Overview

As actions were taken to curb freedoms and rights achieved by African Americans after the Civil War, African-American leaders spoke out and took action regarding these changes. This lesson focuses on the differing opinions and recommendations of these leaders.

Curriculum Standards

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

This should take about seven to ten class periods.

Materials Needed

• PBS video, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program One: Promises Betrayed (1865-1896)
• Textbooks, encyclopedias, and Internet access
• Jimcrowhistory.org Gateway
• Jimcrowhistory.org Biographies

Anticipatory Set
Ask students what they would do if they were leaders of the class at school and the school began taking away privileges the students had. How would they feel? How would they respond? What suggestions would they, as leaders, have for their fellow students. Tell students this is what the African-American leaders of Jim Crow America faced as the United States moved out of Reconstruction in the late 1870s.

Procedures

1. Divide students into groups of three.
2. View the PBS video The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Program One: Promises Betrayed (1865-1896).
3. Students will research the following African-American leaders of Black America after the Civil War ended. Students will focus on who each was, what each did, and how each felt about the reduction in freedoms and rights African Americans were facing. Students will also research what actions each person felt was needed to deal with the reduction in rights and freedoms.
   
   Students will research these individuals:



• Frederick Douglass
• E.J. Waring
• Booker T. Washington
• Isaiah Montgomery
• W.E.B. Du Bois
• Ida B. Wells
• Charlotte Hawkins Brown
• Charles Patton
• John Hope
• Others determined by the teacher

Each student in the group will research three of the people listed above. Students should take detailed notes of the three people they are researching.


4. Students will share their research with the others in their group. Students need to take notes on the people they didn't research, based on what their group members are reporting to them.
5. The teacher will assign each student to represent one of the people they researched. The student will then prepare to represent his/her individual in a talk show format. Students will need to know their person's viewpoints, attitudes, and recommendations regarding the changes for African Americans between 1865-1915.
6. All students will develop at least five questions that will be asked to the students who are representing the leaders of Black America. The questions should focus on what these leaders would recommend, how they felt, and what they thought about the state of affairs in the United States for African Americans between 1865-1915.
7. Assign students into groups of nine people. Each group will have a member representing one of the people they researched. Students need to be able to accurately answer the questions their classmates have written for them. Each group of nine people will form the panel of the talk show. Each group should have an opportunity to meet and discuss their people before the talk show begins.
8. The teacher may want to act as the host or hostess for the show. Teachers may allow other students to do this also, possibly for additional credit.

Assessment

1. Individual Grade 40%

• Assess how accurately each student represented his/her leader
• Assess how smoothly each person handled the questions asked of them

2. Group Grade 40%

• Assess how smoothly the group functioned as a whole
• Assess how prepared the group was for the questions they were asked
• Assess how accurately the group represented their leaders

3. Questions 20%

Assess the quality of the questions each student wrote for the talk shows of other members of the class.

Mike Koren teaches sixth grade Social Studies in Fox Point, Wisconsin. Fox Point is a suburb of Milwaukee.

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