Interracial "harmony" and the Great Awakening

The students will be introduced to two episodes in 19th century American history, around the time of the Great Awakening, that show glimpses of some positive and negative consequences of interracial interaction in a religious context. The students will examine primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection to then be able to write a "sermon" from the perspective of a southern itinerant preacher during the Great Awakening arguing for or against religion as a cure for the social ill of racism and slavery.

A lesson plan for grades 11–12 Social Studies

By Jamie Lathan

Learn more

• Documenting the American South Antebellum North Carolina: A Social History by Guion Griffis Johnson

Related pages

• Exploring the church in the southern black community: Students explore the Documenting the American South Collection titled, the “Church in the Southern Black Community.” Beginning with a historian's interpretation of the primary sources that make up the collection, students search the collection for evidence to describe the experiences of African Americans living in the south during the Antebellum through the Reconstruction Period centering on their community churches. The activity culminates in student presentations of a digital scrap book.
• Religion and slavery in the American South: Comparing perspectives: In this lesson plan, students consult a variety of primary sources from the Documenting the American South Collection to uncover the varied impacts of religion in the lives of slaves in the American South. They are encouraged to seek out multiple, and sometimes contradictory, perspectives of this history.
• Mountain dialect: Reading between the spoken lines: This lesson plan uses Chapter 13 of Our Southern Highlanders as a jumping-off point to help students achieve social studies and English language arts objectives while developing an appreciation of the uniqueness of regional speech patterns, the complexities of ethnographic encounter, and the need to interrogate primary sources carefully to identify potential biases and misinformation in them. Historical content includes American slavery, the turn-of-the-century, and the Great Depression.

Related topics

• Learn more about American history, Great Awakening, abolition, history, religion, slavery, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

• Students will examine primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection.
• Students will be able to identify some positives and negatives of the Great Awakening on race relations in America.
• Students will write a “sermon” or persuasive essay for or against religion eliminating slavery and racism.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

90 minutes

Materials/resources

• pencil/pen and paper
• copy of Primary Document Question Sheet for each student

Technology resources

Access to computers with internet connection

Pre-activities

Students should be familiar with the first and second Great Awakenings. The teacher should assign reading and teach the students about such events as camp meetings and revivals, and such people as George Whitefield, Lyman Beecher, Charles Finney, Jonathan Edwards, among others.

Activities

1. Students should be taken to the Documenting the American South website.
2. Students should examine specific pages of the following primary source documents from the website:
   • William Henry Singleton. Recollections of My Slavery Days. Print out or read only pages 6 and 7 of the document.
   • A. W. Wayman, 1821-1895. My Recollections of African M. E. Ministers. Print out or read only pages 4–11, and 44 of the document.

   Have the students answer questions from the attached question sheet as they read the primary source documents.

3. After reading the required pages and answering the questions, the students should also take the time to review race relations during the 19th century and the Great Awakening. Considering the historical context of these documents as well as what the documents themselves reveal, the students should make a chart of the positive and negative aspects of religion and the Great Awakening on race relations between whites and blacks.
4. The students will then write a three paragraph persuasive essay (sermon), taking the role of a Southern itinerant preacher during the Great Awakening, arguing for or against religion as a cure for the social ills of slavery and racism. In the essay/sermon, the students will have to use evidence from both of the primary sources studied. The students will also have to make at least three arguments for or against religion as a cure for the social ills of slavery and racism.

Assessment

Qualities of essays earning an A: Thorough presentation of arguments using both of the primary sources from Documenting the American South. The sermon is in historical context. Includes at least three major arguments for or against religion as a cure for the social ills of slavery and racism.

Qualities of essays earning a B: Good presentation of arguments using one of the primary sources from Documenting the American South. Includes at least two major arguments for or against religion as a cure for the social ills of slavery and racism.

Qualities of essays earning a C: Adequate presentation of arguments using one of the primary sources from Documenting the American South. Includes only one major argument for or against religion as a cure for the social ills of slavery and racism.

Supplemental information

Comments

This lesson plan was created at the 2004 Documenting the South Summer Writing Institute and made possible through funding provided by NC ECHO, Learn NC, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education, and the UNC-Chapel Hill library system.