Teaching Emancipation and Reconstruction, 1861-1876

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

Teaching Emancipation and Reconstruction, 1861–1876

“Teaching Emancipation and Reconstruction introduces the questions of Reconstruction that have loomed over the era in many educational institutions. The authors promise and deliver on providing the multiple perspectives that students, teachers and historical enthusiast can use to engage with Reconstruction through the eyes of every American then and now.”

—Nichelle Pinkney, Social Studies Coordinator and Author of Civil Discourse: Classroom Conversations for Stronger Communities

“The authors aim to move beyond the traditional textbook approach and effectively bridge the gap between the past and the present while ensuring the inclusion of truthful history. This work offers a deeper understanding of the Reconstruction period, providing educators and students with the knowledge to navigate the critical racial progress of that time. As many social studies and history curricula across the country continue to overlook Black History in classrooms, this volume offers the opportunity to reshape the teaching of Emancipation and Reconstruction.”

—Michelle Tovar, Ed.D., Director of Education, Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

Teaching Emancipation and Reconstruction, 1861–1876

Edited by
Matthew R. Campbell

PETER LANG
New York - Berlin - Bruxelles - Chennai - Lausanne - Oxford

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Campbell, Matthew R. editor.

Title: Teaching emancipation and reconstruction, 1861–1876 / edited by Matthew R. Campbell.

Description: New York : Peter Lang, [2025] |

Series: Teaching critical themes in American history, 2576–0718; vol. 5 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2024035579 (print) | LCCN 2024035580 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433184277 (paperback) | ISBN 9783034351799 (pdf) | ISBN 9783034351805 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)–Study and teaching. | Enslaved persons–Emancipation–United States–Study and teaching. | United States–Race relations–History–Study and teaching. | African Americans–History–Study and teaching.

Classification: LCC E668 .T26 2025 (print) | LCC E668 (ebook) | DDC 973.8071–dc23/eng/20241108

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024035579

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024035580

DOI 10.3726/b22167

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

The German National Library lists this publication in the German

National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available

on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Cover design by Peter Lang Group AG

ISSN 2576-0718 (print)

ISSN 2576-0726 (online)

ISBN 9781433184277 (paperback)

ISBN 9783034351799 (ebook)

ISBN 9783034351805 (epub)

DOI 10.3726/b22167

© 2025 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne

Published by Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York, USA

info@peterlang.com - www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.

Any utilization outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.

This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

About the author

Matthew Campbell, Ed.D., serves as the K-12 Social Studies Coordinator in Conroe ISD. He also teaches social studies methods courses at the University of Houston and UH – Downtown locations. Matt received the Award for Outstanding Early-Career Teaching from Humanities Texas in 2015. He is the current president of the Texas Council for the Social Studies.

About the book

Historians argue that the years following the Emancipation Proclamation and those immediately after the Civil War were formative years in the trajectory of the United States as a country. So, why then, does this era of history not get the proper attention it deserves in survey classes across the nation? Why does the Civil War overshadow Reconstruction? The contributors of this volume would collectively argue that there are scant resources known to educators and typically teachers do not feel comfortable diving into the subject without proper content knowledge. This book hopes to provide an entry to the subject and spur ideas on where teachers may lead discussions about this import era of history. The authors ask questions about Reconstruction that allow students opportunities to dive deeply into themes of the era. Overall, they aim to extend the nuances of the historiography by exploring related disciplines, issues of race, gender, politics, and historical memory.

“Teaching Emancipation and Reconstruction introduces the questions of Reconstruction that have loomed over the era in many educational institutions. The authors promise and deliver on providing the multiple perspectives that students, teachers and historical enthusiast can use to engage with Reconstruction through the eyes of every American then and now.”

—Nichelle Pinkney, Social Studies Coordinator and Author of Civil Discourse: Classroom Conversations for Stronger Communities

“The authors aim to move beyond the traditional textbook approach and effectively bridge the gap between the past and the present while ensuring the inclusion of truthful history. This work offers a deeper understanding of the Reconstruction period, providing educators and students with the knowledge to navigate the critical racial progress of that time. As many social studies and history curricula across the country continue to overlook Black History in classrooms, this volume offers the opportunity to reshape the teaching of Emancipation and Reconstruction.”

—Michelle Tovar, Ed.D., Director of Education, Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Table of Contents

1. Preface
2. About the Book Series Teaching Critical Themes in American History
3. Acknowledgments
4. Introduction: Teaching, Learning, and Historiography Matthew R. Campbell
5. Chapter One: Teaching Emancipation as Racial Progress and Reconstruction Violence as Racist Progress Shannon M. Smith
6. Chapter Two: Dismantling Scarlett O’Hara: How Slaveholding White Women Supported Slavery and Resisted Emancipation Kristen Brill
7. Chapter Three: Jus Post Bellum and the Moral Imperatives of Reconstruction Kent A. McConnell
8. Chapter Four: A Reconstruction Timeline Jenice L. View
9. Chapter Five: Drawing Conclusions: Using Political Cartoons in the Classroom to Analyze Reconstruction Era Images of African Americans Tim Dorsch
10. Chapter Six: Representations of Reconstruction: Social Transformations and Textbook Portrayals of the Past Adam J. Schmitt and Ashley Towle
11. Chapter Seven: The Road to the 19^th Amendment: Examining the Women’s Suffrage Movement during the Reconstruction Era with Historical Empathy Pedagogies Katherine Perrotta
12. Chapter Eight: Reconstruction’s Accomplishment: Black Education and the Rise of the Civil Rights Movement Scott L. Stabler, Justin Sheldon, and Timothy J. McKeeby
13. Chapter Nine: “There Is No Redemption from Our History”: Reconstruction, Memorialization, and Public Memory Mark Pearcy
14. Chapter Ten: Reconstruction Resources Jenice L. View, Caroline R. Pryor, and Amy Wilkinson
15. Contributor Biographies
16. Index