Table of Contents
How to Use This Product . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Advertisement Against the Freedmen’s
Bureau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43–46
The Freedmen’s Bureau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Bureau Agents Wanted!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Advertisement Against the
Freedmen’s Bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Introduction to Primary Sources . . . . 5
Activities Using Primary Sources . . . 15
Photographs
Special Field Order No. 15 . . . . . . . . . . .47–50
Promised Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Promised Lands Letter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Special Field Order No. 15 . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Atlanta, Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15–16
A Major Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
The Radical Republicans Massacre
at New Orleans, 1866 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17–18
Republicans and Democrats . . . . . . . . . . .17
White Supremacy Advertisement . . . . . . .51–54
White Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
An Opposing Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
White Supremacy Advertisement . . . . . . .54
Presidential Campaign, 1864 . . . . . . . . .19–20
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Versus
Johnson’s Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Migration Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55–58
The Great Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Mapping the Great Migration . . . . . . . . . .57
Migration Poster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
The Fifteenth Amendment . . . . . . . . . . . .21–22
Congressional Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . .21
Solution of the Labor Question in
the South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23–24
Carpetbaggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896. . . . . . . . . . . . .59–62
Jim Crow Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Separate but Equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896. . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Cotton Plantation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25–26
Sharecropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Hiram Rhoades Revels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27–28
African Americans Take Office . . . . . . . .27
Document-Based Assessments . . . . . . 63
Sherman’s Total Warfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Wanted! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
A Nation in Mourning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Keeping the Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Fighting the Freedmen’s Bureau . . . . . . . . . .67
Sharecropper at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
A Sharecropper’s Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Freedmen’s Bureau School . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
The First Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
The Atlanta Compromise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Separate but Equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Tuskegee Institute Laboratory . . . . . . . . .29–30
Booker T. Washington and the
Tuskegee Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Primary Sources
Harper’s Weekly, Scene in the House . . .31–34
The Thirteenth Amendment. . . . . . . . . . . .31
A Life List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Harper’s Weekly, Scene in the House. . . .34
Courier—Extra Reports Lincoln’s
Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35–38
Lincoln’s Assassination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
What Might Have Been . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Courier—Extra Reports Lincoln’s
Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
About Your CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Suggested Literature and Websites . . . . . . . .77
Document-Based Assessment
Rubric Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction
and How It Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39–42
Andrew Johnson Becomes President. . . . .39
Andrew Johnson’s Epitaph . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction
and How It Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
2
© Teacher Created Materials
Introduction to Primary Sources
“My Darling Sheik . . .”
So opens a letter dated August 31, 1927, from Catherine Borup to her paramour, Anthony DiLieto. A
native of the Bronx, 24-year-old Borup was the daughter of Irish and Danish immigrants, while trolleycar driver DiLieto, aged 27 and also from New York, was a first-generation American of Italian stock.
Borup was away from her “Darling Sheik” and used pen and paper to express her feelings of loneliness
at their separation.
The sentiment of the letter from Borup to DiLieto evokes a kind of vintage language from the time
period. Clearly the reference to the “Sheik” refers to silent screen star Rudolf Valentino, the Brad
Pitt of his day. There is a discussion about train schedules and a potential rendezvous. But so what?
What’s the big deal about a letter between two anonymous lovers of the Roaring 20s? Well, they
were my maternal grandparents, and upon the 1986 death of my grandfather, Anthony DiLieto, their
letters were turned over to me for my care. Since then, I have occasionally shared these letters with
my students when we are studying the 1920s. When I read the aforementioned letters to my students, I
gently slip each one out of its original envelope, complete with a two-cent stamp, and the 1920s speak
to us across a chasm of more than 80 years.
Primary sources are a powerful learning and teaching device that provide students, teachers, and
scholars with a window to the past unlike any other kind of resource. In some ways, just about
everything around us can be deemed a primary source. A primary source is any documentation of an
event from a person who actually participated in the event. Such sources give us a firsthand look at the
past.
