The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy

The Reconstruction Era and The Fragility of Democracy uses our pedagogical approach to help students examine how a society rebuilds after extraordinary division and trauma, when the ideals of democracy are most vulnerable. It provides history teachers with dozens of primary and secondary source documents, close reading exercises, lesson plans, and activity suggestions that will push students to build a complex understanding of the dilemmas and conflicts Americans faced during Reconstruction and to identify the legacies of this history that extended through the twentieth century to the present day. 

These materials will help students examine themes such as historical memory, justice, and civic participation in a democracy. The unit also includes a variety of interdisciplinary teaching strategies that reinforce historical and literacy skills.