The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy
This resource guides students through a deep exploration of the pivotal era of American history when a nation divided by slavery and war was challenged to rebuild.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
We Wanted to Be Treated as Men
Elmore Nickleberry and Taylor Rogers, two former sanitation workers from Memphis, share their memories of the events leading up to the 1968 sanitation strike, as well as their participation in the strike itself.
![Photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. marching arm in arm with a crowd of men participating in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/8885_1preview.jpg?h=2dd09070&itok=h0YSS1ZO)
Please Ring the Bell for Us
This cartoon, by Francis Knott for the Dallas Morning News, was published on July 7, 1939. It accompanied an editorial that described admitting refugee children to the United States as an “act of simple humanity."
![Children labeled "refugees" try to get into a door marked "US" as they look to a man labeled "Congress" for help.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/13_PleaseRingBell_Medium_res.jpg?h=870af43d&itok=7G_kpstt)
Using Journals at the Beginning and End of a Lesson
In this classroom video, a high school history teacher uses journals with his students both at the beginning and end of a lesson on Reconstruction.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1476.jpg)
Di'Vennci Lucas: "Colorblind"
In this clip from American Creed, Lucas, a first generation Stanford University student, reflects on the relationship between race and identity.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_754.jpg)
Laundrymen and Movies
Learn about the prejudice, stereotypes, and victimization Chinese and Chinese Americans faced in the US in the 1920s.
![This is a photograph of Wong Kim Ark from an federal immigration investigation case conducted under the Chinese Exclusion Acts (1882-1943).](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/1904_IdentificationPhotographonAffidavitforWongKimArk_FH2173435.jpg?h=7218466b&itok=ayWMLquu)
African Identities
South African leader Nelson Mandela shares a transformative memory from his school years that affected his understanding of his identity as a Xhosa and an African.
!["A young Nelson Mandela poses for a photograph in Umtata shortly before moving to Fort Beaufort to attend Healdtown Comprehensive School. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Nelson_Mandela_Medium_res.jpg?h=623540e1&itok=0V950_BY)
Africans Resist White Control
Explore the responses by leaders of the African National Congress to the new Union of South Africa government’s racially motivated Native Lands Act of 1913.
![Sol Plaatje was the co-founder of the African National Congress (ANC). As an activist and politician, he spent much of his life fighting for the enfranchisement and liberation of the South African people.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Sol_Plaatje.png?h=0bcf1b58&itok=yGWQuP50)
Women Rise Up Against Apartheid and Change the Movement
Activist Frances Baard details the struggle of Black South African women under apartheid and their active participation in anti-apartheid demonstrations, including the multiracial 1956 Women’s March on Pretoria.
![Frances Baard (1909–1997) worked as a domestic servant and then a teacher before turning to activism as a result of her experience of oppression and exploitation in South Africa.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1960_FrancesBaard_FH281818.jpg?h=04d92ac6&itok=Lpncs4vZ)
Mandela's Strategic Decision
Examine Nelson Mandela’s emotional rejection of a 1985 offer by the South African government to free him if he renounced violence and abstained from politics.
!["A young Nelson Mandela poses for a photograph in Umtata shortly before moving to Fort Beaufort to attend Healdtown Comprehensive School. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Nelson_Mandela_Medium_res.jpg?h=623540e1&itok=0V950_BY)
Posters from the Freedom Struggle in the 1980s
Look at a selection of anti-apartheid posters that show the diverse range of messages and issues covered within the movement.
![The Durban strikes of 1973, and the subsequent formation of new trade unions, were instrumental in causing the first seams of apartheid to break apart.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1973_DurbanStrikes_FH282023.jpg?h=ae1281eb&itok=_wD8vdVT)