When the Impossible Suddenly Became Possible: A Reconstruction Mixer
Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez and Nqobile Mthethwa. 25 pages.
A mixer role play that explores the connections between different social movements during Reconstruction.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery and Resistance
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Reconstructing the South: A Role Play
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve—and sustain—real freedom following the Civil War. It's followed by a chapter from the book Freedom's Unfinished Revolution.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery and Resistance
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Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry Into the Civil War and Reconstruction
Teaching Guide. By American Social History Project with foreword by Eric Foner. 1996.
Primary documents, essays, and questions to teach the untold story of Reconstruction.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Racism & Racial Identity, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy
Teaching Guide. By Facing History and Ourselves. 2015.
A collection of lessons, videos, and primary sources to teach about Reconstruction.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity
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Teaching a People’s History of Abolition and the Civil War
Teaching Guide. Edited by Adam Sanchez. 181 pages. 2019. Rethinking Schools.
Students will discover the real abolition story, one about some of the most significant grassroots social movements in U.S. history.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery and Resistance
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The First Decoration Day
Article. By David W. Blight. 2011.
The people's history of Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina during Reconstruction.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864
Themes: Reconstruction, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: Teaching a People’s History of Reconstruction
Background Reading for Teachers. By Bill Bigelow. 4 pages.
A review of Freedom's Unfinished Revolution, a collection of primary documents for high school on the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery and Resistance
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How My Students Brought Reconstruction to Life
Article. By Amy Trenkle.
One of the teachers who piloted the Make Reconstruction History Visible project with her students shares the process she used.
Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Racism & Racial Identity
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Students Secure Marker for Reconstruction Era Lawyer Albion Tourgée
A group of students at Kent State University-Ashtabula helped secure local recognition for Reconstruction era lawyer and writer Albion Tourgee, including a historical marker at his birthplace.
Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship
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The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words, 1619-1983
Book - Non-fiction. Edited by Milton Meltzer. 1987.
Engaging first person stories and primary documents.
Time Periods: Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876, All US History
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Labor
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Black Power U.S.A.: The Human Side of Reconstruction, 1867-1877
Book – Non-fiction. By Lerone Bennett Jr. 1967. 426 pages.
A bottom-up, student friendly text about the people's history of Reconstruction.
Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights
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Black Reconstruction in America
Book – Non-fiction. By W. E. B. Du Bois. Introduction by David Levering Lewis. 2014. 623 pages.
Originally published in 1935, Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction was the first book to challenge the prevailing racist historical narrative of the era and in sharp, incisive prose, tell the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction from the perspective of African Americans.
Time Periods: 18th Century, 19th Century, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Racism & Racial Identity
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Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877
Book – Non-fiction. By Tonya Bolden. 2014. 138 pages.
One of the few non-fiction texts on Reconstruction aimed at young readers, Cause is a strong alternative to the textbook treatment of the era.
Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Racism & Racial Identity
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Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow
Book - Non-fiction. By Henry Louis Gates Jr. with Tonya Bolden. 2019.
Readers trace the rise and fall of racial equity during Reconstruction as increasingly violent white supremacy and new forms of oppression take hold at the turn of the 20th century.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899, Turn of the Century: 1900 - 1909
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Organizing
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The Era of Reconstruction, 1861-1900
Book – Non-fiction. By National Park Service. 2017. 165 pages.
A theme study on the history of the Reconstruction era.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899, 20th Century
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Racism & Racial Identity
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Freedom’s Shore
Book – Non-fiction. By Russell Duncan. 1986. 192 pages.
Freedom’s Shore tells the incredible story of Tunis Campbell, a Northern abolitionist minister who heads South after the Civil War to help freedpeople in Georgia.
Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Racism & Racial Identity
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A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present
Books - Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2005, with a new introduction by Anthony Arnove in 2015. 784 pages.
Howard Zinn's groundbreaking work on U.S. history. This book details lives and facts rarely included in textbooks—an indispensable teacher and student resource.
Time Periods: Colonization: 1492 - 1764, Revolution & Constitution: 1765 - 1799, Early 19th Century: 1800 - 1849, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899, Turn of the Century: 1900 - 1909, World War I: 1910 - 1919, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944, Cold War: 1945 - 1960, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974, Post-Civil Rights Era: 1975 - 2000, 2001 - Present, All US History
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Economics, Education, Immigration, Imperialism, Labor, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery and Resistance, Social Class, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, Women's History
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Reconstruction: The Promise and Betrayal of Democracy
Book - Non-fiction. By Robert B. Moore with Beryle Banfield. 1983. 40 pages.
Critique and analysis of textbook coverage of the Reconstruction era.
Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: Reconstruction
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Remembering Slavery
Book - Non-fiction and CD. Edited by Ira Berlin, Marc Favreau, and Steven F. Miller. Foreword by Robin D.G. Kelley 2007.
Oral histories of first-person accounts of slavery.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Slavery and Resistance
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A Short History of Reconstruction, Updated Edition
Book - Non-fiction. By Eric Foner. 2015. 352 pages.
A people's history view of the Reconstruction era.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899
Themes: Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery and Resistance
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