Names and Freedom (en español)
In Spanish, historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
You Worked Long Hours
Essie Favrot gives a firsthand account of working as a domestic worker for a white Southern family.
Race: The Power of an Illusion (The Story We Tell)
The second episode in the three-part series Race: The Power of an Illusion questions the belief that race has always been with us.
Why Study Reconstruction?
The Reconstruction era was a pivotal moment in American history. Civil rights were set in motion as Americans grappled to rebuild after the division and trauma of the Civil War, raising essential questions about freedom and democracy.
Writing History's Next Chapter
Scholars Timothy McCarthy and George Lipsitz discuss the connection between our responsibilities in the world today and two historical periods: the civil rights movement and the Reconstruction era.
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Moving for Work in Alabama and Mississippi
Roosevelt Williams describes different jobs he held and how he moved around the segregated South to find work in the 1930s and 1940s.
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Voting in Alabama
Roosevelt Williams describes voting in segregated Alabama in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Scottsboro Affair
Consider the nature of justice with this reading about the Scottsboro Affair in which nine black teenagers were accused of raping two white women in the 1930s.
The Southern Lady and Belle: The Companion to Southern Literature by Joseph Flora and Lucinda MacKethan
Authors Joseph Flora and Lucinda MacKethan describe the social stereotypes of the "Southern lady" and the younger "Southern belle."
Understanding Jim Crow
Deepen students' understanding of the systems of racial separation and institutionalized segregation known as Jim Crow to better grasp the time and setting of To Kill A Mockingbird.
What Did You Learn in School Today?
The following is an Introduction to Teaching Mockingbird and was written by Facing History's Senior Scholar and President Emerita, Margot Stern Strom.