Wisconsin
Reconstruction Vignette
| The connection between Ku-Klux and the Democratic Party often slipped between figurative analogies, indirect associations, and literal claims of a supportive relationship or even identity. The Wisconsin Democratic Party was the “Ku-Klux” party because their interests depended on the suppression of Southern Black voters. . . . This phrase “Ku-Klux Democracy” became so common, particularly in election seasons, that it must have come to feel natural to readers. Yet this strategy could backfire on Republicans. Democrats, though the minority party, had significant power in the federal government. They were also structurally equivalent to the Republican Party. If they were Ku-Klux-like, it cast a shadow on the government itself. |
In the early years of Reconstruction, white terror organizations quickly integrated into established political parties. By 1868, the Ku Klux Klan and the Wisconsin Democratic Party had forged a common identity predicated on Black voter suppression.
Source: Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan During Reconstruction by Elaine Frantz Parsons
Wisconsin
Standards Overview
Coverage of Reconstruction: Nonexistent
ZEP Standards Rubric Score: 0 out of 10
The coverage of Reconstruction in Wisconsin’s standards is nonexistent. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction adopted the current Standards for Social Studies in 2018. The Standards for Social Studies indicate that “adopting these standards is voluntary. Districts may use the academic standards as guides for developing local grade-by-grade level curriculum.” Wisconsin is a local control state, and curriculum is developed or selected at the district level, most often through the purchase of social studies textbooks. State standards in Wisconsin focus on skill-building rather than content surrounding any specific historical era.
The standards will be up for review in 2024.
Elementary, Middle, and High School
The Standards for Social Studies focus on outlining general “end of grade-level expectations.” Those grade-level expectations are broad and skill-based, not content-specific, such as encouraging that students learn to identify change over time or differing historical perspectives. There are no suggested courses listed by grade level or other criteria.
The standards do indicate that courses should generally center “historically marginalized groups” and “human and civil rights,” but does not directly list marginalized groups in the standards document. Reconstruction is mentioned as a historical period that students should learn in courses on U.S. history and Wisconsin history.
K–12 students studying United States history will focus on: 1861–1877, Civil War and Reconstruction.
K–12 students studying Wisconsin history will focus on: 1848–1877, Early Statehood, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
Because Wisconsin’s standards provide so little information about whether and how districts and schools should teach Reconstruction, we chose to investigate curricula at the district level. The Local Snapshot below is not meant as a judgment of these districts’ approach to Reconstruction. They were chosen largely at random and are not factored into the grade the state standards receive. The brief analysis of district-level curricula that follows is intended to simply provide a snapshot into how state standards, or lack thereof, can shape Reconstruction pedagogy in the classroom.
Local Snapshot
Reconstruction is covered as part of the last unit of the grade 8 American History course. The unit is focused on the Civil War, and only one of its seven “learner outcomes” mentions Reconstruction: “Explain the elements of reconstruction.” Of the eight suggested assessments, only one could potentially bear on Reconstruction: “Describe the two major positive results of our Civil War.”
The high school U.S. history course begins with a 2-3 week recap of all of U.S. history through Reconstruction. The final learner outcome in the unit is for students to “examine the successes and failures of Reconstruction policy.”
Grafton School District
The grade 8 American History course in Grafton does not explicitly cover Reconstruction. It ends “in 1865 with the Civil War.”
The high school U.S. history course is intended to cover Reconstruction, with the course description explicitly mentioning the “Civil War/Reconstruction Era.” The “Power Standards and Learning Targets” for the course, however, do not mention Reconstruction at all and seem to be focused mainly on the 20th century. It is unclear whether Reconstruction is indeed a part of the curriculum in Grafton.
Educator Experiences
Despite the lack of guidance from state standards and the challenges of curricular pacing, some teachers in Wisconsin who responded to our survey are making a concerted effort to deepen their teaching of Reconstruction. One middle school humanities teacher explained that “it is essential for students to learn about the Reconstruction era after learning about the Civil War…. It challenges the idea that history inevitably progresses in positive ways when students learn how and why Reconstruction ended, and the aftermath of these decisions. It allows for students to identify and make connections to themes, issues, and questions that still affect our society today.” A different middle school teacher noted they recognized the importance of the topic and sought to incorporate Reconstruction education more deeply in their classroom: “I changed my own curriculum to focus about two to three weeks because I felt like three days wasn’t enough.”
Teachers also expressed concerns about how Reconstruction is incorporated into district-level curricula. One Wisconsin middle school humanities teacher noted that in their district’s curriculum “U.S. history is split between 8th and 9th grade — with Reconstruction as the halfway point. So, there is a risk that Reconstruction is rushed to fit in the end of 8th grade, or glossed over in the 9th grade because [teachers] assume it has already been taught.” Another middle school teacher who responded to our survey also mentioned the challenges of pacing, saying “we don’t get to [Reconstruction]” .. It’s the “last unit of the year.”
Assessment
Wisconsin’s state standards focus on skill-building and not content areas, so standards on Reconstruction are nonexistent. They provide no guidance on teaching Reconstruction beyond mentioning that the period should be taught in schools. The responses to our teacher survey and our analysis of curricula in districts as geographically distanced from each other as possible demonstrate that Reconstruction is not well covered in many Wisconsin schools. The topic is often either mentioned briefly or not at all. The timing of Reconstruction as the last unit of middle school American history and the first unit of high school U.S. history seems to be a significant factor in some schools and districts glossing over it. With no firm direction from state standards that Reconstruction is a necessary topic to teach, many schools may not prioritize it.
Without guidance around key Reconstruction-era history, many students will not learn about the intensification of white supremacy, the Black Codes, the KKK, debates over who would control land and labor, and Black agency and political organizing. Teaching Reconstruction effectively requires centering Black people’s struggles to redefine freedom and equality and gain control of their own land and labor during and after the Civil War. Any discussion of Reconstruction must also grapple with the role of white supremacist terrorism in the defeat of Reconstruction and the negative and positive legacies of the era that persist to this day.
In 2021, Republican legislators introduced AB411, a bill designed to prohibit teaching about systemic racism and sexism, and withhold state aid from schools that violate this ban. The bill would also mandate that schools publish a list of their curricula. In 2022, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the bill. Still, its introduction is troubling. Several respondents to our survey expressed concern about the possible chilling effects on classroom education that such bills can have around the country, particularly on discussions of the history and legacies of Reconstruction.