Virginia SOL VS.8

VS.8 is a Standards of Learning history and social science standard. These are the skills expectations under it.

• VS.8.a

  describing what the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution accomplished

• VS.8.b

  examining the effects of Reconstruction on life in Virginia

• VS.8.c

  describing the role that the “Freedmen’s Schools” played in the lives of African Americans in Virginia after the Civil War

• VS.8.d

  discussing the election of African American leader John Mercer Langston to Congress in 1890

• VS.8.e

  describing the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson

• VS.8.f

  analyzing the effects of segregation and “Jim Crow” laws on life in Virginia

01

What Students Need to Do

Students explain how the three amendments ended slavery, defined citizenship and equal protection, and protected voting rights for African American men. They use sources and cause-and-effect links to explain Freedmen’s Schools, John Mercer Langston, Plessy v. Ferguson, segregation, and Jim Crow in Virginia.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students correctly match each amendment with the change it made. They explain how schools and political leadership expanded opportunity, while Plessy and Jim Crow restricted education, voting, travel, and public life.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may think emancipation immediately brought equal rights and fair treatment. They may confuse Reconstruction with repairing buildings. They may also think Plessy ended segregation, or that Jim Crow was one law rather than a system of restrictions.

04

How to Assess It

Exit ticket: Name one change made by each amendment, one way Freedmen’s Schools or Langston expanded opportunity, and one way Plessy or Jim Crow limited it.

1. 01

   Give pairs event, law, and effect cards to sort into a Reconstruction timeline, then have them justify two placements.

2. 02

   Ask students to write: How did new rights create change, and how did segregation later limit those rights in Virginia?

3. 03

   Play Amendment Match, with students pairing the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments with freedom, citizenship, and voting rights.

4. 04

   Compare a photograph of a Virginia Freedmen’s School with a local school, then list what education made possible for each community.

• VS.7

  The students will apply history and social science skills to understand the key people, events, and issues of the Civil War and Virginia’s role by

• VS.5

  The student will apply history and social science skills to explain Virginia and Virginians’ role during the American Revolution by

• VS.11

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand the Civil Rights Movement in Virginia by

• 1.4

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand Virginia’s history by