THE CHOICES PROGRAM BROWN UNIVERSITY
VIDEO COLLECTION

The Civil War and the Meaning of Liberty

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Introduction: What is the Meaning of Liberty?

Was the American Civil War a war over slavery?
What are some common misconceptions about slavery in the United States?
Why is it essential to learn about the history of slavery in the United States?
What role does slavery play in the history of the United States?
What is racial slavery and how is it different from other forms of slavery?
Why should we use the term “enslaved people” instead of “slaves”?
What are some common misconceptions about racial slavery?

Part I: Antebellum America

Why does the misperception that slavery only happened in the southern United States exist?
What was daily life like for enslaved people?
What kinds of sources can be used to show how enslaved people experienced their lives?
How did slavery contribute to the economy of the United States and the world?
What was the “Cotton Kingdom”?
Why is the Mississippi Valley so important in the years before the Civil War?
How was patriarchy part of the founding of the United States?
How did interactions between Indian and European groups in the West change after 1800?
How is the term “westward expansion” problematic?
Why are Indian views sometimes left out of the history of the West?

Part II: Abolition and the Politics of Slavery

What kind of slave empire did the South hope to create?
Why did some Southerners want to reopen the Atlantic slave trade?
What were the daily hardships faced by enslaved people in the Mississippi Valley?
How did enslaved people resist slavery?
How did enslaved people challenge the institution of slavery?
What is the importance of the abolition movement?
Why did abolitionists face a violent white backlash?
What was the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act?
How did the Fugitive Slave Law change abolitionists’ attitudes about nonviolence?
How did enslaved people respond to and resist slavery?
How did enslaved people resist slavery?
How did enslaved people resist slavery?
Who was Henry Box Brown and how did he create his freedom?
How did gender shape the experiences of slavery?
What was the U.S. response to the Haitian Revolution?

Part III: The Civil War

How did enslaved people create freedom?
Who were the “contrabands of war” and why were they important?
What did the Emancipation Proclamation mean to enslaved people?
What role did enslaved Black people play in the American Civil War?
Why was the Civil War necessary to end slavery?

Epilogue: The War’s End

What was the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution?
What were the limitations of the Thirteenth Amendment?
What are the legacies of racial slavery?
How did the Thirteenth Amendment affect the lives of formerly enslaved people?
What did freedom mean to enslaved people?
What does the struggle for Black freedom look like today?

Lesson: The Geography of Slavery and the Cotton Economy

How did slavery contribute to the economy of the United States and the world?
What was the “Cotton Kingdom”?
Why is the Mississippi Valley so important in the years before the Civil War?
What are some common misconceptions about slavery in the United States?
Why does the misperception that slavery only happened in the southern United States exist?

Lesson: Black National Conventions, Abolition, and the Constitution

What is the basic principle of American democracy?
What is the importance of the abolition movement?
Why did abolitionists face a violent white backlash?

Lesson: Spies, Nurses, and Organizers: Women’s Participation in the Civil War

How was patriarchy part of the founding of the United States?

Lesson: Letters from Black Soldiers and Their Families

What role did enslaved Black people play in the American Civil War?
Who were the “contrabands of war” and why were they important?

Lesson: Food as History (online)

What can the study of food reveal about history?

Lesson: Civil War Photographs as Sources

How do you go about analyzing a work of art?
Dorothea Lange, Destitute peapickers in California, 1936

Lesson: Historical Memory: Commemorating the Civil War

What is historical memory?
How do governments and citizens shape historical memory?
What are the consequences of forgetting historical violence?
What is the difference between history and memory?
How is the history of slavery remembered today?
How are the history and memory of Confederate monuments different?
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