12.2B – Read the Text #2: Building Comprehension
Read the module text again as a class.
Students take turns reading a paragraph (or a few sentences).
After each paragraph, STOP to go over vocabulary and questions about the reading as a class.
READING TEXT
Module 12: Civil War and Reconstruction
PARAGRAPHS 1-2
During the United States Civil War (1861-1865), the Northern and Southern states fought over keeping slavery legal. Starting in the 1600s, about 12.5 million men, women, and children from different parts of Africa were forcibly taken across the Atlantic Ocean. White landowners in the South grew cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane. They used enslaved labor instead of paying workers to grow these crops. Because enslaved people were not considered human, they did not have any rights. People bought and sold them as property, and used them for forced work and company. Some people in the North also supported slavery or earned money from the slave economy, while other people wanted to pass federal laws against slavery.
In late 1860, Southern states voted to secede from the United States and start their own country, where slavery would continue to be legal. People in the North wanted to keep the states together. During the war, the Northern states, who wanted to keep the states united, were called the Union, and the Southern states, who wanted to secede, were called the Confederacy.
- Let’s review: what does civil war mean?
- Let’s review: what does enslaved mean?
- Let’s review: what does slavery mean?
- Let’s review: what does secede mean?
- Learn the word TO CONSIDER: (verb) to think about it
- What is this word in your home language?
- Examples
- Please consider my idea before you make a decision.
- I consider you to be a good friend.
- Landowners considered enslaved people as ________.
- When did slavery start and how many people were enslaved?
- Name the U.S. war between the North and South. What were the names of the two sides?
- When was the Civil War? Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
- What do you think “landowner” means?
- What do you think “labor” means?
- What are some examples of crops grown with enslaved labor?
- What do you think “property” means?
- How did white people benefit from slavery?
- What did the South want to do?
PARAGRAPHS 3-4
The first battle of the U.S. Civil War began about one month after Abraham Lincoln became the president in 1861. Lincoln grew up poor in Illinois but he educated himself and became a successful lawyer. He supported ideas about unity of the states. However, unity was not possible at that time, because people still disagreed on the status of enslaved Black people.
In 1863, Lincoln sent out the Emancipation Proclamation, ordering Confederate states to free their slaves. However, Confederate states did not free their slaves. Many enslaved people freed themselves by escaping to the Union states, just as they did before the war. Over 200,000 Black people joined the Union army, although they were not always accepted. In April of 1865, the Union won the war and the Confederate states remained a part of the United States. One week later, President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who supported the Confederacy. By the end of the U.S. Civil War, over 620,000 people had died on both sides.
- Learn the word STATUS: (noun) where somebody is compared to others: a label that tells us about somebody’s situation
- What is the word in your home language?
- Examples:
- Some forms ask about your marital status.
- Social media gives your status as online or offline.
- A person’s economic status can be middle class, _____, or ________.
- Let’s review: what does emancipation mean?
- Learn the word A PROCLAMATION: (noun) a big, official message
- What is the word in your home language?
- Examples:
- The President’s proclamation made June 19 a national holiday (Juneteenth) honoring the emancipation of enslaved African Americans.
- What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
- What do you think “battle” means?
- Who was Abraham Lincoln? What was one important thing that he did?
- States did not agree on one important topic. What was it?
- What do you think “escape” means?
- What happened to the Black people in the Confederacy after the Emancipation Proclamation?
- How many people from both sides died in the Civil War?
- What do you think “remain” means? Who remained where?
- What do you think “assassinate” means? How and why did President Lincoln die?
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. [Credit]
Abraham Lincoln sent out the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 ordering Confederate states to free their slaves. [Credit]
PARAGRAPH 5
In the years after the U.S. Civil War, the government wrote some laws called the Reconstruction Acts, to help the states come back together as one country. In early 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, making slavery illegal in all U.S. states. In 1868, Congress passed the 14th Amendment, which gave all people living in the U.S. equal rights under the law, including Black Americans and former enslaved people. In 1870, the 15th Amendment was passed, protecting voting rights for Black men who were U.S. citizens. Women and most non-white people did not have voting rights in the U.S. at that time.
- Let’s review: what does reconstruction mean?
- Learn the word AN ACT: (noun) specific rules that were passed by Congress and became part of law
- What is the word in your home language?
- Examples
- The Clear Air Act was passed to protect and improve the quality of air.
- What are the Reconstruction Acts? Why do you think they were called that?
- Learn the word FORMER: (adjective) someone or something that had a different status or condition before but not anymore
- What is the word in your home language?
- Examples:
- Myanmar’s former name was Burma.
- Lincoln, Obama, and _________ are former presidents.
- What did the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments say?
PARAGRAPH 6
All of these laws made important changes, but many of the states did not give enough support for equal rights for Black citizens. Some local laws limited where people could live, gather, and work. Many local laws made it difficult for Black people to vote in elections. Famous African-American speaker and writer Frederick Douglass fought against slavery and for voting rights. He said, “Though slavery was abolished, the wrongs of my people were not ended. Though they were not slaves, they were not quite free.” (credit: https://www.nps.gov/frdo/learn/historyculture/thoughts-for-all-time.htm)
- Learn the word TO ABOLISH: (verb) to put a complete end to something
- What is the word in your home language?
- Examples:
- The Emancipation Proclamation in the United States abolished slavery.
- Some states abolished the death penalty.
- Russia had a revolution and removed the king (tsar). Which system of government did they abolish? _______
- After the Reconstruction Acts, how did some states treat Black citizens?
- Who is Frederick Douglass? Why do you think he said that his people were not quite free?
- What do you think “against” means? What is another word for it?
- What do you think “wrongs” means?
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was born into slavery. He escaped and became a writer and statesman. He worked for the equality of African-Americans and women. [Credit]
PARAGRAPH 7
During Reconstruction, Black men could vote and were elected to government for the first time in the Southern states. Sixteen Black men were elected to the U.S. Congress and more than 600 were elected to state governments. Hundreds of African Americans also served in local government jobs. For African Americans, working in government when they or their families had been born into slavery was a big move forward for all U.S. citizens.
- Who was elected to Congress for the first time during Reconstruction?
- Remember we have leaders governing at local, state, and federal levels. Who is a local leader? Who is part of the state government? Who is a leader at the federal level?
- Why were these historic elections an important step for all U.S. citizens?
