RBG Nat Turner Instructional Unit

Restoring America’s Memory: 1 Nat Turner Instructional Unit A Renaissance of Teacher Knowledge Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools

Restoring America’s Memory: A Renaissance of Teacher Knowledge

2006-2007 Great Americans Biography Symposia Series

Nat Turner Instructional Unit Table of Contents

Background

Africans In America – People and Events: Nat Turner’s Rebellion 1831 …………………… 3 Nat Turner Biography …………………………………………………...…………………… 5 Slavery…………………………………………………...……………………………………. 7 Africans in America …………………………………………………...……………………… 17

Literacy Links Common Features and Patterns in Social Studies Reading ……...…………………………... 27 Unwritten History ………………………………………………….............................................. 29 RAFT Assignment …………………………………………………...………………………….. 32 Making Big Words – continents …………………………………...…………………………… 33 Making Big Words – frightening …………………………………...………………………….. 36 Making Words – millions …………………………………………...………………………….. 39 Making Words – scared …………………………………………….…………………………… 42 Frederick Douglass Cloze Activity …………………………………………………...………… 45

Poetry and Song

On Being Brought from Africa to America ………………………..…………………………… 47 The Slave’s Complaint …………………………………………….…………………………… 48 Death of An Old Carriage Horse ……………………………………………………………….. 49 This Train …………………………………………………...………………………………… 50 Civil War …………………………………………………...…………………………………… 51 The Drinking Gourd …………………………………………………...……………………….. 52 The Ballad of Nat Turner …………………………………………………...…………………... 53 12 Sonnets in Memory of Nat Turner …………………………………………………...………. 54 Ode to Ethiopia (Lyrics in a Lowly Life, 1896) by Paul Laurence Dunbar …………………….. 60 Accountability (Lyrics in a Lowly Life, 1896) by Paul Laurence Dunbar ……………………… 62 Student Poetry …………………………………………………...……………………………… 63

A U.S. Department of Education Grant Program Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools


Teaching and Learning Resources You Were There: A Witness to History Speech ……………………………………………… 65 An Introduction to Slave Narratives: Harriet Jacobs’s Life of a Slave Girl ………………….. 66 Lessons for the Children: Creating a Picture Book About Slavery lesson plan ……………… 69 The Middle Passage According to Olaudah Equiano lesson plan ……………………………. 71 The Underground Railroad lesson plan …………………………………………………......... 73 Applying Question–Answer Relationships to Pictures …………………………………. 74 Teaching With Documents – The Amistad Case …………………………………….............. 82

Resources on CD Graphics Jeopardy – blank template and sounds Lesson Plans – Materials

Primary Sources Digital History – Frederick Douglass – experience with a Negro breaker Digital History – Frederick Douglass – Matters fro which a slave may be whipped Digital History – Frederick Douglass - Assesses the meaning of emancipation Digital History – Frederick Douglass - Uses a black sailor’s papers to escape Digital History – William Lloyd Garrison – How It Is with a Slave Digital History – Primary Source Readings and Questions – Slavery Narrative – Olaudah Equiano Narrative – Solomon Northup Narrative - Harriet Jacobs Narrative – Omar ibn Said Nat Turner’s Confession Singular Escape The Fugitive Slave Act 1850 full text The Heroic Slave

Slavery’s Opponents and Defenders Follow the Drinking Gourd Frederick Douglass by Paul Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar Slavery in America Teacher Resources (see online resources for links)

