Slave Narratives and Primary Sources on Rights of Freed Slaves
From: Investigating US History
Grade Level: HS, College
Remote Ready: With Modifications
Time: 1 Class Period
Length of Reading: Pages
To begin, students look at political cartoons. Then students look at WPA Slave narratives and answer questions. This requires a little bit of searching because the Library of Congress Links have moved and the recording is broken. But you can find the missing resources with a Google search so we think it's still worthwhile. Next students read 10 primary sources on the debate over the rights of newly freed slaves and answer 3 overarching questions. Finally, students write an editorial assessing Reconstruction.
More Information:
Grade Level:
HS, College: This lesson is meant for high school and college students
This Activity Involves:
Primary Source: This activity utilizes primary sources.
Group Work: This activity calls for working in pairs or groups or having a group discussion.
Writing Exercise: This activity requires a writing assignment such as a discussion post, journal entry, or lengthy response to a prompt. Almost all of our activities require students to answer questions with short responses, but this icon refers to a slightly longer writing assignments.
Image: Nast, Thomas. “Emancipation.” Library of Congress, King & Baird (engraver), S Bott (publisher), J.W. Umpehent (copyright claimant), 1865, https://lccn.loc.gov/2004665360. Accessed: 6.17.2020.
