Mock television news reports regarding events from the era of “Bleeding Kansas” either as a “breaking news” or “special report” format.
Students will have to research the Bleeding Kansas era as to events, people, and outcomes, giving them a better understanding as to the important of the era in American history.
- gain knowledge of the Bleeding Kansas era
- gain an understanding of the debate between pro-slave and abolitionist forces of the time
- hone their skills at analytical and critical thinking
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
Era 5 Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Standard 1: The causes of the Civil War
Standard 2: The course and character of the Civil War and its effects on the American people
Kansas
Historical Standard: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant
individuals, groups, ideas, and events, etas, and developments in the history of Kansas,
the United States, and the world, utilizing essential analytical and research skills
Benchmark 5: The student engages in historical thinking skills
• Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era by Nicole Etcheson (2006)
• Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War by Michael Fellman (1990)
• Black Flag: Guerrilla Warfare on the Western Border, 1861-1865 by Thomas Goodrich (1999)
• Lincoln and Kansas: A Partnership for Freedom by Carol Ayres (2001)
• National Archives materials
• Kansas State Historical Society materials
• Missouri State Historical Society materials
Students will be given a list of events from the Bleeding Kansas era. Included in that list would be
the following (not all inclusive):
- Lawrence Raid
- Sumner’s “Crimes Against Kansas” Speech
- Brooks-Sumner Affair
- passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
- 30 March 1855 territorial election
- Pottawatomie Massacre
- Marais de Cygne Massacre
- interview of anti-slavery forces (John Brown, James Lane, James Montgomery, etc.)
- interview of pro-slave forces (William Quantrill, David Atchison, etc.)
- Lincoln’s 1859 visit to Kansas
- a Jayhawker raid (must be on an actual raid)
- a Border Ruffian raid (must be on an actual raid)
- any of the armed confrontations between free state and pro-slave forces in Kansas or Missouri
• Depending on student numbers, reports will be assigned on a random draw
• Students will be given two weeks to research the event, write a script, and film a television news re-
port centered on that event
- it can be in one of two formats:
- a “breaking news” report
- a “news of the day” report
- either format must meet the following time parameters
- minimum of 5 minutes
- maximum of 10 minutes
• Students can work as individuals or as pairs
- if in pairs, one works as the studio correspondent while the other works as the field reporter
- each must appear fairly equally in the report
- paired reports must be at the 10 minute maximum
• Students can recruit others from outside the class to appear in the video
• Students are expected to make the news reports “time sensitive”
- language should be as authentic to the time period as possible
- dress should be as authentic to the time period as possible
- props should be an authentic to the time period as possible
• Extra credit can be earned by reporting from the actual sites involved in the event
- for those events for which this would be deemed impossible, an alternate extra credit source will
be made available
• On the due date, students are responsible for turning in:
- their complete, printed script with a footnoted bibliography formatted according to Writers Inc.
- a DVD containing the filmed version of their news report
- a memory stick containing the recording of their news report
Rubric for this lesson attached