Online Resources PowerPoint

Underground Railroad Video Power Point and materials Nat Turner’s rebellion


Nat Turner was born on October 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia, the week before Gabriel was hanged. While still a young child, Nat was overheard describing events that had happened before he was born. This, along with his keen intelligence, and other signs marked him in the eyes of his people as a prophet "intended for some great purpose." A deeply religious man, he "therefore studiously avoided mixing in society, and wrapped [him]self in mystery, devoting [his] time to fasting and praying." In 1821, Turner ran away from his overseer, returning after thirty days because of a vision in which the Spirit had told him to "return to the service of my earthly master." The next year, following the death of his master, Samuel Turner, Nat was sold to Thomas Moore. Three years later, Nat Turner had another vision. He saw lights in the sky and prayed to find out what they meant. Then "... while laboring in the field, I discovered drops of blood on the corn, as though it were dew from heaven, and I communicated it to many, both white and black, in the neighborhood; and then I found on the leaves in the woods hieroglyphic characters and numbers, with the forms of men in different attitudes, portrayed in blood, and representing the figures I had seen before in the heavens." On May 12, 1828, Turner had his third vision: "I heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first... And by signs in the heavens that it would make known to me when I should commence the great work, and until the first sign appeared I should conceal it from the knowledge of men; and on the appearance of the sign... I should arise and prepare myself and slay my enemies with their own weapons." At the beginning of the year 1830, Turner was moved to the home of Joseph Travis, the new husband of Thomas Moore's widow. His official owner was Putnum Moore, still a young child. Turner described Travis as a kind master, against whom he had no complaints. Then, in February, 1831, there was an eclipse of the sun. Turner took this to be the sign he had been promised and confided his plan to the four men he trusted the most, Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam. They decided to hold the insurrection on the 4th of July and began planning a strategy. However, they had to postpone action because Turner became ill. On August 13, there was an atmospheric disturbance in which the sun appeared bluish-green. This was the final sign, and a week later, on August 21, Turner and six of his men met in the woods to eat a dinner and make their plans. At 2:00 that morning, they set out to the Travis household, where they killed the entire family as they lay sleeping. They continued on, from house to house, killing all of the white people they encountered. Turner's force eventually consisted of more than 40 slaves, most on horseback. By about mid-day on August 22, Turner decided to march toward Jerusalem, the closest town. By then word of the rebellion had gotten out to the whites; confronted by a group of militia, the rebels scattered, and Turner's force became disorganized. After spending the night near some slave cabins, Turner and his men attempted to attack another house, but were repulsed. Several of the rebels were captured. The

People & Events Nat Turner's Rebellion 1831


remaining force then met the state and federal troops in final skirmish, in which one slave was killed and many escaped, including Turner. In the end, the rebels had stabbed, shot and clubbed at least 55 white people to death. Nat Turner hid in several different places near the Travis farm, but on October 30 was discovered and captured. His "Confession," dictated to physician Thomas R. Gray, was taken while he was imprisoned in the County Jail. On November 5, Nat Turner was tried in the Southampton County Court and sentenced to execution. He was hanged, and then skinned, on November 11. In total, the state executed 55 people, banished many more, and acquitted a few. The state reimbursed the slaveholders for their slaves. But in the hysterical climate that followed the rebellion, close to 200 black people, many of whom had nothing to do with the rebellion, were murdered by white mobs. In addition, slaves as far away as North Carolina were accused of having a connection with the insurrection, and were subsequently tried and executed. The state legislature of Virginia considered abolishing slavery, but in a close vote decided to retain slavery and to support a repressive policy against black people, slave and free.


Nat Turner Nat, remembered today as Nat Turner, (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an American slave whose failed slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, was the most remarkable instance of black resistance to enslavement in the antebellum southern United States. His methodical slaughter of white civilians during the uprising made him a controversial figure, but he is still considered by many to be a heroic figure of black resistance to oppression. Though he became known as "Nat Turner" in the aftermath of the uprising, his actual given name was simply "Nat".

Early life

Nat was born in Southampton County, Virginia. He was singularly intelligent, picking up the ability to read at a young age and experimenting with homemade paper and gunpowder. He grew up deeply religious and was often seen fasting and praying. He frequently received visions which he interpreted as being messages from God, and which greatly influenced his life; for instance, when Nat was 21 years old he ran away from his master, but returned a month later after receiving such a vision. He became known among fellow slaves as "The Prophet". On February 12, 1831, an annular solar eclipse was seen in Virginia. Nat took this to mean that he should begin preparing for a rebellion. The rebellion was initially planned for July 4, Independence Day, but was postponed due to deliberation between him and his followers and illness. On August 13, there was an atmospheric disturbance, a solar eclipse, in which the sun appeared bluish-green. Nat took this as the final signal, and a week later, on August 21, the rebellion began.

