The Importance of Land to Freedpeople | Reconstruction 360

Kaltura

Freed blacks in the United States believed the government had a plan to distribute land to them, and that they were entitled to it. General Sherman’s Field Order 15 gave them small plots of farmland, fulfilling their hopes. But for most freedpeople, even those on the Sherman reserve, the realization of their dreams did not last.

Reconstruction 360 uses a 360 degree video platform as a storytelling device that lets the audience step inside pivotal Reconstruction events. By clicking on icons within the 360 video the user can access short documentaries that offer the perspectives of multiple characters. Reconstruction 360 also includes lesson plans, primary documents, curriculum standards and a geolocative walking tour of Reconstruction sites in downtown Columbia, S.C. This module, 40 Acres and a Mule, focuses on the theme of land and labor at the close of the Civil War. It is a prototype for a larger project that will include five more themes.

Standards