Share these questions: 

*Who writes history? 

*Can history be revised? Why or why not?

*If revised, then when, who, and how should it be revised? 

Discuss student responses to these questions.

Transition from this discussion and ask students if they know the definition of the words emancipate, emancipation, or emancipator? In follow up, share this definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Emancipate: free from restraint, control, or the power of another especially: to free from bondage

Teacher Note: If you did not complete Lesson Two in this series and your students are not familiar with the Emancipation Proclamation, it may be helpful to have them read it or read it aloud. Debrief the reading of the document.

*When was it issued?

*What was its purpose?

*Was it an important document? Why or why not?

Next, read aloud two perspectives from historians on emancipation, Lincoln’s role, and the complexity of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Edna Greene Medford: "African Americans were leaving the plantations and farms long before Lincoln issued the [Emancipation] [P]roclamation. But the proclamation is important because it tells those people that the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the country, is telling you: 'You are free to go.' And so even if they were not in the vicinity of a Union force at the time, they knew the proclamation existed."

Chris Bonner: "There’s this myth of Lincoln as the 'Great Emancipator.' The idea is that Lincoln was the driving force behind the eradication of slavery in the Civil War era… The Emancipation Proclamation doesn't technically free anybody, but it does create the possibility for Black people to seize and claim their own freedom, which they did, they had been doing, and they continued to do after the enactment of that policy. [It] was radical because it was a statement that the federal government was going to be taking steps to end slavery. It was radical because it said that freedom, that emancipation was a war aim, and so it’s saying that the Civil War can’t be won unless enslaved people in the South are freed. But it was also conservative, or moderate or limited in profound ways because it didn’t touch slavery in the border states, because it required enslaved people to find their ways to the Union lines in order to actually gain the freedom that was being held out.” 

Organize students into pairs and have them interview one another using these prompts to guide their conversation:

*What does the phrase the “Great Emancipator” in reference to Lincoln mean to you?

*Chris Bonner refers to the idea of Abraham Lincoln as the force behind the eradication of slavery as a “myth.” 

*What is a myth? 

*How are myths created? 

*What purpose do they serve? 

Distribute and review Handout One: Lincoln’s Dilemma Learning Log and give students a few minutes to record their insights and reflections from their partner interview.

Teacher Note: Transition from these big ideas to sharing with students that they will be watching two clips from Episode Three of Lincoln’s Dilemma, which offer multiple perspectives on Lincoln’s role and leadership in emancipating enslaved people. 

Remind students to use Handout Two: Film Clips Transcripts to follow along, underlining or highlighting ideas, names, or concepts that stand out as important, or that they would like to learn more about especially in regards to challenging the myth of Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator.” The notes and ideas from this lesson will be particularly helpful for their final project.

At the end of both clips, students will use the discussion prompts in pairs or small groups.

Watch Film Clip One: Myth of the "Great Emancipator" (3:05)

The first clip presents conversations between protesters disagreeing about how to characterize the memory of Lincoln and his place in American history and historians’ reflections on Lincoln’s legacy. Share with students that this opening of Episode Three is a strong example of revisiting existing narratives of history.

Clip Discussion Prompts:

*What new perspectives did you hear about Lincoln in this clip? 

*What role do you think Lincoln played in emancipation, and why is it remembered in the way that it is?

Journalist Jelani Cobb shared at the end of the clip, “We can’t know or understand Lincoln at the same time that we have an emotional investment in preserving him as a savior. But it is in understanding the trial and error and the failures and the shortcomings and the contradictions that he becomes most useful to us, and really by only understanding the things he got wrong can we really grasp the magnitude and importance of the things he got right.”

       - Why do you think some want to preserve the idea of Lincoln as a savior?
       - In your own words, how is knowing Lincoln’s shortcomings useful to understanding all the things he got right?

Teacher Note: One of Lincoln’s many strengths was his powerful oratory skills. Share with students that one of the most cited speeches of Lincoln was delivered at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, following one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. 

Watch Film Clip Two: Freedom and Equality (3:47)

In this second clip, we learn of the context in which Lincoln delivered what has become known as the Gettysburg Address. It was on the morning of November 19, 1863, after one of the bloodiest Civil War battles yet, at a time when the outcome of the war was unclear.

Clip Discussion Prompts

*In the clip, Chris Bonner shares, “There was an understanding that freedom and equality were different things and that both of them were desirable, that freedom itself was not enough.”

*He says elsewhere in Episode Three: "[B]eing freed from slavery doesn't necessarily mean equality. Being able to take part in this war doesn't necessarily mean that they are taking part on equal terms. But with that said, the Civil War had really transformative meanings for Black Americans. For Black men, it in some cases, gave them an opportunity to go to war with slave owners, with people who they knew were opposed to the idea of Black equality or Black freedom or Black Americanness. So Black men are able to feel that kind of empowerment through military combat.

