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.

(c) examining the political, economic, and social impact of the war and Reconstruction, including the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States

Port Royal Island, S.C. African Americans preparing cotton for the gin on Smith's plantation, 1862
Library of Congress

Cumberland Landing, Va. Group of "contrabands" at Foller's house
Library of Congress

District of Columbia Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln
Library of Congress

Arlington, Va. Band of 107th U.S. Colored Infantry at Fort Corcoran, 1865
Library of Congress

Thirteenth Amendment
Cornell University

Description: These photographs illustrate some of the many different experiences of African Americans during the Civil War Era. One photograph is of slaves preparing cotton in 1862, during the Civil War, while another shows a group of contrabands. Also, there are two photographs of African American Union Army Servicemen. One shows an Army Band and another is of soldiers. These photographs represent the different stages of freedom African Americans experienced during the war. Also included here is a transcript of the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Cumulatively, these photographs can represent the transition from slavery to freedom.

Teaching Tips:

"Do Now" Suggestions

Assign students, or groups, individual photographs. Ask them to define what their photograph represents in terms of the African American experience during the Civil War.
Have students write newspaper captions for each picture from the Northern perspective.

Suggestions for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson

Create a display or Powerpoint illustrating the different experiences of African Americans during the Civil War Era. Have students analyze the different levels of freedom an African American could be at prior to the 13th Amendment. Create a chronology of the level of participation allowed in the Union Army and how the Emancipation Proclamation further opened opportunities for African Americans.
Use these photographs as an introduction to African American soldiers in the Civil War. Then, have students research the famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment led by Robert Gould Shaw during a web quest using the National Gallery of Art website (http://www.nga.gov/feature/shaw/s3000.shtm). Assess students by displaying a large image of the memorial and having them interpret the meaning of the image focusing on what Shaw and the troops accomplished and represented.