Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Grade: 7
Unit Length (Number of class periods): 3-5
Course: Texas History
Topic: Freedmen's Communities in Austin
Concepts:
 Freedom.
 Common good
 Community
 Interdependence
 Citizenship
 Equality
 Leadership
 Government
 Rights and responsibilities
 Location and place
Overarching questions:
 What does freedom mean to different people?
 How can individuals and communities provide for the common good
of a specific group when the government fails to do so?
 What role does leadership play in the development of communities?
 How can people exercise their civic rights and responsibilities and use
good citizenship in establishing communities for the common good of
its inhabitants?
 How does a community reflect interdependence among its
inhabitants?
 What factors determine the location and place of specific
communities?
Unit Understandings:
 Emancipation affected the lives of African Americans
emotionally, socially, culturally, and economically.
 Freedman communities were established in different areas
of Austin.
 Freedman needed assistance in finding jobs and establishing
schools and community services.
 The Freedman's Bureau, which was created by the federal
government, was mostly ineffective in providing services to
African Americans in Texas..
 The freedman communities with leaders like Jacob Fontaine
and his newspaper The Gold Dollar helped to build schools
and provide services to the black citizens of Austin after
emancipation.
Unit Questions(s):
 How did emancipation affect the lives of African Americans in
Austin?
 Where did Freedmen settle in Austin?
 What were some of the problems faced by Freedmen?
 What was the Freedman's Bureau? Why was it not very effective in
Texas?
 How did African Americans work together in their communities to
solve many of the issues facing the Freedmen?
 Who were some of the community leaders during this period and what
legacy did they leave?
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
TEKS/TAKS:
7.1.A Identify the major eras in Texas history and describe their defining characteristics: Reconstruction
7.5.B Analyze the political, economic, and social effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
7.6.A Identify significant individuals, events, and issues from Reconstruction through the beginning of the 20th century.
7.8.A Create thematic maps, graphs, charts, models, and databases representing various aspects of Texas during the 19th and 20th
centuries.
7.10.B Explain ways in which geographic factors have affected the political, economic, and social development of Texas.
7.11.A Analyze why immigrant groups came to Texas and where they settled.
7.13.B Analyze the impact of economic phenomena within the free enterprise system such as supply and demand, profit, government
regulation, and world competition on the economy of Texas.
7.15.C Describe the structure and governance of Texas public education.
7.16.B Identify civic responsibilities of Texas citizens.
7.17.B Describe the importance of free speech and press in a democratic society.
7.19.A Explain how the diversity of Texas is reflected in a variety of cultural activities, celebrations, and performances.
7.19.B Describe how people from selected racial, ethnic, and religious groups attempt to maintain their cultural heritage while adapting
to the larger Texas culture.
7.21.A Differentiate between, locate, and use primary and secondary sources such as computer software, databases, media and news
services, biographies, interviews, and artifacts to acquire information about Texas.
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Materials
Austin Past and Present Geo Tour: Clarksville “Call and Response”
Austin Past and Present Time Tour: Civil War Period: 1860-1871 and Railroad and University: 1871-1892
Biographies:
 Jacob Fontaine
 The Gold Dollar
Austin Past and Present Geo Tour:
 Central Austin=>Clarksville Historic District, Franzetti Store (Wheatville);
 East Austin=>Masontown, Gregorytown, Robertson Hill (Pleasant Hill), Pilot Knob
Technology Needs
 For Clarksville “Call and Response” and Austin Past and Present Time Tour: one teacher directed computer & projector
 Biographies and Geo Tour: optional use of computer lab, one computer per group of 2-5 (COWs), or computer centers in classroom
Preview
 What did freedom mean for African Americans after the Civil War?
Watch Clarksville video "Call and Response" in the Geo-Tour section of Austin Past and Present.
Write a free response answer to the preview question.
Students discuss answers to this question using pair/share.
Extend to whole class discussion with these questions:
 What do you think will be some of the issues facing the freedmen?
 How do you think these problems will be solved?
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Student activities that support the TEKS/TAKS:
Whole class:
 Watch Time Tours for Civil War Period: 1860-1871 and Railroad and University: 1871-1892.
 Complete guided viewing questions.
Group work:
 Complete Freedman's Communities in Austin chart using information from Geo Tour.
 Locate and label these freedman communities on a current map of Austin.
 Read Jacob Fontaine biography. Discuss his leadership qualities and accomplishments.
 Examine Fontaine's The Gold Dollar primary source articles. Analyze these using PreAP strategy of SOAPS: Speaker, Occasion,
Audience, Purpose, Significance.
Assessment(s)
Write a speech that Jacob Fontaine might have delivered at the Juneteenth celebration in Austin on June 19, 1875—ten years after emancipation.
The speech should include:
 why we celebrate Juneteenth-- the history behind the celebration
 the specific accomplishments of the African American communities in Austin in the ten years since Emancipation Day.
 what issues still need to be addressed for African Amercian citizens in Austin
Time Tour viewing questions, Freedman’s Communities chart & map, and SOAPS activities may also be used for assessments.
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006