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4th grade · Social Studies · Unit 11 of 12

Reconstruction & the Late 1800s

New rights, Africatown, Jim Crow and growth

What your child practices

Reconstruction in Alabama (the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, Black officeholders, new schools and Africatown), the Jim Crow laws, sharecropping and voting restrictions that followed, the rise of Birmingham and new industries, and US expansion after the Civil War.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 4.15; 4.16; 4.17 · Reconstruction in Alabama, Jim Crow and economic change in the late 1800s, and US expansion after the Civil War

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. During Reconstruction, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments gave freedom, citizenship and the vote.
  2. Black Alabamians held office, like Benjamin Turner, and built Africatown with homes, a church and a school.
  3. Later, Jim Crow laws and sharecropping took rights away. Birmingham grew as a steel city.

Example: Who was Alabama’s first Black member of Congress? He was from Selma. His name was Benjamin Turner. Answer: Benjamin Turner

Reconstruction & the Late 1800s in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 11 of 12 in 4th grade Social Studies, after Alabama & the Civil War and before Colonies to 1900 Timeline.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Talladega College, founded in 1867, was one of Alabama's first colleges for…

    • farmers from Europe
    • Black students
    • sailors
    • soldiers

  2. Question 2

    The 13th Amendment (1865)…

    • ended slavery in the United States
    • started the Civil War
    • gave women the vote
    • made Alabama a state

  3. Question 3

    Birmingham was founded in 1871 and grew fast because nearby hills had…

    • oil
    • silver
    • gold
    • iron ore, coal and limestone for making iron and steel

  4. Question 4

    The Freedmen's Bureau helped formerly enslaved people by…

    • collecting taxes
    • building rockets
    • sending them to Africa
    • setting up schools and helping with food and work contracts

  5. Question 5

    After the war, many Alabama farmers began growing other crops besides cotton, such as…

    • corn, peanuts and vegetables
    • coffee
    • rice paddies
    • bananas

  6. Question 6

    The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) was a law that…

    • gave land to immigrants
    • banned most Chinese immigrants
    • welcomed all immigrants
    • ended slavery

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