Reconstruction Project Mon, January 25 – Idea check Fri, February 5 – Rough draft check Wed, Feb 10 – Final draft due

Your project is to draw a political cartoon, a comic strip, or create an illustrated timeline/flow map about

Reconstruction. You may choose any of the topics in the table below. Other topics require teacher approval.

People Events Legal Issues

• Abraham Lincoln

• Andrew Johnson

• John Wilkes Booth

• Dr. Samuel Mudd

• Mary Surrat

• Lewis Powell

• George Atzerodt

• David Herold

• William Seward

• Carpetbaggers

• Scalawags

• Hiram Revels

• Ku Klux Klan

• Radical Republicans

• Mary Todd Lincoln

• Ned Spangler

• Lincoln’s assassination

• Effects of Lincoln’s

assassination

• Reconstruction

• Sharecropping

• Corruption/scandal in Grant’s

administration

• Panic of 1873 and/or

economic depression

• Compromise of 1877

• 13th Amendment

• 14th Amendment

• 15th Amendment

• Black codes

• US v. Cruikshank

• US v. Reese

• Grandfather clauses

• Plessy v. Ferguson

• Jim Crow Laws

• Literacy tests

• Poll taxes

Remember that a political cartoon is about the issues. It uses symbols and exaggeration to get the artist’s

point and opinion about the topic across. Your name may be on the front (in one of the bottom corners) or back of

your cartoon.

If you choose to create a comic strip it must have at least two characters & dialogue. You may use real

people or make up your own characters. Your strip should have 4-5 panels – you may have one box without

dialogue.

You must write a juicy paragraph explaining your cartoon or dialogue on the back of your project (or a

separate piece of paper).

Your explanation must answer the following questions:

� Which Reconstruction topic is your project about?

� Why was this topic important during Reconstruction?

� What is happening in your project?

� Who is in your project?

o If you are using symbols to represent people in a political cartoon:

� Who do your symbols represent?

� Why did you choose those specific symbols to represent those people?

� Where is your project happening?

� When is your project happening?

� Why did you choose this Reconstruction topic for your project?

You may also create an illustrated timeline or flow map which covers the 5 most important events of

Reconstruction. You must have at least one picture per event. Your pictures may be original.

For each event you must include the following information:

� When did this event occur?

� Where did this event occur?

� Who is involved or affected by this event?

� Why was this event important to Reconstruction?

You must also write a paragraph on the back or at the end of your timeline or flow map which answers the

following questions:

� Which event on your timeline do you think was the most important? Why?

� Who do you think affected Reconstruction the most (positively or negatively)? Why?

Rubrics

Cartoon & Comic Strip Comic Strip Timeline/Flow Map

Creativity!!!!! Dialogue between 2 characters 5 Pictures

4-5 panels 5 Whys

Only 1 panel without dialogue 5 Whens

Juicy Paragraph Explanation 5 Wheres

What? Where happening? 5 Whos

Why important? When? Most Important Event

Who? Why chosen? Most Important Person/Group

Use the space below to draw your rough draft Remember

• Dialogue is read from left to right & top to bottom in comics/cartoons just like a book