Lesson Plans

Summer Institute I - "Slavery, The Civil War, and Reconstruction"

Tracy Winton
Columbia High School
Columbia, Mississippi

DOCUMENT FROM THE MISSISSIPPI STATE ARCHIVES USED IN THIS LESSON:
WPA Narratives from the State of Mississippi Archives - Interview with ex-slave, Shadrach Cyrus of Columbia, MS.

HOW TO FIND THIS DOCUMENT IN THE ARCHIVES:
Source Material for Mississippi History, Marion County, from microfilm: July 28th, 1936, Marion County, Historical Research Project, Assignment #3, County History.
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GRADE LEVEL/LEVELS FOR WHICH LESSON COULD BE USED:
8th grade U.S. History with a focus on Columbia, MS

SUBJECT/SUBJECTS FOR WHICH LESSON COULD BE USED:
Local history lesson

MISSISSIPPI CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK COMPETENCY/COMPETENCIES
6. Analyze the ideas, principles, and practices of citizens in a democratic society.
b. Evaluate the value and challenge of diversity in American life.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS LESSON:

1. What was life like for a slave in Marion County, MS before the Civil
War?
2. Following the Civil War, how did the life of a former slave in Marion
County, MS change? How was it the same or similar to being a
slave?

HISTORICAL CONTENT OF LESSON

People: Shadrach Cyrus, former slave in Marion County

Events: Slavery before the Civil War
Lifestyle of former slaves following the Civil War

Places: Marion County, Mississippi

Key terms, dates, etc.: Reconstruction, sharecropper, cotton gin, flatboat,

HISTORICAL CONCEPTS/ THEMES FOR THIS LESSON:
conflict and cooperation
civilization, cultural diffusion, and interaction

HISTORICAL SKILLS/PROCESSES TO BE TAUGHT OR REINFORCED IN THIS LESSON:
History's Habits of the Mind:
1. Understand the significance of the past to their own lives, both private and public, and to their society.
3. Perceive past events and issues as they were experienced by people at the time, to develop
historical empathy as opposed to present-mindedness.

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES

1. Opening Question: " How do you think life changed for former slaves after the Civil War? How do you think it stayed the same?"
2. Introduce document to the class. Include an explanation of the WPA's attempt to obtain former slave narratives during the Great Depression. Show a map of Marion County, pointing out places mentioned in the document. Ask students to identify what is currently at these locations.
3. Provide each student with a copy of the narrative of the interview with Shadrach Cyrus and the corresponding worksheet found at the end of this lesson plan.
4. Instruct students to read the document and answer the questions.
5. Close with class discussion of various answers to questions on worksheet.

TEACHER RESOURCES

WEB SITES THAT MIGHT PROVE USEFUL:

These sites provide documents, lesson plans, time lines, and/or handouts:

Our Documents
Go to Teacher's Toolbox and go to "Integrating Our Documents into the Classroom." This site also provides a teacher source book as well as information about National History Day in the classroom.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/

The Library of Congress Learning Page
Check out "Using Primary Sources in the Classroom." Also, there are several excellent lesson plans on the Civil War and Reconstruction for various grade levels, including "The Civil War Through a Child's Eyes."
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/index.html

National History Day
Click on "Educators" and then "Links" for museums, archives, universities, and countless other sources for primary sources. You can also download the Contest Guide (the rule book with the judges' scoring rubric,) a Web cast of the June 2003 awards ceremony, tips for using History Day in the classroom, and more! You will find "A Research Roadmap" especially useful in helping your kids get started with History Day.
http://www.nationalhistoryday.org

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Digital Classroom
Go to Teaching with Documents and Teaching with Documents Lesson Plans, which include "The Amistad Case," "Lincoln's Spot Resolutions, " and other excellent plans on slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
You will also find "Building a School Archives," "History in the Raw,"and the "Document Analysis Worksheet" to be useful, especially in preparing students for History Day research.
http://www.archives.gov/

