302F Spring 2025 Doing History: Who Freed the Slaves?

The most familiar account of emancipation is that President Lincoln was primarily responsible for it due to his issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation. However, the story of the slaves reaching freedom is much more complex. This course will examine Lincoln’s role and the impact of other actors, such as Union military and Confederate leaders, Black soldiers, abolitionists, Congress, foreign countries, and the enslaved themselves. Students will learn to apply the historical method by identifying the values and limitations of primary source documents to investigate the course of the emancipation of the slaves.

Wes Boutchard, Tom Brannan, and Jim Robinson have a combined 78 years of experience teaching American History. They taught together in the International Baccalaureate program at George C. Marshall High School for more than a decade. The hallmarks of IB History at Marshall are academic rigor, communication skills, and teacher collaboration.