Forty acres and a mule

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/forty-acres-and-a-mule

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who wrote Forty acres and a mule?Union General William Tecumseh Sherman
2. What is the geographic scope of order?Coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida
3. What is the confiscated land holdings?Over 400,000 acres earmarked for redistribution

Special Field Orders, No. 15: A Civil War military order proposing the redistribution of confiscated land to formerly enslaved people.
Radical Republicans: A faction of the Republican Party during the Civil War and Reconstruction era who advocated for strong federal action to protect civil rights.
Reconstruction Era: The period from 1865 to 1877 focused on rebuilding the South and readmitting former Confederate states to the Union.
Homesteading: The process of acquiring undeveloped land from the government, often by settling and improving it.