At our school, students compile a slide show for the senior prom that is really a visual record of their
four years of high school. Like the letters from my grandparents, these documents help the students
define who they are and provide us direction for the future.
I have a sign on the podium in my classroom that has a quote from an anonymous British source. The
quote reads, “A present tense culture that disdains the past has no future.” Let’s consider what might
happen with the Senior Prom Slide Show should it be analyzed and interpreted by a historian 100 years
from now. Not only would the images speak about our school at a particular time and place, but in a
broader sense it would provide historians with a glimpse into life in the United States from the year
2010, offering a kind of global appreciation of trends and change over time. I like to point out to my
students that fashion can also be a primary source. My students and I chuckle together when I relate
the story of the kinds of tuxedos my peers and I wore to our proms in the 1970s—pastels and polyester.
With an array of primary sources at your disposal, you can help connect students to the past in ways
that are unimaginable. “The past,” William Faulkner once wrote, “is not dead. It isn’t even the
past.” So your teaching, through use of primary source materials, will not only enrich your students’
understanding and give the past meaning, but it will also enrich your repertoire of teaching tools by
providing relevance and meaning. With primary sources at your side, you can easily answer the oft
heard query, “So what?” that comes from those students chasing away the “I hate history” blues.
© Teacher Created Materials
5
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
Introduction to Primary Sources
Where do you begin? Let me help you. Much of the material presented here is based on the important
groundwork on teaching with primary sources developed by the Education Staff of the National
Archives and Records Administration (http://www.archives.gov/education/index.html). In addition,
keep in mind that using primary sources helps to create a greater sense of participatory democracy
in the United States. This is particularly true when you are working with documents that are related
to the United States government, such as the kind housed in repositories like the National Archives
and Records Administration or the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov). The pages in this
introduction are reproduced on the CD as student activity pages that you can print and distribute to your
students (folder name: Lesson Support Files).
To get your students warmed up to the idea of using primary source material, consider doing the
following exercise with your class shortly after the school year begins. As a homework assignment,
direct your students, with the help of a family member or adult who is close to them, to look through
souvenirs of their lives that have been saved as they have grown. These might include photographs,
letters, diaries, newspaper clippings, birth certificates, report cards, library cards, or social security
cards. Before bringing their selected documents to class, have students respond to the following
questions as a warm-up to the activity that you will lead them through the next day in class: What do
the documents have to do with the students? What do the documents say about the students’ lives? and
What are the sources of the documents?
During the follow-up class, have each student share with the class his or her selected document. As
each student presents his or her document, he or she should provide answers to the following questions:
What type of document is this? What is the date of the document? How was the document saved, and
who saved it? Who created the document? and How does the document relate to the student and the
class?
Next, have students record for their documents and the documents of their classmates, their responses
to the following questions: What does the existence of the document say about whoever created it?
What does the existence of the document say about whoever saved it? and What does the existence of
the document say about life in this era?
Once you have prepped your students with this strategy, you will be well on your way to introducing
them to the work of historians as they make valid inquires into the past. Reproducible student pages
for this activity are provided on the CD in the folder entitled Lesson Support Files (intro.pdf).
No matter how you use primary sources, you will find that they will invigorate your classroom,
engage your students, and lead to student achievement. Effective use of primary sources can help
you to challenge your students to question their assumptions about the past. Primary sources breathe
life into one of the most exciting disciplines of all—history—because they reflect individual human
spirit through the ages. There is a myriad of ways you can utilize primary sources in your teaching
repertoires. Let the adventure begin!
This introduction (pages 5–14) was written and compiled by James A. Percoco. Percoco teaches
history at West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia. He has received numerous awards for
his work in the field of education. He was selected as a member of the USA Today’s All-USA Teacher
Team in 1998, and he was named Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year at the 1993 Walt
Disney Company American Teacher Awards. He has authored three books, A Passion for the Past:
Creative Teaching of U.S. History (Heinemann, 1998), Divided We Stand: Teaching About Conflict in
U.S. History (Heinemann, 2001), and Summers with Lincoln (Fordham University Press, 2008).
