Lesson Plan

African Americans During the Civil War: A Compressed History

Lesson Plan Image
Grade Level:
High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
Subject:
Social Studies
Lesson Duration:
90 Minutes
State Standards:
Georgia Standards of Excellence
Social Studies
SSUSH9

Literacy
L9-10RHSS1
L9-10RHSS2
Thinking Skills:
Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.

Essential Question

1. How did African Americans contribute to the war effort?
2. What was life like during the American Civil War for enslaved African Americans and
        freed African Americans?
3. What attitudes and ideas did white Americans in the Union and Confederacy have
        towards African Americans?

Objective

Students will discuss and describe the attitudes of white Americans toward the various roles African Americans play during the Civil War.
Students will explain how African Americans contributed to the war effort.
Students will identify the lasting impact of the Civil War.
Students will analyze primary and secondary sources.

Preparation

Print or prepare lesson plan documents as needed (6 primary documents, 6 alternate/bonus documents included)

Use source anaylysis activity to gauge understanding of documents. 

Check internet capabilities to follow embedded links and Kahoot quiz (transcribed in Lesson Plan materials as well) 
 

Materials

Document detailing the Monroe Doctrine.

Download Monroe Doctrine (Document 1)

Painting and description of the fighting at Ft. Wagner

Download Fort Wagner Painting (Document 2)

Fredrick Douglass speech from 1863 titled 'Colored Men to Arms'

Download 'Colored Men to Arms' (Document 3)

Document titled 'REMINISCENCES OF MY LIFE IN CAMP WITH THE 33D UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS LATE 1ST S. C. VOLUNTEERS', by Susie King Taylor

Download Document titled 'REMINISCENCES OF MY LIFE IN CAMP WITH THE 33D UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS LATE 1ST S. C. VOLUNTEERS', by Susie King Taylor

Transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation

Download 'The Emancipation Proclamation' (Document 5)

Transcript of William Sherman's 'Special Field Orders. No. 15'

Download Special Field Orders No. 15 (Document 6)

Excerpts from the '“Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People, Suffering from the Late Riots in the City of New York”, published in 1863

Download “Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People, Suffering from the Late Riots in the City of New York” (Bonus Material)

Transcript of General Orders No. 143

Download General Orders No. 143 (Bonus Material)

Image and description of William H. Carney's official notice of earning the Medal of Honor

Download William H. Carney Medal of Honor Documentation (Bonus Material)

Excerpt from the publication 'Douglass Monthly', written by Fredrick Douglass, published in 1863

Download Excerpt from 'Douglass Monthly' (Bonus Material)

Painting and description of 'The Massacre at Ft. Pillow'

Download 'The Massacre at Ft. Pillow' (Bonus Material)

Transcript of Patrick Cleburne's suggestion to congress to arm the enslaved and offer freedom in exchange for military service.

Download Cleburne Proclamation (Bonus Material)

Activity that will allow students to analyze and discuss the included documents and sources.

Download Source Analysis Activity

Procedure

Introduction (Day One) - Begin the class with a brief discussion on famous African Americans in history. Ask the class to name a few individuals (you might get responses like George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, and the Tuskegee Airmen. It is also possible that they may not give any responses at all. Be prepared for both). If the class has responses, ask them why they are remembered. Were they brave? Inventive? Were they talented? Then ask if they know of any famous African Americans during the Civil War.If the class has no answers, ask them why. Is it because history has not shed enough light on these individuals? Pick their brain for a moment, get them thinking about history, and ask why some individuals are remembered and others are not. (Be prepared for emotional reactions throughout this lesson. It is possible that some students may not have heard of some of the individuals or events in this lesson. That’s okay, it’s meant to shine a light on lesser-known moments in the Civil War.)

Day Two- The class will open with a Kahoot! (one has already been created for this lesson plan and linked for convenience) or other game so that students can answer questions about what was taught the previous day. It is designed to be fun and reinforcing what was previously taught. If necessary reteach any missed questions. A quiz would also suffice and one based on the Kahoot! produced for this lesson plan has been provided.

Instruction and Activities:
Day One- The teacher will lecture about African American life during the Civil War, and the roles played by various units, and highlightly individual contributions to the war effort (a slide deck has been provided with this lesson plan and can be downloaded, changed, etc as needed). Questions should be encouraged and welcomed. Other resources that the teacher may want to use are linked at the end of this lesson, including Library of Congress resources, National Park Service resources, which include more in depth information about African Americans in the Civil War.

