Students learn about what life was like for African Americans in the South after Reconstruction and how prejudice, poverty, violence, and segregation affected them. Then they learn about sharecropping and compare this system of farming to slavery.
Students learn about what life was like for African Americans in the South after Reconstruction and how prejudice, poverty, violence, and segregation affected them. Then they learn about sharecropping and compare this system of farming to slavery.
Students read background text about the challenges freed African Americans faced in the South after Reconstruction, including ongoing poverty and lack of true equality, and examine an image of a freed slave living in Texas in 1939. They then respond to a word cloud prompt describing what life was like for freed slaves in the South at the end of Reconstruction using a word or short phrase.
Teacher MovesIntroduce the experience and objectives, highlighting that students will explore how prejudice, poverty, violence, segregation, and sharecropping shaped life for African Americans after Reconstruction. Review student word cloud responses (e.g., segregation, poverty, unequal education) to surface initial ideas before moving students into small groups for the next three scenes.
In small groups, students examine information about the Freedmen’s Bureau and read the first four paragraphs of A Brief History of Jim Crow to learn how the end of federal protection and the rise of Jim Crow laws increased racism, segregation, and violence in the South. Groups then post a response to a collaborative wall describing the living situation for African Americans in the South after Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew Union troops.
Teacher MovesPrompt groups to discuss how the closure of the Freedmen’s Bureau and removal of federal troops affected African Americans’ safety and rights. Review wall posts and emphasize that without federal protection, violence and discrimination increased and segregation laws restricting education, voting, and employment spread.
In small groups, students read and view resources about sharecropping, including the video Slavery by Another Name and the articles Slavery by Another Name: Sharecropping and Sharecropping, to understand how the system worked and why freed people entered into it. They discuss what they learned that was new, then post a group explanation of the system of sharecropping to a class wall. Next, they complete a two-column table by identifying one advantage and one disadvantage of sharecropping.
Teacher MovesFacilitate small-group discussion of the video and readings, then review and share an exemplary student explanation of sharecropping with the class, reinforcing that families rented small plots of land and paid the landowner with a portion of their crop. Use student entries in the advantage/disadvantage table to highlight that while sharecropping offered some autonomy compared to slavery, it often trapped African Americans in debt and dependence on dishonest landowners.
Students read Debt Slavery in American: The Forgotten History of Sharecropping to deepen their understanding of how sharecropping often resembled slavery, especially through debt and lack of real freedom. Working in groups, they complete a graphic organizer comparing and contrasting slavery and sharecropping, noting both similarities (such as hard labor and lack of rights) and differences (such as legal status and the ability of debt-free sharecroppers to leave).
Teacher MovesGuide students to use evidence from the article as they complete the graphic organizer, ensuring they capture key similarities and differences such as work conditions, ownership of land, and legal status. Encourage groups to share additional comparisons beyond the provided examples and discuss how sharecropping could function as a form of “debt slavery.”
Students complete the exit quiz by answering all the questions.
Teacher MovesFacilitate the assessment and use student data to evaluate understanding, address misconceptions, and identify areas for growth.
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