Rationale
In my three years of teaching experience at the 4th grade level, I have learned how interested my students are in the history of African Americans. When teaching about the "new world," my students are very eager to learn about how their ancestors' lives began in America as slaves. In a visit to Monticello this year, my students were intrigued, not by Thomas Jefferson, but by the slave quarters, and how the slaves lived and survived during this time of oppression in American history. In learning about Jim Crow Laws and Massive Resistance, they want to know how and why these things occurred after such hope was given to former slaves during Reconstruction.
Through teaching Virginia Studies, I have become intrigued by the events of the Civil War and how it led to the abolition of slavery. I teach my students about the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and how these changes to the Constitution allowed African Americans to start their lives of freedom. They learn how African Americans of all ages went back to school through Reconstruction, gaining an education they had never received. I teach about African Americans voting and holding public office during Reconstruction and how this progress allowed achievements many had never dreamed of reaching. African Americans, during this period, experienced what it was like to be free. Despite all of this, history takes a turn in the years after Reconstruction in which Jim Crow laws, discrimination, and massive resistance to racial equality and justice take effect. The question I seek to answer for myself and for my students is how basic liberties were taken away from African Americans when these Amendments had been made to the Constitution. This is a large piece of history that many forget- a great shame when considering the progress made. Understanding how rights could be lost after they had been won may also enable us to protect against similar losses in the future.
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