Day Two- The students will be given primary source documents to interrogate (additional/alternate documents to use or swap out have also been included.) Building on the previous day’s lesson, they will read documents from both sides of the Civil War, Union, and Confederate, from letters and posters to field orders about how White Americans viewed African Americans during the conflict. Did the view shift over time? Or did it stay the same? Students can be paired up or in groups. Documents should be handed to the students in a staggered manner (every 10-15 minutes depending on class reading speed) so that the students are continuously being given new attitudes, new ideas, and new information. Students should also be given these documents out of chronological order so that they have to place them in a timeline and argue whether or not attitudes toward freedmen and women, African American soldiers, and those still enslaved are changing.

Closure: Day Two- Circling back to the opening discussion on the first day, the teacher will prompt students to reflect on why highlighting the contributions of individuals during times of conflict is important. Teachers might also prompt students to reflect on the new information and how it compares to the history they have previously been taught. What does this new information reveal? How does it change what they originally thought about the American Civil War?

Assessment Materials

Lesson Quiz

Quiz based on 'Kahoot' activity.

Name_______________                                                                            Date________

Kahoot Based Quiz
1) Who issued Special Field Order No 15?
A) Gen. William T. Sherman
B) Gen. Benjamin Butler
C) Gen. Patrick Cleburne
D) Gen Robert E. Lee

2)How many African Americans received the Medal of Honor for service in the Civil War

  1. 100
  2. 57
  3. 16
  4. 13
3) "Black Confederates" refers to
  1. African Americans who volunteered for the Confederacy
  2. African Americans who were impressed into service for the CSA
  3. African Americans who served the Union
  4. African Americans who loyally served the CSA
4) African Americans serving the Union as spies were known as
  1. Black Dispatches
  2. Moles
  3. Birdwatchers
  4. Undercover Agents
5) Self-emancipated refugees fleeing Confederate territory were called
  1. Refugees
  2. Freedmen
  3. Contrabands
  4. Prisoners of War
6)Who led the assault during the second battle of Fort Wagner?
  1. 54th Iowa Volunteer Infantry
  2. 24th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
  3. 24th Iowa Volunteer Infantry
  4.  54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
True/False

______ 7)Harriet Tubman served the Union Army as a spy and nurse.

______ 8) Charles Douglass was the first African American to enlist in US military service

______ 9)"Remember Fort Pillow!" became a rallying cry for many African American troops

______ 10)African American Prisoners of War were treated the same as white prisoners

https://create.kahoot.it/details/c1f36c00-59c9-47ae-9a06-2febe23b6e45

Rubric/Answer Key

Answers to quiz (by question number)

1) A
2) C
3) C
4) A
5) C
6) D
7) True
8) True
9) True
10) False

Enrichment Activities



 

Additional Resources

Sources Used: List formal citations (not just URLs) for materials and content used in the lesson.

“Black Soldiers in the US Military During the Civil War” National Archiveshttps://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war#:~:text=By%20the%20end%20of%20the,30%2C000%20of%20infection%20or%20disease.

“Recruitment Broadside” National Archiveshttps://www.archives.gov/files/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/images/recruitment-broadside.gif

Hill, Alexis N.“Unnoticed:African Americans in Union Army Camps during the Civil War” June 2020 National Archiveshttps://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2020/06/09/unnoticed-african-americans-in-union-army-camps-during-the-civil-war/

Levin, Kevin M.“What Black ‘Confederates’ Really Did During the Civil War” Feb 2012. The Atlantichttps://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FJJZIgu5Q8EJ:https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/what-black-confederates-really-did-during-the-war/253380/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Kari A. Cornell. 2017.African Americans in the Civil War. Essential Library of the Civil War. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Essential Library. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=nlebk&AN=1349184&site=eds-live&scope=site.

“Susie King Taylor” Library of Congresshttps://www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=5be2377c246c4b5483e32ddd51d32dc0&bookmark=Narrative%20of%20War

King Taylor, Susie. Reminiscences of My Life in Camphttps://www.loc.gov/item/02030128/

“Patrick Cleburne’s Proposal to Arm Slaves” American Battlefield Trusthttps://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/patrick-cleburnes-proposal-arm-slaves

“Transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation” Library of Congress.https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/transcript.html

“Storming of Fort Wagner Image” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_African_Americans_in_the_American_Civil_War#/media/File:The_Storming_of_Ft_Wagner-lithograph_by_Kurz_and_Allison_1890.jpg

“General Order 143: Creation of the Colored Troops”https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/war-department-general-order-143

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Tags: civil war united states colored troops african american history and culture kennesaw mountain national battlefield park lesson plan

Last updated: November 30, 2023