Conclusion

This lesson is designed to help students analyze a historical debate. It helps bridge the gap that sometimes exists in American history. Sometimes the curriculum moves from talking about African-Americans as slaves and through the Civil War and Reconstruction, but leaves African-Americans out until the Harlem Renaissance or worse yet, until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Students must grapple with historical documents and reach a conclusion about how they think these two historical actors should be judged and remembered.