Name ___________________________________Date__________________Period___
Web Quest Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
America During 1874 – 1960’s The Fight for Social Justice
The Experience
For each question you will be exploring the link(s) associated with the question. You will be reading, watching,
listening and experiencing the injustice , poverty, and racism prevalent throughout Reconstruction, The Jim
Crow Era, and The Great Depression in America spanning the years 1874 – 1960’s.
Directions:
Consider how what you learn makes you feel as you carefully, thoughtfully, and thoroughly respond using your
own words to all parts of each question. The first section, sharecropping, provides a two – column chart for
you to list your evidence and inferences, but you will use a blank sheet of college ruled paper to answer the
remaining questions. It is imperative to demonstrate that you adequately understand the information provided,
so do not copy text from these sources. Information copied from the sources will not count. Additionally,
information copied from a peer will not count. While you may certainly share and communicate ideas with your
partners, it is required that when you write your answers, you write your answers independently and the quiet
time needed to do so.
Section I: Sharecropping/Great Depression
Go to www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/brown/photos.htm to fill in your chart.
1. Infer what life for sharecroppers was like by examining the photographs. Pick 8 of the photos & fill in
the chart below. On the left had side describe the photo, and then on the right infer what the photo
means. (An example has been done.)
Evidence
EX: Pictures labeled as “sharecroppers” include
both black and white people.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Inference about sharecropping
Sharecroppers were not only African-Americans
but white as well.
Section I Continued: Sharecropping/Great Depression
Go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/peopleevents/e_sharecrop.html and
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_depression.html to answer the questions below.
2. Create a venn diagram to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between sharecropping and
slavery.
3. How were sharecroppers prevented from owning land?
4. What was the effect of the Great Depression on rural life?
Section II: Mob Violence/KKK
Go to www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_kkk.html and
www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_kkk.html to answer the questions below.
5. What things did the KKK do to frighten people and maintain power?
6. What are your reactions to the information on the Ku Klux Klan?
Section III: Jim Crow Laws
Go to www.americanradioworks.org/features/remembering/laws.html to answer the question below.
7. Define Jim Crow laws in your own words.
8. Examine the laws under two of the headings. Which headings did you choose? What was the most surprising
law for that subheading? Why do you find it so surprising?
Go to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html to answer the following question.
9. Explain the outcome of Plessy vs. Ferguson and its relationship to the Jim Crow laws.
Go to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/tools.html

select “Voting Then, and Now” and go through the activity pretending to be an African-American man
trying to vote during segregation

skim and try to take a part of the literacy test
10. Write a 1-page diary entry from the point of view of this man and his experiences that day.
Grading: each question is worth 10 points. Thoughtful and thorough answers that address all parts of the
question receive the highest amount of points. Answers that do not completely address the questions will be
deducted a percentage of the points based upon the percentage not answered. Answers that do not exhibit a
thorough understanding of the material will have points deducted. Answers that are confusing due to
grammar/syntactical errors will receive points deduction based on how much of the answer is presented in a
clear way that adequately communicates the correct answer.