Black men and women and children in the Civil War era are able to cultivate a relationship with the federal government. They seek out what come to be refugee camps. They work alongside white soldiers, Black women, in large cases, work doing laundry for the Union Army and really contributing in concrete ways to making war work for the United States. And that's really, I think, meaningful as a foundation for some of the broader political claims that African Americans are making during and after the Civil War. They say we, men and women, we contributed to the war effort. We deserve to be treated with equality. Not only do we deserve emancipation, but we deserve justice. And so the work of Black men and women in the Civil War really is a foundation for later Black politics…

There is a way to think about Lincoln as just, like, freeing the slaves or to think about the Civil War as creating emancipation. But what really happens, and I think is fascinating in the Civil War era, is that the government and individuals together create this robust relationship between Black people and federal authorities. Black people are able to make their concerns heard and federal government officials are listening to those concerns. And I think that the policy of or the process of emancipation really reflects this relationship. Enslaved people run to the Union lines and say, "We want to be free." Generals like Benjamin Butler take in enslaved people and say, "They're ‘contraband.’ They can not be returned to our enemies."

*How do you understand the differences between freedom and equality? 

*How does Bonner’s commentary enrich your understanding of the process of emancipation? 

*In what ways does Bonner’s scholarship challenge the idea of President Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator?”

*What do you believe is the main message of the Gettysburg Address?

*Why do you think this short speech remains important to read and discuss today?

*In what ways does the Gettysburg Address affirm or challenge the narrative of Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator”?

Teacher Note: The filmmakers conducted over 25 interviews to produce Lincoln’s Dilemma. The full interviews are available in the Interview Archive. A selection of these interviews, edited together here to create Interview Threads and aligned to the specific lesson topic, are available for your students’ learning. 

The Interview Threads for this lesson offer broader perspectives on the context of emancipation, abolition, historical hindsight and perspective taking, and how historians tell historic stories.

Explain to students that they will be working in pairs to watch two Interview Threads. One will watch Thread One and one will watch Thread Two. After watching, each will share notes and discuss their insights with one another. Once they have completed this, the class will return to a large group and watch Thread Three: How Historical Narratives are Constructed.

Distribute Handouts Three, Four, and Five, the Interview Thread Transcripts on which students can follow along and make notes as they watch the threads. 

Step One: Organize students into pairs. Have students record their thoughts about the thread they watch on the Learning Log. 

Share the descriptions of Thread One and Thread Two and have pairs delegate out the viewing. 

*Thread One: The Importance of First-Person Narratives: Historians share the importance of reading first-person narratives from enslaved and formerly enslaved people, and the role those narratives played in the abolition movement leading to emancipation. 

*Thread Two: Enslaved People Emancipated Themselves: Historians share how enslaved and formerly enslaved people actively resisted, participated in the abolition movement, and took a range of actions to emancipate themselves. Historians then discuss how and why these stories have been marginalized and should be corrected and highlighted.

Step Two: Watch assigned Interview Thread and complete notes on the Learning Log.

Step Three: Have pairs share their insights, reflections, and notes on assigned Interview Thread.

After pairs are finished, have a few students to read from their Learning Logs the answers to these questions:

*What were some of the main messages you learned in your thread?

*What did you see or hear that was interesting to you?

*Did this shed any light on whether or how you see Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator”? If so, in what way?

Step Four: As a large group, watch Thread Three: How Historical Narratives are Constructed. Have students follow along using the transcript in Handout Five. 

As a large group, discuss:

*What new information stood out in this thread? 

*Do the different stories we tell about Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War and emancipation influence how we think about freedom and equality today? In what ways?

Place a sign with “Agree” on one side of the classroom and another sign with “Disagree” on the other side of the room. 

Read the three following statements aloud twice. Have students stand next to the one that best reflects their point of view on Lincoln. 

*“Abraham Lincoln was not an abolitionist, get that through your thick skulls. He does not deserve this platform.” - Protestor

*“Somebody said about Abraham Lincoln, he was inwardly truly radical. However, to get ahead, he had to muffle and restrain that inner radicalism.” - David Reynolds

*“Lincoln, like most white Americans at the time, was forced to reckon with slavery and its consequences due to Black people themselves.” - Kerri Greenidge

After students are standing next to their position, have them discuss their point of view with a partner. If time permits, have a few students share why they placed themselves where they did.

After this exercise, have students complete the Reflection Question and the Ongoing Questions in their Learning Log.

Students will use one of the following resources, or one they identify through their notes and questions from the film clips and/or interview threads, to corroborate or correct something they learned about emancipation and how we record and remember it. 

The Slave Narrative Collection: Library of Congress

“Why Should a Colored Man Enlist?” by Frederick Douglass, published in Douglass’ Monthly, April 1863. 

Why Historical Thinking is Not About History, Sam Wineburg