THE GAME OF SOUTHERN HISTORY

Your family belongs to one of these three categories. 1. Wealthy, Land-Owning Planter Class.

Plantation Owners. 2. Poor Whites. Small farmers or tenant

farmers.3. Black slaves.

Come up with a name for your family!

YOUR GROUP WILL CREATE A SOUTHERN FAMILY

Your goal is too flourish during these turbulent times and save up enough cash for your descendants. You need to save at least two thousand dollars.

FAMILY HISTORY

Choose names for your family membersYour family should have

1. Patriarch: The father figure.2. Matriarch: The mother figure. 3. A son.4. A daughter.

Your family will change as the game continues.

DESIGN YOUR FAMILY!

The Time Before the War

ERA 1 – ANTEBELLUM (1800-1860)

Plantation Owners: The cotton business is booming! You already own land and make a thousand dollars in profits!

Poor whites: You made two hundred bucks from your small farm.

Slaves: You made no money at all.

ROUND ONE

Plantation Owners: A slow year for cotton. Only 800 dollars…Poor whites: You made a hundred dollars from farming.Slaves: A desperate option – you can risk escaping from master and heading north to freedom. If you’re caught, there will be terrible consequences. What does your group decide? Do you take it? Also, you earn nothing.

ROUND TWO

Plantation Owners: Send your oldest boy to West Point Military Academy to become an officer. It costs a thousand dollars, but he will earn honor for the family.

Poor Whites: Earn a hundred from farming.

ROUND THREE

Slaves: Disaster! You were caught. Every one of your family is whipped. Your daughter is sold down river. You expect you’ll never see her again.

ROUND 3 CONTINUED

The South expects that Lincoln and his party, the Republicans, will outlaw slavery. The Southern states secede from the Union and found the Confederate States of America under President Jefferson Davis. Their troops attack Fort Sumter and the Civil War begins!

BUT A NEW PRESIDENT’S BEEN ELECTED…

The War Between North and South

ERA 2 – THE CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)

The Bonnie Blue Flag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukKZIlTEDo

“As long as the Union was faithful to her trust

Like friends and like brethren, kind were we, and just

But now, when Northern treachery attempts our rights to mar

We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!”

CIVIL WAR MUSIC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-dzCt2xeSo

Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the jubilee!

Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!

So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea

While we were marching through Georgia.

MORE CIVIL WAR SONGS

Marching Through Georgia

Plantation Owners: Your son and patriarch are now at war! They are both officers, so give them titles – General, Major, Colonel, Lieutenant or so on. A Northern blockade means you make no money, but victory will come soon!

ROUND FOUR – WAR!

Poor Southern Whites: You enlist as well. Send your patriarch and son to war! You’re both privates. You make a hundred new Confederate dollars selling food to the army.

ROUND FOUR CONTINUED

Slaves – another desperate option. You can attempt to escape again, using the chaos of war as cover. If you do, you’ll join a Colored Union Regiment and fight against your former masters. But if you fail, the consequences will be disastrous…Make your choice!

ROUND FOUR CONTINUED

The South begins to lose the Civil War – Badly. Plantations Owners: Your patriarch dies in battle. Your son is grievously wounded. Choose a limb for him to lose.

General William Sherman’s army marches through the South and burns your plantation. All the money you had is gone, though you save a hundred dollars…

ROUND FIVE– THE TIDE TURNS!

Poor Southern Whites: Your patriarch is killed in battle. Your son survives. Confederate money is rendered worthless and you lose the farm. All your money’s gone.

ROUND FIVE CONTINUED

Slaves: If you chose to escape, your son became a soldier and earned two hundred dollars.

If not, you are freed by Union troops. At first, you’re called Contraband. Later, you are free and called Freedmen.

ROUND FIVE CONTINUED

General Lee surrenders to General Grant at Appomattox. The South is ruined. President Lincoln is assassinated.The Union takes over and begins the process of Reconstruction.

THE CIVIL WAR ENDS

After The War

ERA 3 – THE RECONSTRUCTION (1865—

1877)

Plantation Owners: You have to hire workers now. You still make five hundred dollars. If you want, you can hire Black workers and treat them fairly. You may make more money. Decide amongst your group.Poor whites: fifty bucks doing odd jobs. You’re still bitter about losing the war. If you want, your son can become an outlaw. Dangerous work, but you can make a lot of money. Decide amongst your group. Give him an outlaw nickname.Freedmen: You made twenty bucks doing odd jobs. If you want, you can go to a Freedman’s School and get some schooling. It may lead to better jobs.

ROUND SIX

White Terror! If you allowed Freedmen on your land, they were attacked by a hateful white mob and driven off. Earn no money. If not, two hundred.The Freedman’s School was burned down. If you chose to attend, your patriarch died defending your family.

ROUND SEVEN

Poor Whites: If you chose to be an outlaw, you robbed a train and stole a thousand dollars! If not, you made fifty dollars doing odd jobs.You can stay an outlaw, or keep doing odd jobs.

ROUND SEVEN – CONTINUED

Plantation owners: Sharecroppers start working on your land. Earn a thousand dollars from their labor.Freedmen: Your lost daughter returns! A happy reunion. Fifty bucks made this round. Now, your family can decide to stay in the South, or go North for an uncertain future…Poor whites: If your kept being an outlaw, your son was gunned down by the Marshals! You lose all the money you had! If not, twenty bucks.

ROUND

Southern History Assignment

1. Turn your family’s history into a narrative, narrated by a surviving member. 2. Research! Research the history and include historical details (people, events, organizations) in your narrative. Find at least five historical details.

3. What happens next? Continue your family saga for the next generation. At the very end, skip ahead to the present and tell what’s happening to your family’s descendants now.

THE GAME’S OVER, BUT THE SAGA CONTINUES..