Rebellion: Nat Turner's slave rebellion

Nat started with a few trusted fellow slaves. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing all the white people they found. The insurgency ultimately numbered more than 50 slaves and free blacks. Because the slaves did not want to alert anyone to their presence as they carried out their attacks, they initially used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments instead of firearms. Nat called on his group to "kill all whites." The rebellion did not discriminate by age or sex, although Nat later indicated that he intended to spare women, children, and men who surrendered as it went on. Before Nat and his brigade of slaves met resistance at the hands of a white militia, 57 white men, women and children had been killed.

Capture and execution

The rebellion was suppressed within 48 hours, but Nat eluded capture until October 30 when he was discovered hiding in a cave and then taken to court. After his execution, a lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, who had access to the jail in which Nat had been held, took it upon himself to publish The Confessions of Nat Turner, derived partly from research done while Nat was in hiding and partly from conversations with Nat before his trial. This document is the primary historical document regarding Nat. However, its author's bias is problematic. It is probable that Gray suppressed some facts and gave undue emphasis to others. It seems unlikely, for example, that Nat would have said such things as, “we found no more victims to gratify our thirst for blood.” However, the book does contain other lines which appear genuine, particularly the passages in which Nat describes his visions and early childhood. On November 5, 1831, Nat was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia, now known as Courtland, Virginia. His body was then flayed, beheaded and quartered, and various body parts were kept by whites as souvenirs.


Consequences Prior to the Nat Turner Revolt, there was a fairly substantial abolition movement in the state of Virginia, largely on account of economic trends that made slavery less profitable in the Old South in the 1820's and fears of the rising number of blacks in whites, especially in the Tidewater and Piedmont regions. Most of the movement's members, including acting governor John Floyd, supported resettlement for these reasons. Considerations of white racial and moral purity also influenced many of these abolitionists. However, fears of repetitions of the Nat Turner Revolt served to polarize moderates and slave owners across the South. Municipalities across the region instituted repressive policies against slaves and free blacks. The freedoms of all black people in Virginia were tightly curtailed, and an official policy was established that forbade questioning the slave system on the grounds that any discussion might encourage similar slave revolts. There is evidence of trends in support of such policies and for slavery itself in Virginia before the revolt. This was probably due in part to the recovering Southern agricultural economy and the spread of slavery across the continent which made the excess Tidewater slaves a highly marketable commodity. Nat's actions probably sped up existing trends. In terms of public response and loss of white lives, no other slave uprising inflicted as severe a blow to the community of slave owners in the United States. Because of this, Nat is regarded as a hero by many African Americans and pan-Africanists worldwide. Nat finally became the focus of popular historical scholarship in the 1940s, when historian Herbert Aptheker was publishing the first serious scholarly work on instances of slave resistance in the antebellum South. Aptheker stressed how the rebellion was rooted in the exploitative conditions of the Southern slave system. He traversed libraries and archives throughout the South, managing to uncover roughly 250 similar instances, though none of them reached the scale of the Nat Turner Revolt.