Eyewitness Home Page
First-hand accounts include "The Battle of Gettysburg," "Carnage at Antietam," "Lincoln Enters Richmond, 1865," "Battlefield Tragedy, 1862," "The Death of John Wilkes Booth," "Lee's Retreat from Gettysburg, 1863," "Aboard a Slave Ship, 1829," and "The Trial of Andrew Johnson, 1868."
http://www.ibiscom.com/cwfrm.htm

Gilder Lehrman History Online
A very nice site! Especially recommended sections are "Hollywood's America: Slavery in American Film," "Annotated Documents: African American Voices," "Interactive Timelines," and "Great Debates" (includes debates on the origins of American slavery, whether slavery was the cause of American economic growth, and whether Andrew Johnson should have been impeached.)
Teacher created classroom-tested lesson plans and handouts include "Women in the Civil War."
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/historyonline

North American Slave Narratives: Collection of Electronic Texts
A part of the Documenting the American South Web site, this is an
extensive collection of memoirs and other nineteenth century publications concerning slavery.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/texts.html

The History Place Presents Abraham Lincoln
This site has a very detailed timeline of Lincoln's life and career, photos, and documents, including Lincoln's last speech and letters to Generals Hooker, Meade, and Grant.
http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/index.html
EDSITEment
Go to History/Social Studies for plans such as "Evaluating Eyewitness Reports," "More Amazing Americans: A Web Quest," "I've Just Seen a Face: Portraits," "Attitudes Towards Emancipation," "Eve of the Civil War: Factory vs. Plantation," "Families in Bondage," "Spirituals," "Images at War," "Lincoln Goes to War," "Walt Whitmans's Notebooks and Poetry: The Sweep of the Universe," "What Portraits Reveal," "We Must Not Be Enemies: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address," "The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Courage," "African-American Communities in the North Before the Civil War," "After the American Revolution: Free African-Americans," and "Who Was Cinque?"
http://www.edsitement.neh.gov/

BOOKS, PERIODICALS, ARTICLES, HANDOUTS, ETC. USED FOR TEACHER'S BACKGROUND READING OR REFERENCES:

SUGGESTED BOOKS, PERIODICALS, ARTICLES, ETC. FOR TEACHER'S BACKGROUND READING:

o Leon Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long
o Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy and The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union
o John Blassingame, The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South
o John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans
o Ira Berlin, Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves
o Ira Berlin ,Many Thousand Gone
o Our Documents: A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and Service (Teacher Sourcebook)
o Albert B. Hart, The Reconstruction Era: Eyewitness Accounts

OTHER:
WPA Narratives from the State of Mississippi Archives - Interview with ex-slave, Shadrach Cyrus of Columbia, MS. Source Material for Mississippi History, Marion County, from microfilm: July 28th, 1936, Marion County, Historical Research Project, Assignment #3, County History.

STUDENT RESOURCES:

Some suggested Web sites for students:

The Library of Congress Learning Page
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/index.html

Africans in America
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/

National History Day
http://nationalhistoryday.org

Our Documents
www.ourdocuments.gov

BOOKS/PERIODICALS FOR CLASSROOM READING/ENRICHMENT

o Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone
o Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words
o Joy Hakim, Liberty for All
o Pat and Patricia McKissak, A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, A Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation, 1859
o Joy Hakim, Reconstruction and Reform
o Zak Mettger, Reconstruction: American After the Civil War (Young Readers' History of the Civil War

OTHER STUDENT RESOURCES (OPTIONAL)
Scroll down to corresponding worksheet on next page.

Document Analysis Worksheet for Shadrach Cyrus Interview

1. What is the date of the document?
2. How old was Shadrach Cyrus at the time of this interview?
3. Using what you know about when slaves were freed, about how old was Shadrach Cyrus when he was freed from slavery?
4. Immediately following the Civil War, where did Shadrach Cyrus live?
5. What conclusions can you make from this decision?
6. Describe the location of the plantation within Marion County.
7. As a slave on the plantation, what where Shadrach's jobs?
8. How did Shadrach get in trouble while doing one of these jobs?
9. Describe how transportation of commercial goods from Marion County progressed.
10. What is another name for "working on de third"?
11. What type of jobs did Shadrach have as a freedman?
According to the times in which he lived, would you describe Mr. Cyrus as a successful former slave? Explain your answer.