1. Do Now
Why is history important? How does our experience and memory of the past affect our choices and beliefs in the present?

2. 4.7 Legacy of Reconstruction

3. Reconstruction in Popular Culture
Considered to be inaccurate, racist, obsolete

4. Birth of a Nation Released in 1915 3 hour silent film
KKK portrayed as saviors
Freedpeople portrayed as beasts

5. W.E.B. Du Bois 1935- writes “Black Reconstruction”
Tried to set record straight about Reconstruction
Influenced future historians

7. Birth of a Nation

8. The Importance of Getting History Right

9. According to Du Bois, why have the “facts of American history” been changed?
What does Du Bois say students are taught about Reconstruction?
What does Du Bois say that students would NOT learn about Reconstruction?
Why do you think Du Bois wrote this piece?

10. You Do!
Write a one paragraph to D. W. Griffith, the director of The Birth of a Nation.
Identify a scene or portrayal in the film that is not accurate and use what you have learned in this unit to explain why it is inaccurate.
Argue why it is important that Griffith’s portrayal of Reconstruction be corrected.

12. Why did Reconstruction fail?