Suggested Teaching Instructions
Teacher Directions:
This activity can be used to teach the following Georgia Standards of Excellence:
SS8H6 Analyze the impact of Reconstruction on Georgia.
a. Explain the roles of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments in Reconstruction.
b. Explain the key features of the Lincoln, the Johnson, and the Congressional Reconstruction plans.
c. Compare and contrast the goals and outcomes of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Ku Klux Klan.
d. Examine reasons for and effects of the removal of African American or Black legislators from the Georgia General Assembly during Reconstruction.
e. Give examples of goods and services produced during the Reconstruction Era, including the use of sharecropping and tenant farming.
SS8H7 Evaluate key political, social, and economic changes that occurred in Georgia during the New South Era.
a. Identify the ways individuals, groups, and events attempted to shape the New South; include the Bourbon Triumvirate, Henry Grady, International Cotton Expositions, and Tom Watson and the Populists.
.Activity Summary
In this activity, students will trace the development of the textile industry throughout the 19th century. The activity follows a progressive timeline of primary sources starting with the invention of the cotton gin at the end of the 18th century and culminating in the expansion of cotton and textile mills at the end of the 19th century.
In this activity, students will trace the development of the textile industry in Georgia. Following a progressive timeline, the students will analyze documents that start with the invention of the cotton gin at the end of the 18th century through the industrial development at the end of the 19th century. The students will be asked to reflect on how the documents connect to the previous documents(s). Each document or set of documents is followed by a blank student response screen. Students will type a short answer in each screen explaining how the document they just finished analyzing relates to the previous document.
Students will analyze documents and answer questions as they work through the documents to trace the development of the textile industry. Students will analyze a document or set of documents and consider how they relate to the previous document(s). In the blank student response screens, the student will type a short answer explaining how the document they just finished analyzing relates to the previous document(s).
Teacher Directions
Write the email address of where you would like the students to send their final response on the board or in the directions if you are using the activity in a virtual setting.
Introduce the activity to the students. Remind the students to read the introduction and the directions before they begin. Remind them also to click on “View Document Details” for each document to review it more closely.
Note: It may be helpful for you to read the directions aloud to the class before beginning activity.
Student Directions
Read the introduction and the directions. When you are ready, click on "Start the Activity" to begin. Analyze the documents. "Click on "View Document Details" to learn more and see each document more closely. Click on “Next” to advance to the next screen. On the student response screens, you will be provided with a blank box in which you can type a short answer explaining how the document(s) you analyzed relate to the previous documents. When you are finished, check "When You Are Done". In this section, you will need to use what you have learned from the documents to write a paragraph explaining how the textile industry developed in Georgia.
Possible Answers for each student response are:
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Image of Cotton and Cotton Gin: The invention of the cotton gin made it easier and quicker to separate the cotton fiber from the seed.
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Map of the Relationship Between Slave Labor and Cotton Production, 1860: The cotton gin made growing cotton more profitable. This causes the amount of cotton to increase. Since cotton is labor-intensive to grow, the need for slave labor increased.
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Emancipation Proclamation: Following the Emanicipation and the passage of the 13th Amendment, slavery ended and land owners no longer had a free labor force.
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Freedman’s Labor Agreement: No longer slaves, freedmen entered into labor contracts to become sharecroppers.
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Sharecroppers in the Field: Both whites and blacks worked as Sharecroppers. Sharecroppers had to give the landowner a part of the crop to pay for rent, tools, fertilizer, and seed. Most landowners required the sharecroppers to plant cotton or other cash crops. So the amount of acreage in cotton increased dramatically.
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Soil Exhaustion: Cotton needs a lot of nutrients to grow. Repeatedly growing cotton will exhaust the soil. This causes poor soil and erosion.
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Southern States Phosphate and Fertilizer: To encourage plant growth and maximize harvests, farmers relied on increasing amounts of fertilizers so they could continue to grow cotton.
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Cotton on Sharecropper’s Porch: Fertilizer allowed farmers to continue to grow cotton.
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Cotton States International Exposition: Georgia leaders were tired of sending the cotton to cotton and textile mills in the North. They wanted to industrialize the South by building cotton and textile mills closer to the fields in order to maximize profits. To do this, they needed money from Northern investors so they organized expositions to highlight economic opportunities in the South and encourage Northern investment.
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Cotton Mill Carding Room image: As a result of the expositions, many cotton mills were built with money from Northern investors.
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Textile Mill images: As a result of the exposition, the number of cotton and textile mills in the South increased. Cotton processed at local mills could now be sent to local textile mills to be woven into cloth.
Final Response: With the invention of the cotton gin, cotton became easier to clean and more profitable to grow. This cause the acreage of cotton to increase, and because cotton was a labor-intensive crop to grow it caused an increase in the demand for labor. Before the Civil War, the labor force was enslaved, but afterwards freedmen entered into labor agreements to become sharecroppers. There were both white and black sharecroppers. Sharecroppers had to pay a part of their crops in exchange for rent, tools, fertilizer, and seeds and many landowners required them to plant cotton. This increased cotton production increased soil exhaustion and the need for chemical fertilizers. This helped sharecroppers raise more cotton. After Reconstruction, Georgia leaders wanted to industrialize the South and build more cotton and textile mills. They held expositions to encourage Northern investment to build them. Their efforts were successful and many cotton and textile mills were built.