Alabama Social Studies SS24.US1.19b
The Standard
- SS24.US1.19
- Describe the emergence of the New South economy and Jim Crow era, and explain the corresponding efforts to secure civil rights by Black Americans after Reconstruction.
Summarize political and social motives that influenced the writing of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, and explain its effect on politics and economics in Alabama.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why the writers of Alabama's 1901 constitution sought to keep Black voters and many poor white voters from the polls. They connect voting restrictions and tax limits to political power and funding for schools and services.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how a poll tax reduced voting and helped wealthy white leaders keep power. They can explain how tax limits made it harder to fund public schools and local services.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think literacy tests were neutral checks of reading skill, rather than tools used to block voters. They may also think the voting restrictions affected only Black Alabamians, or that tax limits had no effect beyond lowering tax bills.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: How did a poll tax change who could vote, and how could a tax limit affect a county school? Write one sentence for each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs printed excerpts on poll taxes and tax limits; have them place sticky notes under motive, political effect, or economic effect.
Ask students to write: Why might a wealthy landowner support both a poll tax and a tax limit?
Have teams match cards labeled poll tax, literacy test, and tax limit to cards showing who gained power or lost resources.
Show a current Alabama county property tax map and ask students what tax limits might mean for local school budgets.
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Printable SS24.US1.19b Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.4.10
Explain how “Alabama fever” influenced Alabama's settlement, economic growth, and political development, leading to statehood and the 1819 constitution.
- SS24.US1.12b
Summarize the political, social, and economic role that Alabama played in the Civil War.
- SS24.5.2b
Describe how the Populist Movement influenced the creation of the 1901 Alabama Constitution and explain the effects of its adoption, including disenfranchisemen...
- SS24.AS.18
Summarize the creation and composition of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 and formulate an argument for constitutional reform in Alabama.
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