Slavery Introduction Beginning at least as early as 1502, European slave traders shipped approximately 11 to 16 million slaves to the Americas, including 500,000 to what is now the United States. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, slaves could be found in every area colonized by Europeans. Initially, English colonists relied on indentured white servants, but by the late seventeenth century, faced with a shortage of servants, they increasingly resorted to enslaved Africans. Three distinctive systems of slavery emerged in the American colonies. In Maryland and Virginia, slavery was widely used in raising tobacco and corn and worked under the "gang" system. In the South Carolina and Georgia low country, slaves raised rice and indigo, worked under the "task" system, and were able to reconstitute African social patterns and maintain a separate Gullah dialect. In the North, slavery was concentrated on Long Island and in southern Rhode Island and New Jersey, where most slaves were engaged in farming and stock raising for the West Indies or were household servants for the urban elite. The American Revolution had contradictory consequences for slavery. Thousands of slaves freed themselves by running away. In the South, slavery became more firmly entrenched, and expanded rapidly into the Old Southwest after the development of the cotton gin. In the North, in contrast, every state freed slaves by statute, court decision, or enactment of gradual emancipation schemes. During the decades before the Civil War, slave grown cotton accounted for over half the value of all United States exports, and provided virtually all the cotton used in the northern textile industry and 70 percent of the cotton used in British mills. The slave South failed to establish commercial, financial, or manufacturing companies on the same scale as the North. Background Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington were slaveholders. So, too, were Benjamin Franklin and the theologian Jonathan Edwards. John Newton, the composer of "Amazing Grace," captained a slave ship early in his life. Robinson Crusoe, the fictional character in Daniel Defoe's famous novel, was engaged in the slave trade when he was shipwrecked. Slavery has often been treated as a marginal aspect of history, confined to courses on southern or African American history. In fact, slavery played a crucial role in the making of the modern world. Slavery provided the labor force for the Slavery played an indispensable role in the settlement and development of the New World. Slavery dates to prehistoric times and could be found in ancient Babylon, classical Greece and Rome, China, India, and Africa as well as in the New World. Slavery in Historical Perspective Slavery in the United States was not unique in treating human beings like animals. The institution of slavery could be found in societies as diverse as ancient Assyria, Babylonia, China, Egypt, India, Persia, and Mesopotamia; in classical Greece and Rome; in Africa, the Islamic world and among the New World Indians. At the time of Christ, there were probably between two and three million slaves in Italy, making up 35 to 40 percent of the population. England's Domesday book of 1086 indicated that 10 percent of the population was enslaved. Among some Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest, nearly a quarter of the population consisted of slaves. In 1644, just before the Dutch ceded Manhattan to the British, 40 percent of the population consisted of enslaved Africans. It is notable that the modern word for slaves comes from "Slav." During the Middle Ages, most slaves


in Europe and the Islamic world were people from Slavic Eastern Europe. It was only in the fifteenth century that slavery became linked with people from sub-Saharan Africa. The Newness of New World Slavery Was the slavery that developed in the New World fundamentally different from the kinds of servitude found in classical antiquity or in other societies? In one respect, New World slavery clearly was not unique. Slavery everywhere permitted cruelty and abuse. In ancient India, Saxon England, and ancient China, a master might mistreat or even kill a slave with impunity. Yet in four fundamental respects New World slavery differed from slavery in classical antiquity and in Africa, eastern and central Asia, or the Middle East. 1. Slavery in the classical and the early medieval worlds was not based on racial distinctions. Racial slavery originated during the Middle Ages, when Christians and Muslims increasingly began to recruit slaves from east, north central, and west Africa. As late as the fifteenth century, slavery did not automatically mean black slavery. Many slaves came from the Crimea, the Balkans, and the steppes of western Asia. But after 1453, when the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople, the capital of eastern Christendom, Christian slave traders drew increasingly upon captive black Muslims, known as Moors, and upon slaves purchased on the West African coast or transported across the Sahara Desert. 2. The ancient world did not necessarily regard slavery as a permanent condition. In many societies, including ancient Greece and Rome, manumission of slaves was common, and former slaves carried little stigma from their previous status. 3. Slaves did not necessarily hold the lowest status in pre-modern societies. In classical Greece, many educators, scholars, poets, and physicians were in fact slaves. 4. Only in the New World that slavery provided the labor force for a high-pressure profit making capitalist system of plantation agriculture producing cotton, sugar, coffee, and cocoa for distant markets. Most slaves in Africa, in the Islamic world, and in the New World prior to European colonization worked as farmers or household servants, or served as concubines or eunuchs. They were symbols of prestige, luxury, and power rather than a source of labor. Slavery in Africa Slavery existed in Africa before the arrival of Europeans--as did a slave trade that exported a small number of sub-Saharan Africans to North Africa, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf. But this system of slavery differed from the plantation slavery that developed in the New World. Hereditary slavery, extending over several generations, was rare. Most slaves in Africa were female. Women were preferred because they bore children and because they performed most field labor. Slavery in early sub-Saharan Africa took a variety of forms. While most slaves were field workers, some served in royal courts, where they served as officials, soldiers, servants, and artisans. Under a system known as "pawnship," youths (usually girls) served as collateral for their family's debts. If their parents or kin defaulted on these debts, then these young girls were forced to labor to repay these debts. In many instances, these young women eventually married into their owner's lineage, and their family's debt was cancelled. Under a system known as "clientage," slaves owed a share of their crop or their labor to an owner or a lineage. Yet they owned the bulk of their crop and were allowed to participate in the society's political activities. These slaves were often treated no differently than other peasant or tenant farmers. The Impact of the Slave Trade on West and Central Africa The trans-Atlantic trade profoundly changed the nature and scale of slavery in Africa itself. The development of the Atlantic slave trade led to the enslavement of far greater numbers of Africans and to more intense exploitation of slave labor in Africa. While the trade probably did not reduce the overall population, it did skew the sex ratio. In Angola, there were just 40 to 50 men per 100 women. As a result of the slave trade, there were fewer adult men to


