Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: Reconstruction in Georgia
After the Civil War ended, Georgia was in a state of chaos. Learn all about the Reconstruction in Georgia from 1865-1871 and how it changed the state politically, socially, and economically.
New York Times
New York Times: On This Day: Electoral College Controversy 1876
Thomas Nast's political cartoon from a Harper's Weekly 1877 edition plus a description of the dispute over the election of 1876.
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: The Civil War and Reconstruction (1861 1877)
The election of 1860 sparked the secession of the southern states. This group of states formed the Confederacy while the northern states to be named the Union. This unit will examine in detail the events which then led to the Civil War...
Social Studies Help Center
Social Studies Help Center: The Freedmen After Reconstruction Came to an End
This page helps the student put the grandfather clause (and poll tax and literacy test) in the perspective of the reconstruction time period.
Other
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston: Closed for the Holiday [Pdf]
"Closed for the Holiday" is an excellent account of the consequential events of the Great Depression focusing on the Stock Market Crash of 1929 as the beginning of the Great Depression, and ending with the emergency bank actions Franklin...
Digital History
Digital History: From Slave Labor to Free Labor
The most difficult task confronting many Southerners during Reconstruction was devising a new system of labor to replace the shattered world of slavery. Learn how plantation owners and freed slaves adapted to this massive shift in the...
The History Cat
The History Cat: Reconstruction Era
Describes what the South was like after the Civil War ended. Many places were in ruins and people were desperately poor with many being homeless. Social structures had collapsed now that slaves had been freed. The Reconstruction era...
Read Works
Read Works: Slavery, the Civil War & Reconstruction Surrender at Appomattox
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox to end the Civil War. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: After the Civil War: The New South
After the Civil War, there was some impetus to modernize the South's economy to make it more industrialized and less agrarian. It never gained traction while sharecropping and tenant farming did, ensuring the persistence of rural...
PBS
Pbs: The West Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
From the critically acclaimed PBS series, "The West," this site provides a brief biography of Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, a leader of the "Great Exodus" which brought thousands of African Americans west from the post-Reconstruction South.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Wall Street Speech, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
A "bloody shirt" speech from Robert Ingersoll that emphasizes the virtue of Republican candidates and attacks Democrats as traitors during the Civil War.
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Benjamin Harrison: Campaigns and Elections
Read about the subdued campaign and election of 1888 where the Republicans took control of the presidency, House of Represenatives, and Senate. Find out how Benjamin Harrison was selected as the Republican presidential candidate.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Restoring the Union
Read this section from a chapter on "The Era of Reconstruction" to learn about Lincoln's plan to restore the Union at the end of the Civil War. Students will be able to discuss the tenets of Radical Republicanism and analyze the success...
PBS
Pbs News Hour: Getting to Democracy, Lesson Plan
With the end of major military action in Iraq, what obstacles do the people of Iraq and the coalition face in rebuilding their country? With this lesson, students will compare what is happening in Iraq to what happened after World War II...
Other
Afgen.com: Address to the Colored People
This page from Afgen.com contains the address delivered to the colored people at Galesburg, Illinois, 1867 by Robert G. Ingersoll. It emphasizes the rights of blacks as a result of the Civil War and Ingersoll encourages African-Americans...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: A War to End Slavery: John Wilkes Booth and Assassination of Lincoln
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that examines the factors that led John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Lincoln. Also involves comparing and contrasting Lincoln's and Andrew...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: Hayes Tilden Election
Read about the contested election of 1876. Was it decided behind close doors and with an understanding that Reconstruction would be ended in the South? Were votes fraudulently thrown out?
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Fourteenth Amendment Part Ii
In this video segment from The Supreme Court, learn about the 1883 Supreme Court decision that marked the end of federal protections for individuals in states and the beginning of Jim Crow segregation.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Desegregation
Overview of efforts to overthrow Plessy v Ferguson and desegregate public schools and other places during the Civil Rights Movement.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Homestead National Monument: Exodusters
Read about the reasons for the extensive black migration to Kansas, especially in the 1870s. These emigrants were called Exodusters. From the National Park Service.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Ratification
This site from the University of Groningen provides a synopsis chronologically written on the ratification of the U.S. Constitution beginning with the first states who accepted the document to pressures exerted by the Federalists to...
PBS
Pbs the West: Exodusters
Contains a description of the Exodusters and their impact on the American West through their immigration.
Other
Gilded Age: From Frontier to Factory Timeline 1845 1916
A timeline that lists major events in culture, military, industry, and politics across three-quarters of a century.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Nicodemus National Historic Site
This site from the National Park Service provides the history of Nidodemus, Kansas, first western town planned by and for African-Americans. Settled by exodusters, the town served as a symbol as a land of opportunity for blacks escaping...