Breaking the Bonds 8th Grade
Big Ideas: African Americans and Slavery in Georgia
SS8H2: Students will analyze the colonial period of Georgia’s history.
b. Evaluate the Trustee Period of Georgia’s colonial history, emphasizing the role of the Salzburgers, Highland Scots, malcontents, and the Spanish threat from
Florida.
c. Explain the development of Georgia as a royal colony with regard to land ownership, slavery, government, and the impact of the royal governors.
SS8H5: Students will explain significant factors that affected the development of Georgia as part of the growth of the United States between 1789 and 1840
c. Explain how technological developments, include the cotton gin/ railroads, had impact on Georgia’s growth.
SS8H6: Students will analyze the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Georgia.
a. Explain the importance of key issues and events that led to the Civil War; include slavery, states’ rights, nullification, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of
1850 and the Georgia Platform, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott case, election of 1860, the debate over secession in Georgia, and the role of Alexander
Stephens.
b. State the importance of key events of the Civil War; include Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation…the Union blockade of Georgia’s coast… Sherman’s
March to the Sea…
c. Analyze the impact of Reconstruction on Georgia and other southern states, emphasizing Freedmen’s Bureau; sharecropping and tenant farming;
Reconstruction plans; 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution; Henry McNeal Turner and black legislators; and the Ku Klux Klan.
Essential Questions
What economic developments in Savannah and Georgia caused slavery to develop and increase?
How did slavery change over time in Savannah, and what laws developed to regulate and control the institution?
In what ways did slavery contribute to the development of a Civil War in the United States?
How did Sherman’s March to the Sea impact emancipated slaves and what land policies grew out of this key event?
What was the role of the Freedman’s Bureau after the Civil War and how successful were the Reconstruction amendments?
Essential Topical Understandings Students will understand what economic conditions made slavery develop in the colony of Georgia, and what life was like for
African Americans in the area, both before and after the war. Also, they will know how the states’ rights concept evolved from sectionalism and slavery and,
consequently, led to war between the North and South. Finally, they will learn what legal and military developments in Savannah impacted their lives during the
war and the Reconstruction Period.
Key Vocabulary task labor, gang labor, cotton gin, economics, agriculture, industrialism, nullification, abolitionist, blockade, reconstruction, slave code,
Emancipation Proclamation, royal colony, , Freedmen’s Bureau, 13th amendment, 14th amendment, 15th amendment, Special Field Order No. 15,
Antebellum, Postbellum
Student Outcomes:
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5.
I will know what economic developments in Savannah and Georgia caused slavery to develop and increase?
I will know how slavery changed over time in Savannah, and what laws developed to regulate and control the institution?
I will know the examples of ways that slavery contributed to the development of a Civil War in the United States?
I will know the impact of Sherman’s March to the Sea on emancipated slaves and what land policies grew out of this key event?
I will know the role of the Freedman’s Bureau after the Civil War and be able to discuss the successes and failures of the Reconstruction amendments.
Resources for Background and Pre/Post Activities
 http://schools.bibb.k12.ga.us/Page/27219 Civil War activities, vocabulary, and PowerPoint presentations
 www.brainpop.com (related topics include Civil War and Slavery)
 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/index.html Slavery and the Making of America, a PBS program with videos and lesson plans