8th Grade Social Studies Semester 2 Syllabus
Please note: Teachers will follow the GCPS Grading Policy. Please see our
school website for details.
***Important dates: Interim II: March 8 & 9
CRCT: April 23-27
Posttest II: May 22&23
Progress Reports: February 23 & April 16
Teacher websites can be accessed via Lanierms.org‡Longhorn Faculty
Tutoring sessions are offered on Wednesday mornings at 8:30. Please see your
teacher if you need alternate days/times. (No tutoring will be available on
Fridays.) STUDENTS MUST HAVE THEIR AGENDA SIGNED FOR BEFORE
SCHOOL TUTORING SESSIONS.
Online Textbook: www.mystatehistory.com/georgia/ga_05
** This will serve as your study guide for Interim II and Posttest II. This is a continuous
assignment that needs to be updated daily to reflect current content being discussed in
class. **
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Section 1: State Government, New South, WWI,
1920’s, The Great Depression, WWII
(This information will be on your Interim II Test)
Unit I: State Government
Unit I-A: Legislative Branch
What is the role of the legislative branch in Georgia?
What is the Georgia General Assembly?
Unit Focus
House of Representatives
• Qualifications
• Terms
• Election
• Duties of the members
• Organization of leadership
Senate
• Qualifications
• Terms
• Election
• Duties of members
• Organization of leadership
Committee system
How does a bill become a law in Georgia?
Unit I-B: Executive Branch
What is the role of the executive branch in Georgia?
Unit Focus
Governor
• Qualifications
• Term of office
• Election
• Duties
Lieutenant Governor:
• Qualifications:
• Term of office:
• Election:
• Duties:
Organization of executive branch
Major policy areas of state programs
Unit I-C: Judicial Branch
What is the role of the judicial branch in Georgia?
Unit Focus
Structure of the court system
How judges are selected
Criminal law
Civil law
Adult Court System
• Jurisdiction
• Terminology
• Steps in Criminal Justice Process
• Rights of those in custody
Juvenile Justice System
• Jurisdiction
• Terminology
• Steps in the criminal justice process
• Rights of juveniles in custody
Ways to avoid trouble and settle disputes peacefully
Unit I-D: Economic Understandings
Sources of state revenue
• Sales taxes
• Federal grants
• Personal income tax
• Property taxes
Distribution of state revenue to provide services
How choices are made given the limited revenues of state and local governments
Unit II: New South
Unit II-A: Post-Reconstruction Era
What are the key political, social and economic changes which occurred in Georgia in the “New
South” era?
Unit Focus
Bourbon Triumvirate
Henry Grady
International Cotton Exposition
Tom Watson and the Populists
Rebecca Latimer Felton
1906 Atlanta Riot
Leo Frank Case
County unit system
Jim Crow Laws
Plessy v. Ferguson
Disenfranchisement and Racial violence
Booker T. Washington
W.E.B. Dubois
John and Lugenia Burns Hope
Alonzo Herndon
How did the Jim Crow laws and Plessy v. Ferguson impact African American rights?
How were the messages of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois different?
Unit II-B: Economic Understanding
What are some examples of goods and services being produced by Georgia in this time period?
Unit III: World War I, the 1920’s, The Great
Depression, WWII
Unit III- A: WWI
Who was involved in WWI?
How did WWI impact Georgia?
Unit Focus
Causes of World War I
Georgia’s contribution to U.S. war effort
Unit III-B: The 1920’s and The Great Depression
What important events occurred in the 1920’s?
What did the federal government do to help Georgia during The Great Depression?
Unit Focus
Boll weevil/drought
Economic factors that caused Great Depression
Eugene Talmadge
New Deal
Civilian Conservation Corps
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Rural electrification
Social Security
Unit III-C: World War II
Who was involved in WWII?
What important events led to WWII?
How did WWII impact Georgia’s economic development?
Unit Focus
Axis Powers
Allied Powers
Lend-lease Act
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Bell Aircraft
Georgia’s military bases
Savannah
Brunswick
Richard Russell
Carl Vinson
Holocaust
President Roosevelt’s ties to Georgia (Warm Springs)
Unit III- D: Economic Understanding
What are some examples of goods and services being produced by Georgia in this time period?
Section II: Post WWII, Civil Rights, Modern Georgia,
Economics
(This information, as well as Section I, will be tested on the Posttest II.)
Unit I: World in Conflict
Unit I-A: Post World War II
What impact did the transformation of agriculture have on Georgia’s growth?
How did the development of Atlanta impact Georgia?
Unit Focus
Development of Atlanta
William B. Hartsfield
Ivan Allen Jr.
Major league sports
Ellis Arnall
Unit I-B: Civil Rights Movement
What was Georgia’s role and who helped lead the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia?
Unit Focus
Herman Talmadge
Benjamin Mays
1946 Governor’s Race
End of white primary
Brown v. Board of Education
Martin Luther King, Jr.
1956 state flag
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Sibley Commission
Hamilton Holmes
Charlayne Hunter
Albany Movement
March on Washington
Civil Rights Acts
Maynard Jackson
Lester Maddox
Andrew Young
Unit II: Modern Georgia
In what political capacities has Jimmy Carter served the U.S. and Georgia?
What impact has the two-party system had in Georgia?
What did the 1996 Olympic Games effect Georgia?
Unit Focus
County unit system
Reapportionment
Jimmy Carter
Two-party system
1996 Olympics
Importance of new immigrant communities
Unit III: Economic Understandings
What are the pros and cons of free trade?
How have entrepreneurs impacted the development of Georgia?
Unit Focus
Profit
Entrepreneurs
Coca-Cola
Delta Airlines
Georgia Pacific
Home Depot