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History, Civics & Social Studies · Grade 8

Reconstruction and Contested Citizenship

After the Civil War, the nation rewrote its Constitution to abolish slavery and promise citizenship, equal protection and the vote to Black men. Learners read the Reconstruction amendments closely, see how freedpeople built schools, churches and political power, trace how violence and court decisions rolled those gains back into Jim Crow, and examine who else was included in or excluded from citizenship: Chinese immigrants, Native Americans and women.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 120 minutes
  • Reconstruction and citizenship check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: fill in the blanks, choose an answer, estimate, highlight a text, match pairs and type a number
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What learners will discover

  • Explain what the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments say and do, using close reading of their texts.
  • Describe Reconstruction policies and the achievements of Black Americans in education and politics, as well as the Black Codes that resisted them.
  • Explain how Reconstruction ended and how segregation and disenfranchisement were established, using data and a Supreme Court dissent.
  • Analyze how citizenship was contested for Chinese immigrants, Native Americans and women, and argue how far the promise of the 14th Amendment was kept.

Lessons

  1. Rewriting the Constitution 6 steps4 practiceabout 30 min
  2. Reconstruction in practice 5 steps4 practiceabout 30 min
  3. Overthrow and Jim Crow 6 steps3 practiceabout 30 min
  4. Who counts as a citizen? 5 steps4 practiceabout 30 min
  5. Reconstruction and citizenship check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

More 8th grade social studies

Guide for grown-ups