TOPICs 3.1-3.4: Reconstruction (AP AFAM Version)

Who Gets to Tell the Story of Reconstruction and Why does it Matter?

All materials are free to access, but registration through the Zinn Education Project site is required to view the lesson plan and answer key in the top left link.

Empowering Histories with Zinn Education Project: AP African American Studies Version

I was thrilled to collaborate with the brilliant historians at the Zinn Education Project on this three-day Reconstruction lesson. The version originally published by Zinn (linked above) was designed for AP U.S. History teachers —however, that lesson itself drew inspiration from the new AP African American Studies course. Building on that foundation, I created this adapted version for my AP African American Studies students. While the core framework remains the same, this version shifts the balance of documents slightly: it places greater emphasis on General Sherman’s Field Order No. 15 (the “40 acres” order) and a little less focus on the changing nature of federalism that is included in the APUSH version.

The Zinn Teaching Reconstruction Campaign offers many vital and inspiring resources on Reconstruction — a period of immense significance, yet seemingly impossible to cover fully within the AP course timeline. Working with the Zinn team, we created a 3 day lesson that captures the most essential ideas of their lessons while staying on AP pace. As Lerone Bennett Jr. once described, Reconstruction was a “supreme lesson for America”: the first era of Black-led power, when formerly enslaved people fought to dismantle white supremacy and build multiracial democracy.

Over three days, students examine the context of historical literature about Reconstruction, discuss why it matters who gets to tell the story, analyze 30 essential primary sources, track Reconstruction’s progress, examine violent backlash, compare evidence to secondary sources, and reflect on how Reconstruction might have reshaped our nation if its promises had been fully realized.

By engaging with this history, students see the power of collective action and understand the importance of being active participants in democracy.

Three Day Lesson Preview

Day 1: Students examine of the debates in Reconstruction historiography and a review and comparison of the original goals for Reconstruction as described by Black leaders. By the end of Day 1 students become historians themselves and engage in a deep dive into primary sources.

Day 2: Students continue their work with a partner to examine 30 essential documents, with which they use a score sheet to help them track Reconstruction’s progress, as well as the violent methods used to attack Black communities and roll back their advances for freedom and multiracial democracy. With each source, they briefly record whether the source indicates Reconstruction’s progress and who was responsible for the progress or lack thereof. Students are also prompted to consider how historical evidence corroborates or undermines the secondary source narratives they’ve read.

Day 3: The activity concludes with a lively pop-up debate in which students critically analyze standards for teaching Reconstruction. As a class, students reflect on what our country might look like today if we had experienced a true and lasting Reconstruction after the Civil War.