Caswell+County

Caswell County: Kirk-Holden War Lesson by: Zohra Sadat In this lesson, students will learn about the influence of the KKK in this county, the murders of John W. Stephens and Wyatt Outlaw, and how all of this led to the Kirk-Holden War. They will also learn about martial law and habeas corpus. They will learn this information through a mini presentation by the teacher and from individual/collaborative research. The end result will be a newspaper filled with articles pertaining to different topics of the war. Students will first view a short PowerPoint presentation on the war that includes the basic information on the war and the various groups and people involved. As resources, the students will have their textbooks, the internet, and various articles/interviews during 1870 available for them to use. Some websites that the students may find helpful are listed below: [] this website contains several articles and primary sources about the actual war itself. [] includes a short description on how the war got started by the murder of Stephens outside of the Caswell Courthouse. [] this website includes information on the background of Governor Holden and how the press ignited this war. Students will act as newspaper reporters covering this War. The students would be put into 5 groups; each assigned a different topic relating to the war. One group will cover the KKK, the other will talk about John W. Stephens and Wyatt Outlaw and their murders, and the next group will talk about the actual war itself. The fourth group will write about the actions of Governor Holden and George Kirk. The final group will write about the aftermaths of the war, which should include the involvement by the U.S. Marshalls, Kirk’s imprisonment/escape, and Holden’s impeachment. Once every group has written their piece, we will put it together in one big newspaper. The students can name the newspaper and design the layout. Throughout this activity, I will be assessing how well the students work collaboratively. The assessment itself will be the articles that were produced. I will be grading the articles on accuracy and creativity.