Confederate Monument Project! Simulation & Art Project!

This activity on the Confederate Monuments gets students to really think critically about these monuments and what should be done with them and then design a new monument to remember the legacy of the Civil War!

For this activity, students are acting as a committee in Richmond, VA trying to come up with a solution to the contested issue of Confederate Monuments in the city. 

In their ‘committees’ they must first examine a current event news story to see how this issue is impacting the community. 

Then students analyze a series of documents, mostly primary sources, to understand different Confederate Monuments were put up, arguments for and against them, and the context in which they were made. 

In their groups, after they analyze all the documents, the committees need to come up with a ‘workable’ solution for the city on what should be done with the monuments. They write a speech and deliver it to the class (since I’m only teaching online this year, they record a video on Flip for their peers to watch). 

The next part of the activity is my favorite! Each group must develop a proposal and design for a new monument that reflects what is most important to remember about the Civil War and its legacy on the nation.