Hints for the Active Learning Questions

History
1. You might want to add other items to the list, such as persons connected to Reconstruction. Also, after students have taken the test, you might want to review the incorrect definitions as a class, asking students what was wrong with each definition.

2. Alternatively, you could focus the class activity on the Reconstruction example and, for Iraq, have each student bring in a newspaper or magazine story describing some aspect of the American occupation.

Economics
1. Several books have been published on the issue of slavery reparations. One starting point might be Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations, by Raymond Winbush, which contains essays on both sides of the issue.

2. For extra credit, students could calculate the percentage change in each of these two values for their state, or add the figures for the appropriate states to produce two regional graphs: one for the Confederate states, the other for the remaining states.

Civics
1. Possible subjects for graphs and charts include changes in the number of African American members of Congress from Reconstruction to the present, African Americans' share of congressional seats compared to their share of the U.S. population, and voting rates among African Americans (over time or compared to other groups). Information on African American members of Congress can be found at the Web site of the Congressional Black Caucus.

2. If students are having trouble thinking of examples, refer them to the readings for ideas, or suggest that they look for examples in various categories such as transportation, economics, or civics.

Geography
1. Electoral maps can be found at Web site of the University of Virginia Library. For much of this period, the Democratic Party dominated the South, but in recent decades the Republican Party has grown much stronger in the region.

2. You might want to further direct students before they begin research, or review their findings before they make their reports to the class in order to check for possibly inappropriate content.

Reconstruction: The Second Civil War
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