African Americans in the White House Neighborhood Standards

District of Columbia Social Studies Content Standards

Grade 8

• 8.7.5 Describe the lives of black Americans who gained freedom in the North and founded mutual aid societies, schools, and churches to advance their rights and communities.
• 8.8.4 Trace the development of slavery; its effects on black Americans and on the region’s political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development; and the strategies that were tried to both overturn and preserve it (in the South).
• 8.10.6 Identify the conditions of enslavement, and explain how slaves adapted and resisted in their daily lives.
• 8.10.7 Describe the lives of free blacks and the laws that limited their freedom and economic opportunities.

Grade 12

• 12.DC.5 Students describe the nation's capital during the early 19th century.
• 12.DC.6.1 Analyze the abolition movement in Washington, D.C..
• 12.DC.6.4 Debate Washington, D.C.'s new Black Code.
• 12.DC.7. Describe the effect of the Civil War had on life in Washington, D.C. and they explain the effects of Compensated Emancipation and the Emancipation Proclamation on the city.
• 12.DC.7.5 Describe the emancipation by compensation of slaves owned by residents of Washington, D.C. and the emancipation of slaves in the Confederacy.

Grade 7-8 Historical and Social Science Analysis Skills

Chronology and Historical Interpretation

• Explain how major events are related to one another in time.
• Explain the central issues and problems from the past, placing people and events in a matrix of time and place.
• Understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including short-term causes or sparks from long-term causes.
• Assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources, draw sound conclusions from them, and cite sources appropriately.

Geographic Skills

• Use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states and countries. Interpret historical maps and charts.

Grades 9-12 Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills

Historical Chronology and Interpretation

• Show connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments.
• Interpret past events and issues within the context in which an event unfolded rather than present day norms and values.

Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View

• Construct and test hypotheses, collect, evaluate, and employ information from multiple primary and secondary sources; and apply it in oral and written presentations.

Maryland Social Studies Curriculum

Grade 8

Standard 1.0 Political Science

• 1.A.3.a Examine the effect that national interests have on shaping government policy, such as the abolitionist movement and slavery, states’ rights, and regional commerce.
• 1.C.2.b Describe methods that were used to deny civil rights to women, African Americans and Native Americans.

Standard 2.0 Peoples of the Nation and World

• 2.C.1.c Describe various reform movements, such as abolition, women’s rights, and education.

Standard 5.0 History

• 5.C.4 Analyze the institution of slavery and its influence on societies in the United States.
• 5.C.4.b Analyze the experiences of African-American slaves, and free blacks.

Grades 7-8

Standard 6.0 Social Studies

• 6.A.4 Use strategies to demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading).
• 6.B.1 Select and use informal writing strategies, such as short response/essay answer/brief constructed responses, journal writing, note taking, and graphic organizers to clarify, organize, remember, and/or express new understandings.
• 6.F.1 Interpret information from primary and secondary sources.
• 6.F.2 Evaluate information from a variety of sources.
• 6.F.3 Synthesize information from a variety of sources.
• 6.G.1 Describe how the country has changed over time and how people have contributed to its change, drawing from maps, photographs, newspapers, and other sources.
• 6.G.2 Use historic contexts to answer questions.

Virginia History and Social Studies Standards of Learning

Grade 7

CE.1 The student will develop the social studies skills responsible citizenship requires, including the ability to

• examine and interpret primary and secondary source documents.

CE.4 The student will demonstrate knowledge of personal character traits that facilitate thoughtful and effective participation in civic life by

• practicing trustworthiness and honesty;
• practicing courtesy and respect for the rights of others;
• practicing responsibility, accountability, and self-reliance;
• practicing decision making.

Grade 11

VUS.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis and responsible citizenship, including the ability to

• identify, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary source documents, records, and data, including artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, historical accounts, and art, to increase understanding of events and life in the United States;
• develop perspectives of time and place, including the construction of maps and various timelines of events, periods, and personalities in American history;
• communicate findings orally and in analytical essays or comprehensive papers;
• interpret the significance of excerpts from famous speeches and other documents.

VUS.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major events from the last decade of the eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century by

• describing the cultural, economic, and political issues that divided the nation, including tariffs, slavery, the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements, and the role of the states in the Union.

Grade 12

GOVT.1 The student will demonstrate mastery of the social studies skills responsible citizenship requires, including the ability to

• analyze primary and secondary source documents;

GOVT.17 The student will demonstrate knowledge of personal character traits that facilitate thoughtful and effective participation in civic life by

• practicing trustworthiness and honesty;
• practicing courtesy and respect for the rights of others;
• practicing responsibility, accountability, and self-reliance.

National Center for History in the Schools History Standards

Grades 7-12

Era 4

2B: The student understands the first era of American urbanization. Therefore, the student is able to

• Explain the growth of free African American communities in the cities and account for the rise of racial hostility.

2D: The student understands the rapid growth of the “peculiar institution” after 1800 and the varied experiences of African Americans under slavery. Therefore, the student is able to

• Identify various ways in which African Americans resisted the conditions of their enslavement and analyze the consequences of violent uprisings.
• Evaluate how enslaved African American used religion and family to create a viable culture and ameliorate the effects of slavery.

4A: The student understands the abolitionist movement.

Historical Thinking Standards Grades 7-12

Standard 1: Chronological Thinking

The student is able to: distinguish between past, present, and future time; establish temporal order in constructing historical narratives of their own; reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration, explain historical continuity and change.

Standard 2: Historical Comprehension

The student is able to: identify the author or source of the historical document or narrative and assess its credibility; reconstruct the literal meaning of a historical passage; identify the central question(s) the historical narrative addresses; differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations; read historical narratives imaginatively; appreciate historical perspectives; draw upon data in historical maps; utilize visual, mathematical, and quantitative data; draw upon the visual, literary, and music sources.

Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation

The student is able to: compare and contrast differing sets of ideas; consider multiple perspectives, analyze cause –and-effect relationships; draw comparisons across eras and regions in order to define enduring issues; hold interpretations of history as tentative; hypothesize the influence of the past.

Standard 4: Historical Research Capabilities

The student is able to: formulate historic questions; interrogate historical data; identify the gaps in the available records and marshal contextual knowledge and perspectives of the time and place; employ quantitative analysis; support interpretations with historical evidence.

Standard 5: Historical Issues

The student is able to: identify issues and problems in the past; evaluate the implementation of a decision.