Texas
Reconstruction Vignette
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On May 11, 1867, a freedman in Galveston, Texas, named Hawkins Wilson asked the Freedmen’s Bureau for assistance in finding his relatives. He had last seen his sisters in Virginia in the 1840s, just before an enslaver separated them and took Wilson to Texas. In this letter, Wilson noted the names of his relatives, their enslavers, and last-known locations to aid Bureau agents in their search. He emphasized his desire to reunite with his sisters, but did not know if they were still alive. It is not clear if Wilson and the Bureau ever located his family.
Source: Rice University
Texas
Standards Overview
Coverage of Reconstruction: Partial
ZEP Standards Rubric Score: 1.5 out of 10
The coverage of Reconstruction in Texas’s standards is partial, and their content is dreadful. The Texas State Board of Education adopted the most recent streamlined social studies standards in 2018. Standards will be revised beginning in 2022, though recent state legislation and possible lawsuits may extend that timeline.
Grade 4
The social studies course focuses on the history of Texas from the precolonial period to present day. There is one standard related to Reconstruction. The standard expects students to “describe the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Texas.”
Grade 5
The U.S. history course spans from 1565 to the present. There is one standard related to Reconstruction. The standard expects students to “explain the effects of the Civil War, including Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
Grade 7
The social studies course focuses on the history of Texas from the pre-colonial period to present day. The standards indicate that in the grade 7 course “content is presented with more depth and breadth than in grade 4.” Reconstruction is mentioned as a “major area” that students should learn.
The standards expect students to explain the significance of “1876, adoption of the current state constitution,” and “the political, economic, and social effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction in Texas.”
Grade 8
The U.S. History course spans from the early colonial era to Reconstruction. Reconstruction is mentioned as a “major area” that students should learn. The standards indicate that students should understand “the effects of Reconstruction on the political, economic, and social life of the nation.”
The standards expect students to:
Evaluate legislative reform programs of the Radical Reconstruction Congress and reconstructed state governments.
Explain the impact of the election of African Americans from the South such as Hiram Rhodes Revels.
Explain the economic, political, and social problems during Reconstruction and evaluate their impact on different groups.
Describe the impact of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
High School
The high school United States History Studies Since 1877 course is the second-half of the U.S. history course that students take in grade 8. The high school course does not directly mention Reconstruction even though the standards do expect students to: (1) “trace the historical development of the Civil Rights Movement from the late 1800s through the 21st century, including the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments” and (2) “explain how Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan created obstacles to civil rights for minorities such as the suppression of voting.”
In April 2020, the Texas State Board of Education approved a new elective Ethnic Studies course in African American Studies. The course starts prior to 1619 and spans to the present. The standards recommend the course for grades 10–12.
The elective African American Studies course standards expect students to:
Describe and analyze the successes and failures of Reconstruction.
Compare the opportunities and challenges faced by African Americans from post-Reconstruction to the early 20th century and viewpoints and actions of African Americans, including Ida B. Wells, W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Freedmen’s Towns, and the Exodusters.
Explain how sharecropping and redlining limited economic opportunities for African Americans.
Explain the circumstances surrounding increased violence and extremism such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the Colfax Massacre, lynchings, race riots, and the Camp Logan Mutiny (The Houston Riot of 1917).
Explain the impact of the convict leasing system on African Americans such as the Sugar Land 95.
Describe the expanding influence of African American music through the work of performers such as the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Educator Experiences
Texas teachers that we interviewed and who responded to our survey expressed concerns that Reconstruction is either rushed through in the curriculum or skipped entirely.
One Texas high school social studies teacher provided this explanation: “In Texas, U. S. history is taught over the course of two years: in 8th grade, colonization to 1876; in 11th grade post-Reconstruction to the present. The break between the two courses is three years and occurs at Reconstruction. As a result, basically no student is ever given a well-thought out, deep, and clear course on Reconstruction. It is hastily jammed into the curriculum in 8th grade to finish it up, and is not covered in 11th grade because it is not a part of the standards. When I ask my students about Reconstruction, they can only tell me it happened and that it was about giving Black [people] rights after the Civil War and emancipation. And that Radical Republicans were in charge. Essentially, [Reconstruction] is not taught in Texas.”
It is not just scope, sequence, and pacing that are a problem, but the overall pedagogical framework of social studies standards. One middle school teacher told us that “standards for social studies support the ELA curriculum, [the] focus is more so on reinforcing the reading skills. We’re not teaching history, we’re using history to teach about reading and writing.”
Teachers who responded to our survey told us that they try to go beyond the textbook and supplement the resources provided by their schools. One middle school teacher said that to teach Reconstruction they conducted personal research and drew on lessons from the Equal Justice Initiative and the Zinn Education Project. “Everything I’ve used is what I’ve been able to find on my own,” this middle school teacher said, but they still felt “uncertain as to whether or not I’m doing a good enough job.”
Houston teacher Nelva Williamson wrote about what it means for her students to learn the truth about the era,
As a high school history teacher and a lifelong learner of history, I know it is VERY important for our students to understand the Reconstruction era. Although for many years this period in U.S. history was painted as a “failure,” the rich history of formerly enslaved African Americans is important for young people to understand and to see for themselves in the making of this nation.
When I teach Reconstruction, history comes alive for my students. They see their ancestors as more than just enslaved people, but as people who took agency over their lives to create a better future for their descendants. The strength of the historic figures of this period, whether well known to history or not, gives students the representation they need to feel engaged in history.
After teaching the Reconstruction period, my students see why the push back of Jim Crow became the national norm and they vow to find ways to claim their seat at the table to crush that ugly spirit.
Assessment
The Texas standards on Reconstruction are written broadly with expectations that students generally explain the “effects” and “impacts” of Reconstruction. Unlike in their coverage of other historical periods, the standards contain almost no specific examples of what students should learn about Reconstruction.
By comparison, the grade 8 social studies course includes several lists of examples for the Revolutionary period.
Analyze causes of the American Revolution, including the Proclamation of 1763, the Intolerable Acts, the Stamp Act, mercantilism, lack of representation in Parliament, and British economic policies following the French and Indian War.
Explain the roles played by significant individuals during the American Revolution, including Abigail Adams, John Adams, Wentworth Cheswell, Samuel Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, James Armistead, Benjamin Franklin, Crispus Attucks, King George III, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Paine, and George Washington.
Additionally, the placement of Reconstruction at the very end of the grade 8 course limits the time and energy that teachers are able to expend on the subject.
The elective African American Studies course is an exception. This course includes standards that more deeply engage with the history of Reconstruction beyond generalizations. Unfortunately, it is not a required course. Beyond that course, there is little mention in the state standards of Black people’s achievements and activism.
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, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law HB3979, a bill “relating to the social studies curriculum in public schools” that bans teaching about “critical race theory” or other “controversial” topics. A new provision of the law, SB3, requires teachers to pass a civics training program and give parents access to the learning management systems at their children’s schools. Several respondents to our survey expressed concern about the possible chilling effects on classroom education that such laws can have around the country, particularly on discussions of the history and legacies of Reconstruction.