Get into the mind of a reformist!

For this assessment, you will play both interviewer and interviewee - writing questions to ask
your chosen historical individual and answering those questions how you think they would
respond!

Here are some reformers you can choose from (some we have talked about in class and others
we haven’t). Some of these reformers associate themselves with multiple movements, but
focus mainly on the reform movement written above their name. (Have someone else in mind
that isn’t written? Ask!)

➢ Second Great Awakening

○ Charles Grandison Finney - Presbyterian minister
○ William Miller - Baptist/Millerite minister
○ Jarena Lee - African Methodist Episcopal preacher
○ Joseph Smith - founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement

➢ Transcendentalism
○ Ralph Waldo Emerson - writer
○ Henry David Thoreau - writer
○ Albert Bierstadt - painter

➢ Temperance movement
○ Lyman Beecher - Presbyterian minister

➢ Education reform
○ Horace Mann - Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education

➢ Reform for the Mentally Ill and Prisoners

○ Dorothea Dix - activist and nurse

➢ Abolitionism
○ William Lloyd Garrison - journalist
○ Frederick Douglass - journalist and orator
○ Harriet Tubman - “conductor” of the Underground Railroad

➢ Women’s Rights Movement

○ Elizabeth Cady Stanton - activist
○ Sojourner Truth - activist

Please see the next page for directions and example ideas.
 Get into the mind of a reformist! con’t
Directions: Write ten questions that you as a “journalist” would ask your chosen historical
individual as part of an interview. Then, answer the questions as if you are the person being
interviewed. Think about who they are, what they did, their personal experiences, and how they
shaped the movement and the time period. Your questions should be those of substance and
answers must be thoughtfully written for maximum points to be given. If you conduct research
other than your notes, full website links should be provided in a bibliography.

Example:

Q1: What is your name and what reform movement are you associated with?
Frederick Douglas the Abolitionist Movement
A1: Hello! My name is ______, and I am mostly known for my work in _______.

Q2: How did you become interested and involved in the movement?

A2: ____________________________________________________________.

Your Name: Mitchel Nishiyama Vicente Pires

Reformer: Frederick Douglas.

Reform Movement: Abolitionism

Question 1: Answer 1:
My owner threatened to take my right to hire
What motivated you to run away from your
out and keep a fraction of the wages I made.
owner?
In doing so, he motivated me enough to run
away.

Question 2:
What happened when you planned to escape?
Answer 2:
When planning to escape, I was caught and
thrown in jail. Instead of being traded off, they
promised freedom in exchange for good
behaviour.
Question 3:
What inspired you to become a journalist?
Answer 3:
As I became interested in the abolition
movements, I finally had the chance to read
over a fine piece of writing by William Lloyd
Garrison. When reading these writings, I felt a
sense of inspiration to be like him.

Question 4:
How did you affect the abolition movements?
Answer 4:
I affected the abolitionist movement by
advocating for some black troops by
meeting with President Lincoln himself on
their behalf.

Question 5: Answer 5:

How did you affect the outcome of the civil war? I recruited many African Americans to join
the civil war and write about freedom.

Question 6: Answer 6:
I participated in the Abolitionist movement,
What else did you participate in?
the Underground railroad, and the Women's
rights movement.

Question 7: Answer 7:
Who bought you a train ticket to escape slavery?
A free woman named Anna Murray,
bought me a ticket to escape.

Question 8: Answer 8:
What did you wear to get on the train? In order to escape on the train, I dressed
as a sailor with a ticket in hand.
Question 9: Answer 9:
What is an autobiography that you wrote? The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
is an autobiography I wrote during my
lifetime.

Question 10: Answer 10:

What was the last speech you gave?
"What to the slave is fourth july" was the very
last speech I gave. I am currently planning
on giving a speech at a women's rights
convention.

Bibliography (website title and link):

https://ap.gilderlehrman.org

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/frederick-douglass
https://www.nps.gov/frdo/learn/historyculture/frederickdouglass