hunt, fish, rear livestock, and clear fields. The slave trade also generated violence, spread disease, and resulted in massive imports of European goods, undermining local industries. Enslavement Many Americans mistakenly believe that most slaves were captured by Europeans who landed on the African coast and captured or ambushed people. It is important to understand that Europeans were incapable, on their own, of kidnapping 20 million Africans. Most slaves sold to Europeans had not been slaves in Africa. They were free people who were captured in war or were victims of banditry or were enslaved as punishment for certain crimes or as repayment for a debt. In most cases, rulers or merchants were not selling their own subjects, but people they regarded as alien. Apologists for the African slave trade long argued that European traders purchased Africans who had already been enslaved and who otherwise would have been put to death. Thus, apologists claimed, the slave trade actually saved lives. This is a serious distortion of the facts. Some independent slave merchants did stage raids on unprotected African villages and kidnap and enslave Africans. Professional slave traders, however, set up bases along the West African coast where they purchased slaves from Africans in exchange for firearms and other goods. Before the end of the seventeenth century, England, France, Denmark, Holland, and Portugal had all established slave trading posts on the West African coast. The massive European demand for slaves and the introduction of firearms radically transformed West African society. A growing number of Africans were enslaved for petty debts or minor criminal or religious offenses or following unprovoked raids on unprotected villages. An increasing number of religious wars broke out with the goal of capturing slaves. European weapons made it easier to capture slaves. Some African societies like Benin in southern Nigeria refused to sell slaves. Others, like Dahomey, appear to have specialized in enslavement. Drought, famine, or periods of violent conflict might lead a ruler or a merchant to sell slaves. In addition, many rulers sold slaves in order to acquire the trade goods--textiles, alcohol, and other rare imports--that were necessary to secure the loyalty of their subjects. After capture, the captives were bound together at the neck and marched barefoot hundreds of miles to the Atlantic coast. African captives typically suffered death rates of 20 percent or more while being marched overland. Observers reported seeing hundreds of skeletons along the slave caravan routes. At the coast, the captives were held in pens (known as barracoons) guarded by dogs. Our best guess is that another 15 to 30 percent of Africans died during capture, the march from the interior, or the wait for slave ships along the coast. The Middle Passage Between 10 and 16 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic between 1500 and 1900. But this figure grossly understates the actual number of Africans enslaved, killed, or displaced as a result of the slave trade. At least 2 million Africans--10 to 15 percent--died during the infamous "Middle Passage" across the Atlantic. Another 15 to 30 percent died during the march to or confinement along the coast. Altogether, then, for every 100 slaves who reached the New World, another 40 had died in Africa or during the Middle Passage. On shipboard, slaves were chained together and crammed into spaces sometimes less than five feet high. Conditions within the slave ships were unspeakably awful. Inside the hold, slaves had only half the space provided for indentured servants or convicts. Urine, vomit, mucous, and horrific odors filled the hold. The Middle Passage usually took more than seven weeks. Men and women were separated, with men usually placed toward the bow and women toward the stern. The men were chained together and forced to lie shoulder to shoulder. During the voyage, the enslaved Africans were usually fed only once or twice a day and brought on deck for limited times.


