The Reconstruction Era 3-Week Unit

In this unit, students will encounter histories of race, racism, and racial violence that are likely to be emotionally challenging and elicit a range of responses. We can’t emphasize enough the importance of previewing the resources in this curriculum to make sure they are appropriate for the intellectual and emotional needs of your students.

It is difficult to predict how students will respond to such challenging readings, documents, and audio material. One student may respond with emotion to an account or source, while others may not find it powerful in the same way. In addition, different people demonstrate emotion in different ways. Some students will be silent. Some may laugh. Some may not want to talk. Some may take days to process difficult stories. For some, a particular firsthand account may be incomprehensible; for others, it may be familiar.

We urge teachers to create space for students to have a range of reactions and emotions. This might include allowing time for silent reflection or writing in journals, as well as facilitating structured discussions to help students process content together. Specific strategies are mentioned in the lesson activities, but we encourage you to explore the additional Related Materials below. 

Some students will not want to share their reactions to emotionally challenging content in class, and teachers should respect that in discussions. For their learning and emotional growth, it is crucial to allow for a variety of student responses to emotionally challenging content.

The n-word appears in the readings "The Honoured Representative of Four Millions of Colored People" (Lesson 7) and A Teacher Describes Violence and Intimidation (1875) and Election Day in Clinton, Mississippi (1875) (Lesson 12). In these documents, we have chosen to let the word remain as it originally appeared, without any substitution. 

In life and in school, many students will encounter language that has been historically used to perpetuate racism and/or dehumanize people. Such language might be used to intentionally cause offense, it might be something they encounter in lessons, when reading literature or historical texts, and it might also be something that some marginalized groups have reclaimed and now use to express familiarity and friendship.

Teaching a text that includes racist slurs, derogatory words and/or anachronistic language can elicit fear and anxiety in educators. As educators, we know that unless we prepare to address language with intention and care, we risk causing harm and creating inhospitable classroom environments where students may feel like they do not belong, and where they cannot learn. Some racist and dehumanizing terms, such as the n-word, have the power to destabilize a classroom environment if they are encountered without adequate preparation or groundwork. In her talk Why It’s So Difficult to Talk about the ‘N’ Word, Dr. Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor states: “I hear from students that when the word is said during a lesson without discussion and context, it poisons the entire classroom environment, the trust between student and teacher is broken (11.31).”

Such terms can also make students who belong to the groups targeted feel uncomfortable and singled out. In her talk, Dr. Stordeur Pryor goes on to state that, “My black students tell me that when the word is spoken or quoted in class, they feel like a giant spotlight is shining on them (12.32).”

The dehumanizing power and loaded history of the n-word cannot be ignored, nor can the impact it can have on students if not handled sensitively. We advise against speaking this word out loud in the classroom, but if it appears in texts or resources that are being used, it is necessary to acknowledge it, understand its problematic nature, and set guidelines for students when reading aloud or quoting from the text (e.g., to say “the n-word” when students encounter the word spelled out in full in a text). Otherwise, the presence of this word might both harm students and distract them from an open discussion on a particular topic.  If you realize that you will be asking students to hear, process, and discuss passages with dehumanizing language on a regular basis, however, it is important to reflect on the purpose of the text and its cost to students’ emotional well-being.