Written Document Analysis Worksheet

 

1. TYPE OF DOCUMENT: Other

 

2. UNIQUE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOCUMENT: Typed

 

3. DATE(S) OF DOCUMENT:

 

·          Not yet Free- 1865·          A share cropping contract- 1879 4. AUTHOR (OR CREATOR) OF THE DOCUMENT: Dorothy Sterling POSITION (TITLE): Slave to Sharecropper

 

5. FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WAS THE DOCUMENT WRITTEN?The Document was written for an audience that is willing to learn the truth about reconstruction and what really happened during the aftermath of the war.

 

6. DOCUMENT INFORMATION (There are many possible ways to answer A-E.) A. List three things the author said that you think are important:1. Although the sharecroppers were supposed to be treated better with more equality, they were still whipped.2. Sharecroppers were usually uneducated and tricked into contracts that kept them poor.3. These contracts had various limitations that made the workers seem more like slaves than sharecroppers.

 

B. Why do you think this document was written?This document was written to show people that not everything is as good as it may seem. Most people think that because slavery was over the enslaved people were free to do whatever they pleased as citizens. This statement is completely false. Many uneducated sharecroppers were treated slaves, even though it was illegal at the time. Some were still whipped. C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document.After they told us we were free -- even then they would not let us live as man and wife together.The boss came next day and take this same girl (my sister) and whipped her nearly to death, but in the contracts he was to hit no one any more.

 

D. List two things the document tells you about life in the United States at the time it was written.The white people in south still thought that blacks were an inferior race.  Equality was not common. Many groups of white men lynched black men and women simply because of their skin color. "I seen over twelve colored men and women, beat, shot and hung between there and Shreveport." -  Not yet free

 

E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document:·          How did the United States as a whole allow these events occur?  

• Wasnt there some enforcement of the law?

Written Document Analysis Worksheet

1. Type Of Document (Check One): Other

2. Unique Physical Characteristics Of The Document (Check one or more): Other

3. Date(s) Of Document: April 9, 1866

4. Author (Or Creator) Of The Document: Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government
Position Title: 1866 Civil Rights Act

5. For What Audience Was The Document Written? The people of the United States of America

6. Document Information (There Are Many Possible Ways to List A-E):

A. List three things the author said that you think are important:

1. Blacks held political jobs in the government.

2. The government was faced with many tasks including the
reconstruction of schools and the government.

3. Civil Rights Acts were passed in 1866 and 1875.

B. Why do you think this document was written?

These documents were written to protect the rights of all persons living in the United States.

C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document.
1866 Civil Rights Act: "An act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication."
D. List two things the documents tell you about life in the United States at the time it was written.

1. During the Reconstruction time, attempts were being made in the north and in the government to provide equality and rights for all people.

2. For the first time, blacks were offered seats in governmental positions.

E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document.

Did blacks in the south share the experience of equality and civil rights even with the Civil Right Acts?

Black Legislators
For a short time during the Reconstruction period, blacks were allowed to hold positions in the government. A wave of black politicians came into office. Tasks that faced these legislators included the reconstruction of schools and the government, which would require a lot of money. Taxes were immediately placed on the people, which caused controversy and drew complaints from the people who felt it was unfair that they were taxed especially after they gave most of their money to fund the war. These legislators also passed two Civil Right Acts, one in 1866 and one in 1875.
On April 9, the 1866 Civil Rights Act was passed. It stated in Chapter XXXI. An act to protect all persons in the United States in their Civil Rights, and furnish the means of their vindication. This basically meant that all males were entitled to equal citizenship and civil rights, no matter what color you were.
On March 1, the 1875 Civil Rights Act was passed which stated in Chapter 114 An act to protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights. Whereas, it is essential to just government we recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that it is the duty of government in its dealings with the people to mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, color, or persuasion, religious, or political; and it being the appropriate object of legislation to enact great fundamental principles into law. This meant all persons, no matter their color, had unrestricted access to public places i.e. restaurants, trains, theatres, buses, and bathrooms.
However, the 1875 Civil Rights Act was not enforced and in 1883, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. In the Plessy v. Ferguson court case, the Supreme Court ruled that establishing separate public places for whites and blacks was constitutional as long as the conditions were equal. This separate but equal state of mind would remain like this until 1954 where schools became desegregated in the Brown v. Board of Education court case. It wasnt until 1957 though, when a federal bill was passed which protected the rights of all persons in the United States. Mind you, this was 75 years after the passing of the 1875 Civil Rights Act. Black legislators and politicians in office was a step in reducing segregation and racism in the United States during the Reconstruction period.

Written Document Analysis Worksheet

1. TYPE OF DOCUMENT (Check one):

Other

2. UNIQUE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOCUMENT (Check one or more):

Notations

Handwritten

Other

Typed

3. DATE(S) OF DOCUMENT:

December 14, 1904

4. AUTHOR (OR CREATOR) OF THE DOCUMENT:

POSITION (TITLE):

Thomas Dixon Jr., Believed (along w/ many in the south) that racial equality was not possible in the South and southerners like Dixon cast themselves as genteel victims of Northern aggression who bravely resisted.

5. FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WAS THE DOCUMENT WRITTEN?

Primarily for racist white southerners to encourage them to act on their beliefs and positively propagated news and ideas about the Ku Klux Klan.

6. DOCUMENT INFORMATION (There are many possible ways to answer A-E.)

A. List three things the author said that you think are important:

1. I have sought to preserve in this romance both the letter and the spirit of this remarkable period.

2. In the darkest hour of the life of the South, when her wounded people lay helpless amid rags and ashes under the beak and talon of the Vulture

3. An "Invisible Empire" had risen from the field of Death and challenged the Visible to mortal combat.

B. Why do you think this document was written?

To spread the ideas of racial inequality and (white) superiority throughout the broken and reconstructed South. Also, to give a glorified image of the Klan, possibly to recruit new members.

C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document.

1. The chaos of blind passion that followed Lincoln's assassination is inconceivable to-day. The Revolution it produced in our GovernmentI have sought to preserve in this romance both the letter and the spirit of this remarkable period.

2. How the young South, led by the reincarnated souls of the Clansmen of Old Scotland, went forth under this cover and against overwhelming odds

D. List two things the document tells you about life in the United States at the time it was written.

From his descriptions the author portrays the post-war South as a crippled and scorched mess as a result of the Norths oppressive tactics and policies. The racial tension in the south seemed to be extremely high because of his description of a vast invisible army of Klansmen, illustrating their large numbers and strength.

E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document:

Between the time the war ended and the time the book was written(1905) how much of the authors fears and predictions of racial equality were justified? Which ones? How many were unjustified?