The death rate on these slave ships was very high, reaching 25 percent in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and remaining around ten percent in the nineteenth century as a result of malnutrition and such diseases as dysentery, measles, scurvy, and smallpox. The most serious danger was dehydration due to inadequate water rations. Diarrhea was widespread and many Africans arrived in the New World covered with sores or suffering fevers. Many Africans resisted enslavement. On shipboard, many slaves mutinied, attempted suicide, jumped overboard, or refused to eat. Our best estimate is that there was a revolt on one in every ten voyages across the Atlantic. The level of slave exports grew from about 36,000 a year in the early eighteenth century to almost 80,000 a year during the 1780s. By 1750, slavers usually contained at least 400 slaves, with some carrying more than 700. During the peak years of the slave trade, between 1740 and 1810, Africa supplied 60,000 captives a year outnumbering Europeans migrating to the New World. The Origins of New World Slavery By the beginning of the eighteenth century, black slaves could be found in every New World area colonized by Europeans, from Nova Scotia to Buenos Aires. While the concentrations of slave labor were greatest in England's southern colonies, the Caribbean, and Latin America, where slaves were employed in mines or on sugar, rice, tobacco, and cotton plantations, slaves were also put to work in northern seaports and on commercial farms. In 1690, one out of every nine families in Boston owned a slave. It was not inevitable that Europeans in the New World would rely on African slaves to raise crops, clear forests, and mine precious metals. In every New World colony, Europeans experimented with Indian slavery, convict labor, and white indentured servants. Why did every European power eventually turn to African labor? Europeans imported African slaves partly for demographic reasons. As a result of epidemic diseases, which reduced the native population by 50 to 90 percent, the labor supply was insufficient to meet demand. Africans were experienced in intensive agriculture and raising livestock and knew how to raise crops like rice that Europeans were unfamiliar with. Initially, English colonists relied on indentured white servants rather than on black slaves. Over half of all white immigrants to the English colonies during the seventeenth century consisted of convicts or indentured servants. As late as 1640, there were probably only 150 blacks in Virginia (the colony with the highest black population), and in 1650, 300. But by 1680, the number had risen to 3,000 and by 1704, to 10,000. Faced by a shortage of white indentured servants and fearful of servant revolt, English settlers increasingly resorted to enslaved Africans. Between 1700 and 1775, more than 350,000 Africans slaves entered the American colonies. Slavery in Colonial North America The first generation of Africans in the New World tended to be remarkably cosmopolitan. Few of the first generation came directly from Africa. Instead, they arrived from the West Indies and other areas of European settlement. These "Atlantic Creoles" were often multilingual and had Spanish or Portuguese names. Sometimes they had mixtures of African and non-African ancestry. They experienced a period of relative racial tolerance and flexibility that lasted until the 1660s. A surprising number of Africans were allowed to own land or even purchase their freedom. Beginning in the late 1660s, colonists in the Chesapeake colonies of Maryland and Virginia imposed new laws that deprived blacks, free and slaves, of many rights and privileges. At the same time, they began to import thousands of slaves directly from Africa. During the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, three distinctive systems of slavery emerged in the American colonies. In the Chesapeake colonies of Maryland and Virginia, slavery was widely used in agriculture--in raising tobacco and corn and other grains--and in non-agricultural employment--in shipbuilding, ironworking, and other early industries.


