English Dutch French German Italian Portuguese Russian Spanish

Search

New Lesson Plan: Civil War Veterans & Disability in American History

Published on Sun, 11/20/2016

[caption id="attachment_9925" align="alignright" width="300"]Buildings of the Great Central Fair, in aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Logan Square, Philadelphia, June 1864 Buildings of the Great Central Fair, in aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Logan Square, Philadelphia, June 1864[/caption] Created with an emphasis on Disability History, the following lesson plan from Emerging America explores primary source images and documents related to Civil War wounded. Students will learn about the great number of wounded during the Civil War and the subsequent need for immediate and long term care. As a result of this tremendous need, a shift away from private volunteer organizations meant that the U.S. Federal Government accepted the responsibility of caring for the wounded and disabled. Students work in mixed ability groups to analyze and order primary source documents from the Civil War era focused on wounded individuals and the immense need for both physical and mental support. Available for use as a stand alone lesson or the start of a research project, this lesson includes a narrative assessment in which students answer the following prompt: How did the Civil War change how the United States cared for veterans with disabilities? What factors led to the change? View more details, and download or access the lesson plan online. Emerging America brings this lesson to you thanks to the outstanding primary sources and materials provided by the Library of Congress.
Categories: 

Karen Albano

former History eNews Editor, Emerging America
Karen Albano worked with Emerging America from 2015-2020, contributing to many facets of the program including developing curriculum, improving the accessibility of the website to educators, overseeing social media outreach, and editing the History eNews.