The Underground Railroad

Alison Sharp

Betsy Brown

Nancy Kipler

Kelly Campbell

Lisa Smith

The Underground Railroad

• This unit on the Underground Railroad is targeted for children in third grade.

• Lessons from this unit, however, could be used with any 1st-5th grade.

The Underground Railroad

• Objectives: • The students will gain an understanding

of what the Underground Railroad was and its effect on our national history.

• Students will learn where the underground railroad began and where it ended.

• Students will learn when the Underground Railroad took place.

The Underground Railroad

• Materials needed:• “Follow the Drinking Gourd” song.• Map of the Underground Railroad.• Venn Diagram• Pictures for picture dictionary

The Underground RailroadWebsites:

• http://www.surfnetkids.com/undergroundrr.htmGreat interactive website!

• The HeadboneZoneInteractive site with timelines, stories and games.

•  Aboard the Underground Railroad.http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/ Pictures of the Underground Railroad This is a good website and third graders did it!

• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.htmlTravel along with slaves along the Underground Railroad.

The Underground RailroadWebsites:

• Websites: (cont.)• Harriet Tubman & The Underground Railroad

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/tubman.htmlThe students in Mrs. Taverna's second grade class at Pocantico Hills School in Sleepy Hollow, New York created this website.

• Addy’s Escape to Freedom 

http://www.americangirl.com/agcn/addy/escape/index.html

•  History Happens :Stories from American History on Music Videohttp://www.ushistory.com/railr.htm

The Underground RailroadActivities:

“Follow the Drinking Gourd” Song

a. Students will learn the words to the song “Follow the Drinking Gourd.”

b. Students will be able to translate the song. STANDARD: People in Societies: Cultures 1. Compare some of

the cultural practices and products of various groups of people who have lived in the local community including: a. Artistic expression (Page 122)

“Follow the Drinking Gourd”

• Explanation of "Follow the Drinking Gourd"• When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,

Follow the Drinking Gourd.For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom,

If you follow the Drinking Gourd.• "When the sun comes back," means winter and spring when the altitude of the sun at noon is higher each day.

Quail are migratory bird wintering in the South. The Drinking Gourd is the Big Dipper. The old man is Peg Leg Joe. The verse tells slaves to leave in the winter and walk towards the Drinking Gourd. Eventually they will meet a guide who will escort them for the remainder of the trip.

• Most escapees had to cross the Ohio River, which is too wide and too swift to swim. The Railroad struggled with the problem of how to get escapees across, and with experience, came to believe the best crossing time was winter. Then the river was frozen, and escapees could walk across on the ice. Since it took most escapees a year to travel from the South to the Ohio, the Railroad urged slaves to start their trip in winter in order to be at the Ohio the next winter.

• The river bank makes a very good road,The dead trees show you the way,Left foot, peg foot, traveling on

Follow the Drinking Gourd.•

This verse taught slaves to follow the bank of the Tombigbee River north looking for dead trees that were marked with drawings of a left foot and a peg foot. The markings distinguished the Tombigbee from other north-south rivers that flow into it.

•  

“Follow the Drinking Gourd”

• The river ends between two hills,Follow the Drinking Gourd.

There's another river on the other side,Follow the Drinking Gourd.

• These words told the slaves that when they reached the headwaters of the Tombigbee, they were to continue north over the hills until they met another river. Then they were to travel north along the new river, which is the Tennessee River. A number of the southern escape routes converged on the Tennessee.

• Where the great big river meets the little river,Follow the Drinking Gourd.

For the old man is awaiting to carry you to freedom if youfollow the Drinking Gourd.

• This verse told the slaves the Tennessee joined another river. They were to cross that river (which is the Ohio River), and on the north bank, meet a guide from the Underground Railroad.

The Underground RailroadActivities:

Map the Math in Milesa. Students will be given a map of the eastern half of the United States and

calculate the miles the slaves traveled along the Underground Railroad to reach freedom by picking a beginning point in the South and an ending point in the North.

b. Students will use average calculations to determine the total distance traveled and the time it took. EX. Traveling 6 miles per day, 7 days a week.

c. Students will relate what they learned about who the slaves were, when they traveled and how they traveled to estimate the time and distance. EX. Families with small children used the Underground Railroad to leave slavery. Traveling could only happen at night when the hunters were not looking for them. Slaves traveled by foot through woods and tough terrain to reach freedom.

STANDARD: Geography: Location 1. Use political maps, physical maps and aerial photographs to ask and answer questions about the local community. 2. Use a compass rose and cardinal directions to describe the relative location of places. 3. Read and interpret maps by using he map title, map key, direction indicator and symbols to answer questions about the local community. (Page 122-123)

Materials

• Map of eastern part of the United States.

• Rulers• Paper for computations and to

write their findings.

