In this learning experience, the students will complete a primary source inquiry into the impacts of Reconstruction on Black experiences in Virginia and the South. The students will use the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning structure to defend one of two claims.Students will analyze sources that depict/detail Black experiences and perspectives before, during, and after the Reconstruction. This learning experience will be most effective after students have been introduced to the what and when of Reconstruction.

In this lesson students learn how Birth of a Nation reflected and influenced racial attitudes, and they analyze and evaluate the efforts of the NAACP to prohibit showing of the film.

This is a remixed version to include the lesson activities within the Table of Contents.

Original: https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/birth-nation-naacp-and-balancing-rights

The student will apply social science skills to understand how the nation grew and changed from the end of Reconstruction through the early twentieth century by e) evaluating and explaining the social and cultural impact of industrialization, including rapid urbanization; Great Migration.

The students will analyze the rise of violent activities against African Americans after the Civil War which lead to the addition of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. Begin with a KWL Jamboard (also attached, in a PDF format) which also includes an activity in analyzing primary resources about lynching.  Students will then develop their own 5-day trip itinerary using the Negro Green Book (see the list of free PDF versions for various years) as a travel reference guide. The objective of the lesson is to have the students understand the perils faced by US citizens of color during the Jim Crow Era and how prevalent the dangers were in some areas of the United States at that time. The teacher may wish to use a formative assessment in the form of an exit ticket (see attached). 

Students will complete an IDM (Inquiry Design Model) Lesson to guide them through the social and political discrimination, segregation, and violence against African Americans during the “Jim Crow Era.” They will evaluate the effectiveness of the Reconstruction Amendments based on three supporting questions that help guide them to constructing and providing evidence for a final argument that addresses the compelling question.

Students explore ways that everyday Virginians challenged Jim Crow in the Commonwealth by identifying different types of segregation during Jim Crow Virginia and analyze how the Green Book and other Virginians stood up to segregation. GeoInquiries are short, standards-based inquiry activities for teaching map-based content found in commonly used textbooks.