African Americans and the Civil War

Speaker: Kathy Trusty

Suitable for Schools · Grades 1–12

Culture & Identity • History

At first they were not allowed to fight. Then they were and more than 180,000 signed up. This presentation discusses African Americans, free and enslaved, and their role in the Civil War. It examines the challenges they faced and puts a face to soldiers who fought valiantly for the Union cause and freedom.

For more specialized interests, host organizations can choose from the focuses below for a portion of the presentation:

• Freedom Delayed: From the Battlefield to Juneteenth
• Freedmen and Contrabands
• Women on the Homefront and in Camp
• Black Surgeons in the Fight for Freedom

Image: The Gallant Charge of the Fifty Fourth Massachusetts (Colored) Regiment

African Americans and the Civil War School Program

The presentation on African Americans and the Civil War is available by topic for K-12 schools. The presentations are shorter, approximately 20 minutes each, which leaves time for activities which are included.

Teacher/Coordinator will have the option of choosing one of the following topics below for their classroom presentation. All presentations include the Civil War artifacts display.

• Black Soldiers: Triumphs, Challenges, Valor (Grades 6-12)
• Key African American Figures and Heroes (All Grades)
• Laws, Proclamations, Field Orders, Constitutional Amendments (Grades 6-12)
• Delaware in the Civil War (All Grades)
• Juneteenth (Grades 2-5)
• War and Play: How Children Lived During the Civil War (Grades 2-5)
• Role of African American Women During the Civil War (All Grades)

Activities

Below are some possible activities that can be included in each presentation. Adjustments and specializations are possible according to each classroom’s needs.

• Grades 2-4
  • Word Search or Word Scramble Puzzle using key terms and historical figures
  • Who Am I? Can you tell who these figures are by their description?
  • Fact or Fiction? Determine if certain statements are true or false
• Grades 5-8
  • Analyze Primary Source Documents. What did the writer mean? Feel?
  • What If? Review an event or result and discuss what if…?
• Grades 9-12
  • Document Analysis. Analyze an Order, decipher its language, what was its
  • impact?
  • Photo Interpretation. What did the photo mean at the time? its impact?
  • Opposing Views: Abraham Lincoln v Frederick Douglass