The Underground RailroadActivities:

The Best Time of the Year to Travel the Underground Railroad

a. Students will discuss the advantages and disadvantages to traveling the Underground Railroad in the winter and the summer.

b. Students will form small groups and design a Venn Diagram showing the pros and cons to traveling in the winter and summer.

c. Students will discuss their Venn Diagram with the class.d. As a whole group, the students will combine all the ideas on the

Venn Diagrams and make a whole class display.STANDARD: Social Studies Skills and Methods: Problem solving: 6. Use

a problem-solving/decision-making process, which includes: a. identifying a problem; b. gathering information; c. listing and considering options; d. considering advantages and disadvantages of options; e choosing and implementing a solution. (Page 125)

 

The Underground RailroadActivities:

Winter:Bitterly cold: slaves did not always have shoes and warm clothingRivers were frozen to cross easilyChristmas was a time of distraction for owners. Less food in woodsLess protection from the trees and bush

BOTH:Clear nights were the best to see starsSaturdays were the best time to leave since slave owners couldn’t place adsin paper until Mondays

Summer:Trees were full and offered protectionWarm days and nights for traveling and sleepingFood was plentiful in the woodsRivers were hard to cross without boats.

Materials

• Paper for individual Venn Diagrams or notes.

• Venn Diagram large enough for the class to see.

The Underground RailroadActivities:

Picture Dictionarya. Students will discuss how secrecy was important to the success of

the Underground Railroad.b. Students will discuss the lack of education (inability to read and

write) among slaves and why slave owners preferred the lack of education.

c. Students will read, analyze and discuss the symbols used in songs and writings to communicate to the slaves how to follow the Underground Railroad.

d. In small groups, students will make a picture dictionary of items in environment (school, home, playground, etc.)

e. Using only pictures, students will write one letter to share with the class.

STANDARD: Social Studies Skills and Methods: Communicating Information 5. Communicate information using pictographs and bar graphs. (page 125)

 

The Underground RailroadActivities:

River crossing safe farmhouse go this way 

Follow the North Star Travel at night Over the mountains  

Materials

• Songs and poems to use to gather information.

• Paper, crayon, markers – to draw and write about the pictures, in order to make a picture dictionary.

The Underground RailroadActivities:

• “Follow the Drinking Gourd” using the North Star• a. Students will identify the North Star using the constellation The

Little Dipper.• b. Students will discuss how the North Star is a constant in the night

sky and why it was used to lead the slaves to freedom.• c. Students will use black or bright blue construction paper and chalk

to map the constellation the Little Dipper and the North Star (Polaris). They will also look at the Big Dipper to see how the star in the dipper points to the North Star.

• d. Students will analyze why the people in the North made this song to help the slaves.

 STANDARD: Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities: Participation 2. Demonstrate effective citizenship traits including: a. civility/ b. Respect for the rights and dignity of each person; c. volunteerism; d. compromise; e. compassion; f/ persistence in achieving goals; g. civic-mindedness. (Page 124)

 

The Underground RailroadActivities:

Materials

• Pictures of the Little Dipper and the Big Dipper, in order to locate the North Star and determine the relationship of the Big Dipper to the North Star.

• Song “Follow the Drinking Gourd”

• Book Follow the Drinking Gourd ,by Jeanette Winter

The Underground RailroadBooks:

• Ayres, Katherine. North By Night: A Story of the Underground Railroad.

• Edwards, Pamela Duncan. Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad. HarperCollins, 1997.

• Hopkinson, Deborah. Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.

• Hopkinson, Deborah. Under the Quilt of Night. New York: Atheneum, 1993

• Lasky, Katherine. True North: A Novel of the Underground Railroad. Blue Sky Press, 1996.

• Wyeth, Sharon Dennis. Freedom’s Wings: Corey’s Underground Railroad Diary.Scholastic, 2002

• Winter, Jeanette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. Knopf, 1988

Map of the Underground Railroad

Pictures

Houses on the Underground Railroad

• Historic Site ListingsOhio:

• SavannahEzra Garret

• WestervilleBenjamin Hanby House

• AshtabulaCol. William Hubbard House

• RipleyJohn Rankin HouseJohn Parker House

• XeniaRev. Samuel Wilson HomeFerguson HomeHilltop Rd. HouseNosker ResidenceLeach HouseRodin HouseDavid Monroe HouseDavis House

• OberlinWilson Bruce Evans House

Houses on the Underground Railroad

• Foster´s MillButterworth Foster Home

• BelpreCaptain John Stone House

• IrontonJohn Campbell Home

• BurlingtonMacedonia Church

• HillsboroScott HouseRitten-House

• WilberforceCol. Charles Young HouseThe Maxwell HouseHowell Place

• Highland CountyJacob Chapman HouseLyle HouseHyer House

• MowrystownGotherman House

• GreenfieldPommerest House

• LincolnvilleEdward Easton House

• ClevelandAshtabula Harbor

Timeline • 1501-African Slaves in the New World

Spanish settlers bring slaves from Africa to Santo Domingo (now the capital of the Dominican Republic).

