Higher Education Black History Month Handouts

This unit bundle is composed of four highly engaging, primary based, interactive Slide Presentations, and activities-- designed to have students critically explore the period of Reconstruction/Jim Crow.

LESSON ONE: Reconstruction Era [Intro]

Includes:

• 45 Slide Presentation & Guided Notes Handout
• POV Freedmen Scenario Activity

LESSON ONE will have students examine;

• the different ways in which newly freed slaves expressed their emancipation
• the POV of a Freedmen (POV Activity). Students will respond and debate four questions central to this time period from a Freedman's perspective;

1. Now that the Civil War is over, who should own and control the plantations?
2. What do you propose should happen to the ex-Confederate leaders?
3. Who should be allowed to vote in the new South? Everyone? Only formerly enslaved people? Only those who were loyal to the United States during the war? Women?
4. How will African Americans be protected from the revenge of the defeated soldiers and from the plantation owners?
5. What conditions should be put on the Southern states before they are allowed to return to the Union?

LESSON TWO: The Pursuit to Vote

Includes:

• 48 Slide Presentation & Guided Notes Handout
• Black Codes Scenarios Matching Game
• Louisiana State Literacy Test

LESSON TWO will have students examine;

• the Black Codes (Matching Game included)
• Three Reconstruction Plans
• the POV of a Freedmen in regards to the different obstacles they faced in their pursuit to vote (Inequality of land, the Grandfather Clause, Literacy Test, Poll Tax, Intimidation & Violence)

LESSON THREE: The Ku Klux Klan (Comparing the Past to Today)

Includes:

• 34 Slide Presentation & Guided Notes Handout
• Venn Diagram- 'Comparing White Supremacy of the Past with Today'
• Primary Source Reading- 'C.P. Ellis Why I Quit the Klan'

LESSON THREE will have students examine;

• the underlying roots from which the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) came to exist in America
• the organization's primary tactics of using intimidation & fear in fighting against social equality, and why many poor whites were recruited to join the KKK organization.
• & compare/contrast the circumstances & social conditions of two former white supremacist leaders (one who lived during the era of Jim Crow, and the other of present day).

LESSON FOUR: Jim Crow Laws

Includes:

• 38 Slide Slide Presentation & Guided Notes Handout
• A Tale of Two Schools' Supplementary Reading Comprehension Activity
• 'Freedom Song' Movie Handout

LESSON FOUR will have students examine;

• the period of the Jim Crow era, with a focus on the segregation of schools.
• the implications of monumental Supreme Court decisions of 'Plessy v. Ferguson', and 'Brown V. Board of Education'.

Choice of three supplementary activities; 

• The 1st Optional Activity will have students analyze four political cartoons. Students will identify whether the author was FOR or AGAINST the Jim Crow Laws, & describe supportive details from the cartoon on their POLITICAL CARTOON HANDOUT.

• The 2nd Optional Activity will have students critically read a primary source article titled ‘A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS’, and respond to text dependent questions in their ‘TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS QUESTIONS HANDOUT. The teacher can do a read-aloud, OR students can read independently. Class discussion is encouraged.

• The 3rd Optional Activity will have students analyze a film titled ‘FREEDOM SONG’. Students will apply their knowledge from their guided notes, and respond to open-ended questions in their FREEDOM SONG HANDOUT.

This highly engaging, primary based, interactive Slide Presentation will have students examine; the underlying roots from which the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) came to exist in America, the organization's primary tactics of using intimidation & fear in fighting against social equality, and why many poor whites were recruited to join the KKK organization. Students will delve deeper by comparing the circumstances and social conditions of two former KKK leaders (one who lived during the era of Jim Crow, and the other of present day).

Class discussion, and critical thinking is promoted throughout the entire lesson.

Materials Include:

• Slide Presentation & Guided Notes Handout
• Venn Diagram- 'Comparing White Supremacy of the Past with Today'
• Primary Source Reading- 'C.P. Ellis Why I Quit the Klan'
• Teacher Answer Key Included

*All THREE lessons (Era of Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan, & Jim Crow) is available in the BUNDLE for a discounted %.