A Committee of Freedmen on Edisto Island Reveal Their Expectations
Slavery and Abolition
Civil Rights and Citizenship
This letter was written by a group of freedmen to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Land (known as the Freedmen’s Bureau). The freedmen were from Edisto Island, South Carolina, an area that came under Union control early in the war and where formerly enslaved people had been allowed to cultivate the land under the supervision of Union forces after their owners fled. When the freedmen wrote this letter, national policy on the redistribution of lands owned by former Confederates was in flux.
Henry Bram, Ishmael Moultrie, and Yates Sampson
Henry Bram et al. to Major General O. O. Howard, [20 or 21 Oct. 1865], B 53 1865, Letters Received, ser. 15, Washington Hdqrs., RG 105, from <em>After Slavery: Educator Resources</em>, http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/after_slavery_educator/unit_one_documents/document_seven
October 1865 (Circa)
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Timeline of Land Redistribution at the End of the Civil War
Slavery and Abolition
As the Civil War was drawing to a close, decisions had to be made about what would happen to the newly emancipated slaves and the land and property of the now defeated Confederates. General William T. Sherman, marching his triumphant Union forces through the South, issued a military order seizing Confederate land for distribution to former slaves; it is popularly remembered as promising the emancipated slaves "forty acres and a mule." Within a few months of the war's official end, however, the redistribution of land to former slaves was no longer part of plans for Reconstuction.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2013
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Active Viewing Worksheet: <em>Dr. Toer's Amazing Magic Lantern Show</em>
This worksheet helps students take notes as they watch the <em>Dr. Toer's</em> documentary on the progress and problems experienced by freed slaves during Reconstruction.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2013
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
An Ex-Slave Protests Eviction from 'the Promised Land' (short)
In the last months of the Civil War, General William T. Sherman of the Union Army issued Special Field Order Number 15, which set aside more than 400,000 acres of abandoned coastal plantations from South Carolina to Florida for settlement exclusively by ex-slaves. In May of 1865, President Andrew Johnson offered an amnesty plan to former Confederates. The plan allowed them to reclaim their land if it had been redistributed to freed slaves or others. In this 1866 speech, Bayley Wyat protests the eviction of former slaves from confiscated plantations in Virginia.
Bayley Wyat
Bayley Wyat, <em>A Freedman's speech</em>. Philadelphia: Published by Friends' association of Philadelphia and its vicinity for the relief of colored freedmen, circa 1866, Library of Congress, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbpe.1590140b.
1866 (Circa)
1248
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
New Liberties, New Threats worksheet
This series of worksheets accompanies the activity "New Liberties and New Threats During Reconstruction." The worksheets feature primary sources and descriptions that have been edited for different reading levels, as well as scaffolded questions.
Arthur Everett, Laura Garrity, and Samantha Schoeller
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2010.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2010
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
1557
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Forty Acres worksheet
This worksheet helps students analyze documents relating to the question of the redistribution of land at the end of the Civil War. The instructions and suggested documents for this activity can be found in "Forty Acres? The Question of Land at the War's End."
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2010.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2010
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
1605
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
The Union Redistributes Abandoned Plantations
This excerpt from <em>Freedom's Unfinished Revolution</em> describes the Union Army's decision to distributed abandoned plantation lands to former slaves during the Civil War. The excerpt also explains the problems freedpeople encountered after President Andrew Johnson decided that former plantation owners should be able to have their lands back.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project,<em> Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry in the Civil War and Reconstruction</em>, 163-166.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1996
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning.
<div><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
1605
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Forty Acres? The Question of Land at the War's End
Slavery and Abolition
In this activity students consider different viewpoints on whether former slaves should be given land at the end of the Civil War. Students read one of five primary sources and summarize the author's viewpoint. This activity makes a good introduction to a unit on Reconstruction or to sum up a unit on the Civil War. This activity was designed to help students with language processing challenges synthesize historical documents.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2010.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2010
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Matching Historical Understandings for Reconstruction worksheet
This worksheet helps students match primary source documents with three historical understandings for Reconstruction. It is used as a part of the activity "Create a Magic Lantern Show," but it can be used on its own to help students classify Reconstruction documents.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2010.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2010
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license"><img style="border-width: 0;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
1494
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
New Liberties and New Threats During Reconstruction
This activity features differentiation and scaffolding to help students understand the new social freedoms and new threats to the families of freedmen during Reconstruction. Students work in heterogeneous skill-level groups to analyze several primary sources and prepare to write a paragraph about freedmen's new social freedoms. The activity in the lesson is framed for several consecutive 45-minute lessons, but could be adapted to meet the teacher's needs. The activity features documents from HERB that have been edited for different skill levels; the edited documents are including in the attached PDF "New Liberties and New Threats Worksheet." New York City high school teachers Arthur Everett and Samantha Schoeller created this activity.
Arthur Everett, Laura Garrity, and Samantha Schoeller
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2010.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2010
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)