Historical Understandings for Democratizing Freedom, 1776-1876:

• U.S. history is characterized by an ongoing tension between people claiming rights, or liberty, and people claiming social, political, racial, and economic equality
• The actions and ideas of working people were significant factors that shaped these struggles over liberty and equality

REVOLUTION FOR ALL . . . UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

October 17, 2008 at The Graduate Center, CUNY

Reading: “Democratizing Freedom,” from Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom (1999)
Scholar Talk: “The Road to the American Revolution” Tabetha Garman (East Tennessee State University)
Primary Documents and Activities:
Liberty for All: Voices from the Revolution (ELL Activity + Documents)
Clips from Tea Party Etiquette and Viewer’s Guide

SLAVE COMMUNITIES IN THE ANTEBELLUM SOUTH

December 4, 2008 at The Graduate Center, CUNY

Reading: Excerpts from Ira Berlin, Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves (2003)
Scholar Talk: “Power and Slavery: Slave Communities and Slave Politics in the Old South,” Greg Downs (City College of New York, CUNY)
Primary Documents and Activities:
Overview Information on Slavery in the U.S.
Henry Clay Bruce Describes Slave Community and Politics
Resistance and Community Among Slaves in the Antebellum U.S. (ELL Activity + Documents)

FREEDOM AND SLAVERY IN THE U.S. CIVIL WAR

February 13, 2009 at The Graduate Center, CUNY

Reading: Excerpt from Chandra Manning, What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War (2007)
Scholar Talk: “Civil War Soldiers, Slavery, and Ideas about Freedom,” Jeanie Attie (Long Island University).
Primary Documents and Activities:
Compromises over Slavery
Gettysburg Address
Running For Freedom: The Fugitive Slave Law and the Coming of the Civil War (Activity + Documents)
What This Cruel War Was Over: Slavery & The Civil War (Activity + Documents)

RECONSTRUCTION: FREEDOM’S UNFINISHED REVOLUTION

April 23, 2009 at The Graduate Center, CUNY

Reading: “The Meanings of Freedom,” from Eric Foner with Joshua Brown, Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction (2005)
Scholar Talk: “A Revolution on the Ground: Reconstruction and Freedpeople’s Politics,” Greg Downs (City College)
Primary Documents and Activities:
Black Religious Leaders and Union Officers Meet During Sherman’s March
Black Religious Leaders Who Participated in Meeting with Union Military Officers
History in the Making: Changing Interpretations of Reconstruction Worksheet
Create a Magic Lantern Show: Freedpeople in the Reconstruction South (Activity + Documents)