with other ideas.