In response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprising, school districts, including Indianapolis, Spokane, and Irvine, are committing to challenging racism. But how will these commitments translate into what students learn about white supremacy and Black resistance?
Yet the achievements and potential of this era are often overshadowed by the violent white supremacist backlash. The story of this grand experiment in interracial democracy is skipped or rushed through in U.S. classrooms.
The open letter to school districts on Reconstruction was signed by renowned scholars like Eric Foner, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Isabel Wilkerson, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Kidada E. Williams, Ibram X. Kendi, Robin D. G. Kelley, Martha S. Jones, and many more.
Take this letter to your school board and ask them to commit to make Black lives matter in the curriculum with increased time and resources on the Reconstruction era.
Let us know what response you receive and how we can help. We'll post examples from school districts across the country.
Reconstruction Lessons
Reconstructing the South:
A Role Play
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve real freedom following the Civil War. It's followed by a chapter from Freedom's Unfinished Revolution on what would happen to the land in the South after slavery ended.
When the Impossible Suddenly Became Possible:
A Reconstruction Mixer
An engaging activity explores the connections between different social movements during Reconstruction.
40 Acres and a Mule:
Role-Playing What Reconstruction Could Have Been
This imaginative role play introduces students to how African American life changed after the Civil War by focusing on the Sea Islands before and during Reconstruction.
It's empowering to know that my people WERE working for change, even back then, even with all the bad things that had happened to them. It makes me think we're stronger than we're given credit for.
---- J. A., high school student, Portland, Oregon
I used the Reconstructing the South lesson in our inaugural African American U.S. History class. Many students had not heard about the Reconstruction era. Having them tell the story and negotiate rights during the role play was the beginning of changing their interpretation of Black history from a deficit mindset to one of advocacy!
---- Molly MacGregor, high school social studies teacher, Portland, Oregon