How does a country rebuild the infrastructure, government, and economy of a huge region while taking steps to resolve the status of 4 million newly freed people? In Reconstruction: The Rebuilding of the United States After the Civil War, middle schoolers examine the era from 1865 to 1877, a time when the United States wrestled with questions that still plague the country today. Who should get access to citizenship and voting rights? How should the power of the federal government be balanced against the rights of the states? What is the proper government response to white supremacy? Essential questions guide readers’ investigations while hands-on activities promote critical and creative problem solving and text-to-world connections highlight the way the past provides context for the present-day world. Try these critical-thinking activities! Renegotiate a sharecropping contract Dismantle the single-story stereotype Design a monument to memorialize Reconstruction Map 40 acres and a mule