Integrated Literacy AssignmentAlissa ZeeripGLCE: 4-H3.0.7: Use case studies or stories to describe the ideas and actions of individuals involved in the Underground Railroad in Michigan and in the Great Lakes region. (8-U4.2.2; 8-U4.3.2)8-U5.1.5: Describe the resistance of enslaved people (e.g., Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, and the Underground RR, John Brown, Michigan’s role in the URR) and effects of their actions before and during the Civil War.

Trade Books

-The Patchwork Path-Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad-Henry’s Freedom Box-Follow the Drinking Gourd

PoetryThe Slave's Complaint  by George Moses Horton

Am I sadly cast aside, On misfortune's rugged tide? Will the world my pains deride Forever?

Must I dwell in Slavery's night, And all pleasure take its flight, Far beyond my feeble sight, Forever?

Worst of all, must hope grow dim, And withhold her cheering beam? Rather let me sleep and dream Forever!

Something still my heart surveys, Groping through this dreary maze; Is it Hope?--they burn and blaze Forever!

Leave me not a wretch confined, Altogether lame and blind– Unto gross despair consigned, Forever!

Heaven! in whom can I confide? Canst thou not for all provide? Condescend to be my guide Forever:

And when this transient life shall end, Oh, may some kind, eternal friend Bid me from servitude ascend, Forever!

Poetry ContinuedThe Slave MotherBy Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Heard you that shriek? It rose    So wildly on the air, It seem’d as if a burden’d heart    Was breaking in despair.

Saw you those hands so sadly clasped—    The bowed and feeble head— The shuddering of that fragile form—    That look of grief and dread?

Saw you the sad, imploring eye?    Its every glance was pain, As if a storm of agony    Were sweeping through the brain.

She is a mother pale with fear,    Her boy clings to her side, And in her kyrtle vainly tries    His trembling form to hide.

He is not hers, although she bore    For him a mother’s pains; He is not hers, although her blood    Is coursing through his veins!

He is not hers, for cruel hands    May rudely tear apart The only wreath of household love    That binds her breaking heart.

His love has been a joyous light    That o’er her pathway smiled, A fountain gushing ever new,    Amid life’s desert wild.

His lightest word has been a tone    Of music round her heart, Their lives a streamlet blent in one—    Oh, Father! must they part?

They tear him from her circling arms,   Her last and fond embrace.Oh! never more may her sad eyes   Gaze on his mournful face.

No marvel, then, these bitter shrieks   Disturb the listening air:She is a mother, and her heart   Is breaking in despair.

Websites

Michigan Department of Natural Resources- Underground Railroad Encyclopedia of Detroit

Slavery, Resistance, and the URR in Michigan

Primary Sources

Dr. Nathan Thomas House in Schoolcraft, MI

Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio

Maps

Routes that slave took using the Underground Railroad throughout the Great Lake Region.

Slavery and Freedom in Michigan1787   The Northwest Ordinance prevents

slavery in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

1810   There are 24 Africans or African Americans enslaved in Detroit.

1833   Elizabeth Chandler, of Raisin Valley, creates the Michigan Anti-slavery Society. The Blackburn Affair is the first racial civil insurrection in Detroit's history and the Underground Railroad.

1846   The Crosswhite affair occurs.1847   The Kentucky Slave Raid occurs in

Vandalia.1850   The Fugitive Slave Act makes it

legal to capture African-Americans and return them to slavery.

1855   Michigan's personal Liberty Law directs prosecuting attorneys to defend anyone arrested as a fugitive slave.

1863   The Underground Railroad is no longer needed after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Songs/Music

Wade in the Water

Song from a Cotton Field- Bessie Brown

Photographs

Photos Continued

CitationsLevine, E & Nelson, K. (2007). Henry’s Freedom Box, Scholastic.Stroud, B. (n.d.). The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom. N.p.: Scholastic.Martin, M. (2005). Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. N.p.: Capstone Press. Winter, J. (1988). Follow the Drinking Gourd. N.p.: Scholastic. Song from a Cotton Field by Bessie Brown retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxmbie8dfkISlave Spiritual: Wade in the Water retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXqMQfpNSesThe Underground Railroad (2013). In Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved February 21, 2014Slavery, Resistance and the Underground Railroad in Michigan (2010). In Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved February 21, 2014Underground Railroad (2014). In Detroit Historical Society. Retrieved February 21, 2014Underground railroad house. Retrieved from http://www.villageofschoolcraft.com/php/history_highlights.php

Citations ContinuedHorton, M. (1997). The Slave’s Complaint, Academy of American PoetsHarper, F. (1993). The Slave Mother, Poetry FoundationMichigan Time Traveler (n.d.). In Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved February 21, 2014Harriet Beecher Stowe House Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/oh1.htm