Assignment: Some scholars of the Civil War emphasize the end of slavery as an inevitable outcome of the war. Based on the following documents, to what extent did the death of slavery appear inevitable to the white and black residents of Central Virginia in 1864?
Option 1: Write a document-based question essay in which you support your answer with evidence from the documents.
Option 2: Imagine that several of the authors of these documents were brought together to discuss this question. Write their dialogue, basing your answers on evidence in the documents.
Option 3: Prepare an answer in order to participate in a class discussion, possibly using the Paideia format.
Level 2: Complete one of the options using only one or two of the following documents.
Level 3: Complete one of the options using two or more of the following documents.
Documents:
A. Will of Shadrack Lively
B. Letter from Lucy Skipwith
C. Letter from Micajah Woods to his father John
Woods
D. Excerpts of diary from Louisa Minor
E. Classified ads from the Lynchburg
Virginian,
April 25, 1864, and the Charlottesville Chronicle, October 18, 1864
F. Article in the Charlottesville
Chronicle,
March 30, 1864
G. Letter from Jefferson Peyton to John Hartwell
Cocke
Return to Central Virginia
Society Index