• 1619-Slaves in VirginiaAfricans brought to Jamestown are the first slaves imported into Britain's North American colonies. Like indentured servants, they were probably freed after a fixed period of service.

• 1700-First Antislavery PublicationMassachusetts jurist and printer, Samuel Seawell, publishes the first North American antislavery tract, The Selling of Joseph.

• 1705-Slaves as PropertyDescribing slaves as real estate, Virginia lawmakers allow owners to bequeath their slaves. The same law allows masters to "kill and destroy" runaways.

Timeline• 1775-Abolitionist Society

Anthony Benezet of Philadelphia founds the world's first abolitionist society. Benjamin Franklin becomes its president in 1787.

• 1776-Declaration of IndependenceThe Continental Congress asserts "that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States."

• 1793-Fugitive Slave ActThe United States outlaws any efforts to impede the capture of runaway slaves. (Also see 1850)

• 1808-United States Bans Slave TradeImporting African slaves is outlawed, but smuggling continues.

• 1820-Missouri CompromiseMissouri is admitted to the Union as a slave state, Maine as a free state. Slavery is forbidden in any subsequent territories north of latitude 36°30'.

Timeline• 1834-1838-Slavery in England

England abolishes slavery in its colonies including Jamaica, Barbados, and other West Indian territories.

• 1850-Compromise of 1850In exchange for California's entering the Union as a free state, northern congressmen accept a harsher Fugitive Slave Act different from the previous one of 1793.

• 1854-Kansas-Nebraska ActSetting aside the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Congress permits these two new territories to choose whether to allow slavery. Violent clashes erupt.

• 1857-Dred Scott DecisionThe United States Supreme Court decides, seven to two, that blacks can never be citizens and that Congress has no authority to outlaw slavery in any territory.

Timeline• 1860-Abraham Lincoln Elected

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois becomes the first Republican to win the United States Presidency.

• 1861-65-United States Civil WarFour years of brutal conflict claim 623,000 lives.

• 1862On September 22, Lincoln drafts the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The final is issued on January 1, 1863.

• 1863-Emancipation ProclamationPresident Abraham Lincoln decrees that all slaves in Rebel territory are free on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation only freed those slaves in states that were in rebellion against the United States. The proclamation did not free slaves in the states that never left the Union.

• 1865-Slavery AbolishedThe 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery.

 

Field Trips

• 50 East Freedom WayCincinnati, Ohio 45202Telephone: 513.333.7500 or 877.648.4838Open Tuesday - Sunday 11:00 - 5:00 Ticket Prices: $12 Adults, $10 Seniors, $8 Children, Children under six are FREE

Field Trips

A Freedom Hero is an individual or group that takes action to protect or extend freedom.

The Slave Pen is an authentic structure that serves as a centerpiece of reflection and stark reality within the Freedom Center.

Escape! Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad provides families and students with a concise, age-appropriate summary of the history of the Underground Railroad

Field Trips

Open weekends through December during the following hours:

Saturdays 10-5Sundays 1-5

Tours may be arranged at any time by contacting us to schedule an appointment by calling 937-392-4188.

 Admission:

$3.00 Adults (19 & above) $1.00 Students (5-18)Free: Children (birth to 4) Directions

330 N Front Street

Ripley, OH 45167

Areas of Interest:

The Buxton National Historic Site and Museum• Canada was the “promised land” for the

thousands of slaves. They followed the North Star until they reached the border to safety.

• One one hour from Detroit, North Buxton is an example of a town where these escapees settled.

• The Buxton National Historic Site and Museum features an 1861 school house, build by the escaped slaves to educate their children. As well as a Baptist church built and attended by the former slaves.

The Buxton National Historic Site and Museum

Buxton Baptist Church

Buxton School class picture 1910.

Areas of Interest:

Old Slave Mart –Charleston, South Carolina• It is estimated that 40% of the slaves

entered the US to be sold in slave markets such as this one in Charleston.

• This is now part of an open air market, where African descendants can be seen weaving baskets and selling their wares. These artisans speak a dialect called Gullah and are born storytellers.

Old Slave Mart –Charleston, South

Carolina• The Old Slave Mart shown

here was opened in 1852. It was in this building where slaves were auctioned off after being inspected in the courtyard. In 1879 the bars were removed and the building was made into a two story living quarters. In 1938 it was opened as the Slave Mart Museum, making it the oldest black museum of slave artifacts in America. (www.gullahtours.com)