11th Grade Emancipation Inquiry
Does It Matter Who Freed the Slaves?
Download Entire Inquiry Here
Staging the Question
Read and discuss excerpts from the Washington Post article “On Emancipation Day in D.C., Two Memorials Tell Very Different Stories” and view images of the Emancipation Memorial and the African American Civil War Memorial.
Does It Matter Who Freed the Slaves?
Download Entire Inquiry Here
Staging the Question
Read and discuss excerpts from the Washington Post article “On Emancipation Day in D.C., Two Memorials Tell Very Different Stories” and view images of the Emancipation Memorial and the African American Civil War Memorial.
- Source A: Joe Heim, newspaper article describing the contrast between two Washington D.C. monuments, ”On Emancipation Day in D.C., Two Memorials Tell Very Different Stories” (excerpts), Washington Post, April 15, 2012; photos of the Emancipation Memorial and the African American Civil War Memorial From The Washington Post, © 2012 Washington Post Com.
Supporting Question 1- What legal steps were taken to end slavery?
- Source A: United States Congress, legislation meant to free slaves held by the Confederate States of America, First and Second Confiscation Acts (excerpts), 1861–1862 (1) http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/conact1.htm (2) http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/conact2.htm
- Source B: Abraham Lincoln, executive order changing the legal standing of slaves to freed people in the southern states in rebellion, Emancipation Proclamation (excerpts), 1863 Public domain. U.S National Archives & Records Administration. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/transcript.html.
- United States Congress, action that abolished slavery, Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 1865 Public domain. U.S National Archives & Records Administration. http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=9&title.raw=13th+Amendment+to+the+U.S.+Constitution%3A+Abolition+of+Slavery.
Supporting Question 2- What arguments do historians make about who ended slavery?
Supporting Question 3- What are the implications of the debate over who ended slavery?
Supporting Question 3- What are the implications of the debate over who ended slavery?
- Source A: James McPherson, essay that examines the agency of slaves to free themselves, “Who Freed the Slaves?” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (excerpt and complete article), 1995
- Source B: Ira Berlin, essay that critically examines the Emancipation Proclamation, “Who Freed the Slaves? Emancipation and Its Meaning in American Life” (excerpt and complete article), Quaderno V, 1993
| New York State Social Studies Framework Key Idea & Practices | 11.3 EXPANSION, NATIONALISM, AND SECTIONALISM (1800–1865): As the nation expanded, growing sectional tensions, especially over slavery, resulted in political and constitutional crises that culminated in the Civil War. Gathering, Using, and Interpreting Evidence Chronological Reasoning and Causation Comparison and Contextualization |