What Reconstruction Meant to Freedwomen | Reconstruction 360

Under slavery many African-American women had to work as field hands, or in the slave owners’ homes, doing domestic chores and raising the white children. Freedom meant that black women became mistresses of their own homes and could devote themselves to their families and communities.

Standards

• 4.5.CO Compare the roles of various groups on Reconstruction.
• 4.5.P Summarize Reconstruction as a turning point in American history.
• 4.5.CX Contextualize the economic, labor, political, and social conditions in South Carolina during the period of Reconstruction.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into founding principles as viewed through this period of federal government involvement, the development and realignment of a new labor system not based on a system of slavery, and the significant political realignment of the South.
  • This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into how Reconstruction resulted in the foundation for the struggle for civil rights. This indicator was also developed to foster inquiry into Reconstruction Era policies such as Constitutional amendme
• 4.5.E Analyze multiple perspectives of the economic, political, and social effects of Reconstruction on different populations in the South and in other regions of the U.S.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into how the former planter class, African Americans, women, and others adjusted to, gained, lost, and/or regained position and status during Reconstruction. This indicator was also written to foster inquiry into how South Carolina worked with a stronger federal government and expanding international markets.