A Guide to Primary Resources for U.S. History : Executive Order 9981 Truman Presidential Museum and Library: "Multimedia Digital Archives" On July 26, 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 establishing equality of treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services. This project website, produced for the 50th anniversary of the Executive Order, presents the historic document as well as interesting background materials organized in an interactive format. This resource enables students to explore an important outcome of African American military service in World War II. The students can read the order and jot down ideas about how people might have responded to Truman's words (for example, from the perspective of an African-American WWII veteran, an American general, a NAACP lawyer, a white farmer, and a Soviet leader). This could be the beginning of a discussion on how the ideologies of the Cold War played out in the daily lives of Americans. Students can write a reactionary historical journal entry from the perspective of a former WWII African-American soldier (perhaps a Tuskegee Airman) to Truman's order. The teacher can prompt students to think about the emotions of an African-American who fought for a country in which his place is marginalized in society, especially when he was supposedly fighting to promote democracy. In the context of the increasingly threatening Cold War, what might such a person question about his country? The teacher should be sure to return to this document when the class begins to discuss the roots of the Civil Rights Movement.

(a) identifying the major events and the roles of key leaders of the Civil War Era, with emphasis on Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Frederick Douglass;

Letters between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant concerning surrender
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook

Robert E. Lee’s Farewell Address
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook

Description: These documents are short, accessible, and powerful. They discuss the end of the Civil War. First is the correspondence between Generals Grant and Lee discussing particulars concerning the surrender of Lee’s army. The day after accepting the terms of surrender, Lee addresses his army for the last time.

Teaching Tips:

"Do Now" Suggestions

Use Lee’s Farewell Address to review the “overwhelming numbers and resources” that forced the surrender of the Confederacy.
Discuss why Lee keeps referring to Virginia as the soldier’s country in his Farewell Address.
Review the terms of surrender. Discuss if the terms seem acceptable, lax, or strict.

Suggestion for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson

Use these documents to introduce the events that officially brought the war to an end and the events following the war. Discuss how the Confederate and Union soldiers and their fellow citizens (including former slaves) might have viewed the terms of surrender as well as the end of the war.