This module is designed to introduce students to the history of Native Americans, African Americans, Latinx Americans, and Asian Americans, and women during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Module Outcomes
After completing this module, students will be able to:
Topic 1: Native Americans in the Civil War & Reconstruction
Topic 2: African American Voices in the Civil War & Reconstruction
Topic 3: Women’s Voices in the Civil War & Reconstruction
Topic 4: Latinx and Asian American Voices in the Civil War & Reconstruction
Crash Course US History [CC-BY-SA]
Crash Course Black American History [CC-BY-SA]
Khan Academy, [CC-BY-SA]
Black History in Two Minutes [Licensing/Use Statement]
Ted-Ed [CC-BY-NC-ND]
The American Yawp Textbook [CC-BY-SA]
African American History Textbook [CC-BY-SA]
New World Encyclopedia [CC-BY-SA]
Women & the American Story [New York Historical Society, Use Statement]
The Conversation [CC-BY-ND]
Other
Stanford History Education Group (SHEG)
requires free account to download teaching materials
History Matters (HM)
National Archives: Docs Teach [Public Domain]
Other
Native American Voices
Though most people think only of developments in the South when they hear the word “Reconstruction” in American history, there were many developments in the West that mirrored Reconstruction’s attempt to “remake” the former Confederacy in the image of the urban, industrial, and capitalist North. What kinds of change did the West see? How did these changes affect Native American tribes in the west?
Describe the “Indian Wars” between 1860 and 1880. How did Native Americans resist American expansion and Indian Removal? Where were these wars fought and between whom (the US government and what tribes)? What was at stake? What was the outcome?
How might the violence of the Indian Wars (particularly things like the Sand Creek Massacre) have affected public perception of American Indian policy?
African American Voices
What role did African Americans play in the Civil War?
Some historians have argued that the Emancipation Proclamation was a war strategy, rather than a sincere effort to free enslaved people. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
What did freedom mean to African Americans? How did they express their newfound freedom? What were the successes of the Freedman’s Bureau? What were the limits of this freedom?
In what ways was the impact of the 15th Amendment limited, both by design and by application?
What was the “Reign of Terror” during Reconstruction? How did this violence affect the lives of African Americans in the south?
Why did Reconstruction end in 1877? What factors contributed to the failure of Reconstruction?
Women’s Voices
What roles did women play in the Civil War?
How did the Fourteenth Amendment encourage the women’s suffrage movement in the United States? What were the limits of the Fourteenth Amendment for women?
How did the lives of American women between 1860 and 1880 differ based on region, class, race, and ethnicity?