Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 5th
Objectives: Students will compare and contrast the Emancipation Proclamation and the Act for the Release of certain Persons held to Service or Labor within the District of Columbia (DC Compensated Emancipation Act) and discuss the impact of each document on enslaved African Americans and enslavers in Washington, DC.
Standard:
DCPS 5.5.6 Analyze the rationales for the Emancipation Proclamation and the emancipation of African Americans in Washington, DC with the Compensated Emancipation Act.
Essential Questions:
Who benefited from emancipation in Washington, D.C.?
Did the Emancipation Proclamation free enslaved people in the United States?
Resources Needed:
When Slaveholders Got Reparations recording*
*a free Soundcloud account may need to be created to listen to the entire interview
Download the complete lesson plan and resource package HERE
Procedure:
Day 1
Define reparations and emancipation with your students.
Reparations: The making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.
Emancipation: The freeing of someone from slavery.
Listen to the 2022 WPFW interview “When Slaveholders got Reparations”with DC History Center historian, Jane Levey. Levey discusses the reparations slaveholders in Washington, DC received and the immediate effects of freedom on formerly enslaved African Americans after the passage of the Compensated Emancipation Act.
As students are listening to the interview, have them take notes using the Compensated Emancipation Act graphic organizer handout.
After listening to the interview, have students share their notes from the handout and discuss the details of the Compensated Emancipation Act.
Discussion Questions:
Why were DC enslavers paid to release their slaves?
How much were enslavers compensated for releasing enslaved people?
Were enslaved people given anything from the Compensated Emancipation Act?
Where did the idea for compensated emancipation come from?
What happened to the citizens of Washington, DC after the abolition of slavery?
What are Black Codes? How did they affect the African American residents in DC?
Day 2
Working as a whole group or divided into small groups, read aloud the transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation.
As the class reads the transcript, encourage them to highlight or underline the who, what, when, where, why details to add to their graphic organizer handout.
Once all students have finished reading and have completed the graphic organizer handout, discuss the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Discussion Questions:
When was the proclamation issued?
Did the Emancipation Proclamation free all slaves within the United States?
Which areas of the country are listed as excluded from the action of the Emancipation Proclamation?
How did the Emancipation Proclamation open the door for Black soldiers?
Explore the similarities and differences between the Emancipation Proclamation and the DC Compensated Emancipation Act using the notes recorded from the graphic organizers and from class discussions.
Closing
Ask students to think about the impact of emancipation on African Americans. Were they really “free” to live their lives on their own terms? Why or why not?
Additional Resources:
Ending Slavery in the District of Columbia
ZInn Education Project: Timeline on the Civil War and Abolition
https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/who-freed-the-slaves/
Abraham Lincoln: The Emancipation Proclamation | Biography
Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 5th, 8th
Objectives: Students will solve a History Mystery by analyzing a 19th-century photograph to engage with the context of everyday life for Washingtonians during the Civil War.
Standard:
DCPS 5.6.2 Describe the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC.
DCPS 8.1.8 Explain how the war affected combatants, civilians, the physical environment, and future warfare.
Essential Questions:
Resources Needed:
Portrait of a Civil War Washingtonian "history mystery" activity Google sheet presentation and script
A Google Jamboard, Padlet or other interactive platform for students to collaboratively record their observations
A version of this activity which can be conducted independently, available via Sutori (optional)
Procedure:
Review students' familiarity with local life in Washington DC during the Civil War.
Share class Jamboard/Padlet link with students so that they can record their observations. Advance through the "history mystery" Google slides and script, asking students to use the Jamboard at the following stages:
[Final quiz] Now that you've examined the photograph, deciphered its caption, learned a bit about the person pictured, the source of the information, and the process used to produce it, when do you think this image was taken? Place a circle beneath the year/span to show when you think this image was taken.
Once students have placed their vote for the year the image was taken, fill out the quiz on the Portrait of a Civil War Washingtonian using the most popular answer. If incorrect, then move through the other answers. Once the correct answer, 1880-1890, is selected, you can share the following explanation with the class:
Congratulations! You have narrowed down the time frame of this portrait as well as the librarians at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. have been able to! Let's check our work: The cabinet card format helps us eliminate the earliest and latest answers. The image appeared in Buckingham's memoir, which was published in 1894, so clearly the image was taken before then. While the caption references April 1865, January 1900, and May 1914, none of those dates refer to when the photograph was taken. How do we know that? Well, 1900 refers to the year of an interview from which Cordelia Jackson is quoting. We know the year Buckingham was born and when he died: in 1865 he would have been 37, much younger than he appears in this photo, and he was no longer living by 1914, which actually references the year in which Cordelia Jackson wrote this caption on the back of the image. Conclusion: While we still do not have a definitive date for the portrait, a solid answer would be that it was taken circa (around) 1880-1890. And if we were to research men's fashion during that time period, we might be able to further narrow down the date the portrait was taken, by referencing the tie clip and style of collars and coats he wore ...
Stop screen sharing.
Discussion Questions:
Additional Resources:
Using the platform of your choice, adapt the History Mystery activity structure and transcription analysis to apply to other Civil War-era resources. Look below for suggestions for relevant standards and resources.
DCPS 8.11.6 Describe African American involvement in the Union army
DCPS 5.6.2 Describe the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, DC.
Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 3rd, 5th, 8th
Objectives: Students explore what the area where their school is now was like during the Civil War.
Standard:
DCPS 3.1.1 Compare and contrast the differences between a contemporary map of Washington, DC, and maps of this area at the end of the 18th and 19th centuries.
DCPS 3.1.4 Describe the various types of communities within the city (e.g., Chinatown, Foggy Bottom, Adams Morgan, Anacostia, and Georgetown),
beginning with the community in which the elementary school is located.
DCPS 8.1.8 Explain how the war affected combatants, civilians, the physical environment, and future warfare.
Resources Needed:
Ford's Theatre's The Area Where My School Is During the Civil War graphic organizer template
Procedure:
Follow the graphic organizer. Adapt the steps and the organizer template to your class objectives and grade level.