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
6
© Teacher Created Materials
Using Primary Sources
Tuskegee Institute Laboratory
Booker T. Washington and the
Tuskegee Institute
Standard/Objective
• Students will relate such factors as physical endowment and capabilities, learning, motivation,
personality, perception, and behavior to individual development (NCSS).
• Students will create ad campaigns to promote the ideas of either Booker T. Washington or
W.E.B. DuBois.
Materials
Copies of both sides of the Tuskegee Institute Laboratory photograph card; Copies of the historical
background information (page 30); Copies of Another View: W.E.B. DuBois (webdubois.pdf); Chart
paper or a dry-erase board; Art supplies, including poster board and markers
Discussion Questions
• Study the setting of this photo carefully. What kind of a place is this?
• What are the people in this photograph doing?
• Describe the man in the center of the photo.
Using the Primary Source
Display the Tuskegee Institute Laboratory photograph card. Ask students the discussion questions
above. After students have shared their observations, explain that this is a photograph of a science
laboratory at Tuskegee Institute, a college for African Americans founded by Booker T. Washington in
1881. Booker T. Washington is the tall man in the center of the photo.
Distribute copies of the historical background information (page 30). Have students read the
information. Next, distribute copies of Another View: W.E.B. DuBois (webdubois.pdf). Make a Tchart on the board or overhead. Label one side of the chart Booker T. Washington, and label the other
side W.E.B. DuBois. As a class, organize the facts from the article on the chart.
Divide the class into small groups of two to four students. Assign Booker T. Washington to half of the
groups and W.E.B. DuBois to the other half. Explain to students that they are now either “Bookerites”
or members of DuBois’ Niagara Movement. They must create campaigns, similar to modern-day
political campaigns, to win more supporters for their leaders. Groups will each create one or more of
the following: a slogan that summarizes the man’s views in a short phrase; a chant or cheer that states
the man’s views in a catchy rhyme; or a poster that explains the views in a visually-appealing way.
As a final activity, assign various activities from the back of the photograph card.
Extension Idea
Have students write and produce television commercials to sell the views of Booker T. Washington or
W.E.B. DuBois to the audience.
© Teacher Created Materials
29
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
Using Primary Sources
Tuskegee Institute Laboratory
Booker T. Washington and the
Tuskegee Institute (cont.)
Historical Background Information
After the Civil War, freed slaves were trying to find their places in American society.
There were many ideas about how to do this. Booker T. Washington, an African
American teacher and leader, thought education was the answer.
In the South, it had been a crime to teach slaves to read and write. Most former
slaves could not write their own names, read simple signs, or understand labor
contracts. He thought uneducated people would not know how to use their civil
rights. He wanted former slaves to go to school first. Then, they could tackle the
issue of equal rights.
Washington was a man born with a love of learning. As a young slave, one of his
chores was to carry the books of his master’s children to school for them. From the
first moment he looked through the schoolhouse window, he was amazed. He viewed
the school as a paradise.
It took years for Washington to get into such a paradise. The Civil War ended when
he was nine years of age. He went to work with his stepfather in a hot, dirty salt
furnace from dawn to dusk. He knew education was his only chance to escape such
a life. But his family could not afford for him to quit his job to attend school. So, he
studied late at night by candlelight and taught himself to read. Later, he went to night
classes at a local freedmen’s school.
At age 16, Washington was accepted at Hampton Agricultural and Normal Institute.
He was so determined to continue learning that he walked 500 miles to the college.
When he arrived, he had to work as a janitor to pay for his classes. He was an
outstanding student. He became a teacher and then a college professor.
