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THE AFRICAN AMERICANS: MANY RIVERS TO CROSS, Ep. 3

THE AFRICAN AMERICANS: MANY RIVERS TO CROSS, Ep. 3

  1. How many slaves were there in 1861 at the start of the Civil War?
  2. How many slaves escaped to the North to fight for the Union?
  3. What happened to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law in May 1861, a month after the war started? How did this change affect slaves in the South? What was their new “status?”
  4. Who was Robert Smalls? What happened to him after the Civil War?
  5. Who was Mary Peak? What was her mission?
  6. What were the effects of the January 1, 1863, “Emancipation Proclamation” on slaves in the Confederate States?
  7. Why did Confederate soldiers not allow Black Union soldiers to surrender after a battle and be taken as prisoners?
  8. According to this documentary how many African American soldiers died in the Civil War?
  9. What did former slaves want after the war? Were they able to get it from the government?
  10. In what ways did the time after the Civil War give African American men and women more freedoms, according to Dr. Gates? Do you agree with him??
  11. Why did the realities of “cotton” impose terrible restrictions on former slaves?
  12. Who was Benjamin Montgomery?
  13. Why was the right to vote so difficult to achieve? Why didn’t Northern whites support voting rights in the South?
  14. What is the significance of Mound Bayou?
  15.  Who was Homer Plessy? Why is he significant?
  16. What surprised you the most about the lives of African Americans in the 30 years following the end of slavery, as described in this documentary?

THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU

DIRECTIONS:

Read W. E. B. DuBois, “On the Dawn of Freedom,” from The Souls of Black Folk (1903), available in the course content area.

Visit the following websites:

  1.     http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/murray:@field(DOCID+@lit(lcrbmrpt2315div1)):
  2.     http://freedmensbureau.com/

NOTE: This website that has lots of primary documents relating to the Freedmen’s Bureau. For its time, this government effort was quite comprehensive, but, clearly, too short lived to be of permanent assistance to most former slaves. When you start thinking about doing a paper for this class, pick a topic which has good primary resources, such as can be found at this website. Take about 10 minutes to peruse what is available.

Answer the following questions.

Post your response to questions 3 and 4 in a new thread with the heading: FREEDMEN’S BUREAU.

Comment on three (3) student’s responses.

  1. Who is “Ben Butler,” the person mentioned by DuBois near the beginning of this chapter? Why is he significant?
  2. Were former slaves eager to learn? What organizations helped set up schools? By 1866, what was happening to some of these schools set up for former slaves? Was there any thought that black and white children should go to public school together? [NOTE: In order to answer this question you need information from the following website:  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/murray:@field(DOCID+@lit(lcrbmrpt2315div1)):
  3. William Tecumseh Sherman was the Union General famous for burning his way to the sea to conquer Georgia during the Civil War. In other words, he practiced the war of mass destruction to deplete Southerners’ ability to live, much less fight. To handle the problem of former slaves straggling behind his march to the sea, Sherman set up a series of war confiscated reserves, islands and farms where the slaves could live and work. What happened when the Bureau tried to give slaves the lands in the South that had been confiscated during the Civil War??
  4. Is DuBois making justified excuses for the failures of the Freedmen’s Bureau or do you think the Bureau made the situation worse for former slaves, and DuBois doesn’t want to admit that? Be sure to back up your position with evidence [quotes] from “On The Dawn Of Freedom” as well as evidence from the primary document about Education and the Freedmen’s Bureau.

 

…………………Answer Preview……………….

On January 1 1863, President Abraham Lincoln was the one that asserted the bill into law stating that all the African American slaves that were held in the confederate states should be considered to be free people just like all the other people. The effect on the slaves was that their masters were being forced by the law to let go of them and make them to be free men. The law was not very effective at the time…..

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