Reconstruction 360 offers students and teachers an immersive, interactive approach to studying history. These standards-based lesson plans, written in conjunction with South Carolina ETV’s Education Department, are intended to extend the use of reconstruction 360 into classroom activities.
After the Civil War freed people faced an intense struggle for economic independence. Thousands of the formerly enslaved were given access to land along the southeastern coast from South Carolina to Florida under General Sherman’s Special Field Order 15. Sherman’s promise of “40 acres and a mule” was short-lived, however, and much of the land was returned to the white former landowners. In this lesson students create a podcast to discover why there was a disconnection between the hope and the reality of land ownership and economic independence for African Americans during Reconstruction.
There are many historical photographs pertaining to Reconstruction embedded in the videos in Reconstruction 360. They provide a rich visual record of people and events of the era, and an opportunity for students to increase their literacy skills. Photographs contain a great deal of information but they can also contain misinformation. In this lesson students learn how to analyze or “read” a photograph, an important aspect of visual literacy.
