Alabama Social Studies SS24.5.2c
The Standard
- SS24.5.2
- Describe Progressive Era political reforms in both the United States and Alabama.
Identify and describe examples of prison reform, including the abolition of the convict-lease system and leadership of Julia Tutwiler.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how Alabama leased prisoners' labor to companies and why reformers pushed to end it. They describe the harm this caused, especially for Black prisoners, and Julia Tutwiler's work to improve conditions for women prisoners.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain that ending convict leasing stopped the state from renting prisoners' labor, not from keeping prisons. They can name Tutwiler's push for separate housing for women prisoners.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think convict leasing meant renting prison buildings, not prisoners' labor. They may think ending it freed every prisoner or that Tutwiler ended the system by herself.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Who received prisoners' labor under convict leasing? What changed when leasing ended? Name one change Julia Tutwiler sought for women prisoners.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards labeled prisoner, state, company, and payment; have them draw arrows for convict leasing, then mark what ending the system changed.
Ask, 'Why did ending convict leasing count as prison reform even though prisons still existed?'
Play a card sort: students place unsafe work, leased labor, separate women's housing, and ending leases under 'problem' or 'reform.'
Show a state corrections website page on prison education; ask students how its purpose connects to Tutwiler's work for better treatment.
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Printable SS24.5.2c Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.AS.15a
Describe the role of women reformers in promoting reform, including Margaret Murray Washington and Julia Tutwiler.
- SS24.AS.16c
Identify civil rights leaders and foot soldiers in Alabama, and explain their contributions to fostering change in the state.
- SS24.AS.14b
Evaluate the role of new labor systems, Black Codes, and violence in stemming civil rights progress following Reconstruction in Alabama.
- SS24.5.8a
Identify the contributions of reformers during the New Deal, including Alabama political and civic leaders.
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