Conard Project Lesson Plan
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8/3/2019 Conard Project Lesson Plan
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Who is the public?
Concept: During Reconstruction, the United States had to begin creating a new society in which
former chattel were citizens; this process was perhaps even more disruptive to the established socialorder of the South than the Civil War itself, as whites and blacks were forced to find new ways of
coexisting. This process can be seen in the language used by teachers at the front lines of the
Reconstruction effort to educate freed slaves.
Standards Addressed: African-American history (1.3a, 1.3d, 2.3, 4.9, and 5.11b) and United States
history (4.0, 5.0).
General Goal(s):
To use critical thinking skills to explore the concept of audience and public during Reconstruction
by examining the language used in primary documents associated with this era
Specific Objectives:
1. Students will synthesize secondary general information on Reconstruction from an educationalwebsite with specific primary source information from the Freedmens Bureau to compose anessay.
2. Students will be able to explain the concepts of public and audience.3. Students will be able to make connections between the rhetoric of the Reconstruction period
and the challenges of integrating society in the 20 th century.
Recommendations:
This assignment could be conducted over two 50-minute class periods or during one 90-minute period
depending on scheduling.
Extensions for AP/Gifted Students:
This could be a fully independent assignment given as take-home work, or students could be given thecollection of documents without supporting material as a practice DBQ requiring them to provide their
own context.
Adaptations for Students with Special Education Needs:
The assignment could be reformatted into a question/short answer format to create a more guided
structure.
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Who is the public?
A document-based question exercise for high school students using primary source material to explore
local history.
Group Standing on Cemetery Lawn by Albert Kern, circa 1890-1899.
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Who is the public?
During Reconstruction, the Freedmens Bureau and a number of aid societies formed to help newly
freed slaves become part of American society. One of the most influential things they did was build
and fund schools. Schools affiliated with the Freedmens Bureau and aid societies required teachers(usually Northerners) to send in monthly reports with information on attendance, funding, etc. These
forms also included a space for making remarks on public sentiment. In this assignment, you willanswer the following question:
What does the use of the phrase public sentiment reveal about American society
in the post-Civil War era? Use specific examples from the documents provided to
support your answer.
Other questions to address in your answer:
Who is the public in these documents?
Based on your background reading, what are some reasons the public might have the reaction it
does?What impact might these ideas have had on twentieth century history?
Background Information:
Visithttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_freed.html for background information on theJim Crow South and Reconstruction. Questions to consider:
What was the Reconstruction, and why was it necessary?
What was the Jim Crow South?
Why was education so important to freed slaves?
Why were some whites opposed to Reconstruction?
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_freed.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_freed.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_freed.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_freed.html -
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This is a sample of what the forms looked like in full. All of the documents will be provided in excerptform.
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Document 1:
Document 2:
Document 3:
Document 4:
Document 5:
Date: December 1868
School: Vanguard of Freedom, Smyrna, TennesseeTeacher: W. L. Copeland
State the public sentiment towards Colored Schools: I dont believe there are ten Whites infavor of it.
Date: April 1869
School: Vanguard of Freedom, Smyrna, Tennessee
Teacher: W. L. Copeland
State the public sentiment towards Colored Schools: It is improving.
Date: February 1868
School: Earnshaw School, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Teacher: Sue A. Henley
State the public sentiment towards Colored Schools: total indifference.
Date: October 1868School: Vanguard of Freedom, Smyrna, Tennessee
Teacher: W. L. Copeland
State the public sentiment towards Colored Schools: Not knowing could not say. But I think itis not favorable.
Date: March 1868
School: Vanguard of Freedom, Smyrna, TennesseeTeacher: W. L. Copeland
State the public sentiment towards Colored Schools: It is unfriendly.
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Document 6:
Document 7:
Date: March 1869
School: Earnshaw School, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Teacher: Geo. W. Williams
State the public sentiment towards Colored Schools: the better class of white inhabitants seem
favorable to the school.
Date: April 1869
School: Murfreesboro Normal and Primary, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Teacher: F. A. Couch
State the public sentiment towards Colored Schools: Not hostile.