In 1881, Washington got a job as principal of Tuskegee (tuhs-KEE-gee) Institute in
Alabama. It was a new college for African Americans. When he arrived at his new
job, the school building had not even been built. He had to start from scratch.
Washington based the school on practical skills that were useful in the rural South.
There were classes in teaching, farming, wagon building, printing, brick making,
blacksmithing, and other trades. He also taught students to take pride in themselves.
He made sure students brushed their teeth, combed their hair, and dressed neatly.
Washington believed he was grooming his students to fit into white society.
Washington believed that by learning these skills, African Americans would earn
their civil rights. Many people, both black and white, agreed with Washington. His
supporters were called “Bookerites.”
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
30
© Teacher Created Materials
i3549
Tuskegee Institute Laboratory
Historical Background Information
After the Civil War, freed slaves were trying to find their places in American society. Two men emerged
as leaders of this cause: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois (doo-BOYZ). Both men believed
that black people deserved the same rights as white people. But, they had very different ideas about
how to get those rights. Washington thought education was the answer. He founded the Tuskegee
(tuhs-KEE-gee) Institute to help African American students fit into white Southern society. DuBois
thought protest was the answer. He started the radical Niagara (nahy-AG-ruh) Movement to fight for the
rights of African Americans.
Analyzing History
Historical Writing
Knowledge
If you were in this photo, what would you see taking place
around you? Make a list of these things.
Fiction
Imagine that you are a young
African American student in 1890.
You want to further your education
at the Tuskegee Institute. Write
a short essay explaining why you
believe attending this school could
change your life.
Comprehension
Write a short advertisement for a magazine that explains why
the Tuskegee Institute is special.
Application
Write a half-page letter to Booker T. Washington asking
for a teaching job at the Tuskegee Institute. Describe your
education, experiences, and special talents to show how you
are a good fit for this school.
Analysis
What if W.E.B. DuBois had been the founder of the Tuskegee
Institute? How would the school have been different? Make a
chart that compares and contrasts the two models of education.
Synthesis
Imagine what kind of school Booker T. Washington and
W.E.B. DuBois would have designed if they had worked
together. Write a list of at least 10 of the classes that would
have been offered at this school.
Nonfiction
Design a brochure to tell interested
students about the Tuskegee
Institute. Include facts about these
topics: school location, classes,
places to live, ways to pay, and the
values taught there.
History Challenge
Find out if the Tuskegee Institute
still exists. If so, what is it like
today?
Evaluation
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois had two different
ideas about schools for African Americans. Discuss the ideas
of both leaders with a classmate. Decide whom you agree
with the most.
© Teacher Created Materials
#12250 (i3549)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
Using Primary Sources
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction and How It Works
Name ______________________________________________________
Andrew Johnson’s Epitaph
Background Information
Andrew Johnson was not a man who followed the crowd. He had his own ideas about government.
And, he did not seem to care what anyone else thought. People even called him “King Andy.” His
actions got him into deep trouble. Today, we remember him as the first president to be impeached.
Activity
Directions: Write a two- to four-line epitaph for President Andrew Johnson. An epitaph is a short
poem or description on a gravestone. The tone of an epitaph can be serious or funny. Rhyming is
optional. The challenge is to summarize a person’s identity in a few lines. Take your time and choose
your words carefully!
Challenge
Find out what Andrew Johnson’s tombstone really says.
© Teacher Created Materials
41
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
Using Primary Sources
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction and How It Works
Source: The Granger Collection, New York
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction
and How It Works
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
42
© Teacher Created Materials
Document-Based Assessments
Name ______________________________________________________
Freedmen’s Bureau School
Source: The Library of Congress
Directions: Answer the following questions about this illustration.
1. Make three observations about the teachers and students in this illustration.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. This school appears to have many students of all different ages. Why do you think that is?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
3. Describe three ways the Freedmen’s Bureau helped people during Reconstruction.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
#12250 (i3550)—Primary Sources: Reconstruction
70
© Teacher Created Materials