In the South Carolina and Georgia Low Country, slaves raised rice and indigo and were able to reconstitute African social patterns and maintain a separate Gullah dialect. Each day, slaves were required to achieve a precise work objective, a labor system known as the task system. This allowed them to leave the fields early in the afternoon to tend their own gardens and raise their own livestock. Slaves often passed their property down for generations. In the North, slavery was concentrated in productive agriculture on Long Island and in southern Rhode Island and New Jersey. Most slaves were engaged in farming and stock raising for the West Indies or as household servants for the urban elite. Slavery’s Evolution At the beginning of the eighteenth century, most slaves were born in Africa, few were Christian, and very slaves were engaged in raising cotton. By the start of the American Revolution, slavery had changed dramatically. As a result of a demographic revolution, a majority of slaves had been born in the New World and were capable of sustaining their population by natural reproduction. Meanwhile, Second, a "plantation revolution" not only increased the size of plantations, but also made them more productive and efficient economic units. Planters expanded their operations and imposed more supervision on their slaves. A third revolution was religious. During the colonial period, many planters resisted the idea of converting slaves to Christianity out of a fear that baptism would change a slave's legal status. By the early nineteenth century, slaveholders increasingly adopted the view that Christianity would make slaves more submissive, orderly, and conscientious. Slaves themselves found in Christianity a faith that could give them hope in an oppressive world. In general, slaves did not join their masters' churches. Most became Baptists or Methodists. A fourth revolution altered the areas in which slaves lived and worked. Between 1790 and 1860, 835,000 slaves were moved from Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. We know that slaves were frequently sold apart from their families or separated from family members when they were moved to the Old Southwest. Finally, there was a revolution in values and sensibility. For the first time in history, religious and secular groups denounced slavery as sinful and as a violation of natural rights. During the 1760s, the first movements in history began to denounce slavery. Life Under Slavery Slaves suffered extremely high mortality. Half of all slave infants died during their first year of life, twice the rate of white babies. And while the death rate declined for those who survived their first year, it remained twice the white rate through age 14. As a result of this high infant and childhood death rate, the average life expectancy of a slave at birth was just 21 or 22 years, compared to 40 to 43 years for antebellum whites. Compared to whites, relatively few slaves lived into old age. A major contributor to the high infant and child death rate was chronic undernourishment. Slave owners showed surprisingly little concern for slave mothers' health or diet during pregnancy, providing pregnant women with no extra rations and employing them in intensive fieldwork even in the last week before they gave birth. Not surprisingly, slave mothers suffered high rates of spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and deaths shortly after birth. Half of all slave infants weighed less than 5.5 pounds at birth, or what we would today consider to be severely underweight. Infants and children were badly malnourished. Most infants were weaned early, within three or four months of birth, and then fed gruel or porridge made of cornmeal. Around the age of three, they began to eat vegetables soups, potatoes, molasses, grits, hominy, and cornbread. This diet lacked protein, thiamine, niacin, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D, and as a result, slave children often suffered from night blindness, abdominal swellings, swollen muscles, bowed legs, skin lesions, and convulsions. Slave Resistance and Revolts Enslaved African Americans resisted slavery in a variety of active and passive ways. "Day-to-day resistance" was the most common form of opposition to slavery. Breaking tools, feigning illness, staging


slowdowns, and committing acts of arson and sabotage--all were forms of resistance and expression of slaves' alienation from their masters. Running away was another form of resistance. Most slaves ran away relatively short distances and were not trying to permanently escape from slavery. Instead, they were temporarily withholding their labor as a form of economic bargaining and negotiation. Slavery involved a constant process of negotiation as slaves bargained over the pace of work, the amount of free time they would enjoy, monetary rewards, access to garden plots, and the freedom to practice burials, marriages, and religious ceremonies free from white oversight. Some fugitives did try to permanently escape slavery. While the idea of escaping slavery quickly brings to mind the Underground Railroad to the free states, in fact more than half of these runaways headed southward or to cities or to natural refuges like swamps. Often, runaways were relatively privileged slaves who had served as river boatmen or coachmen and were familiar with the outside world. Especially in the colonial period, fugitive slaves tried to form runaway communities known as "maroon colonies." Located in swamps, mountains, or frontier regions, some of these communities resisted capture for several decades. During the early eighteenth century there were slave uprisings in Long Island in 1708 and in New York City in 1712. Slaves in South Carolina staged several insurrections, culminating in the Stono Rebellion in 1739, when they seized arms, killed whites, and burned houses. In 1740 and 1741, conspiracies were uncovered in Charleston and New York. During the late eighteenth century, slave revolts erupted in Guadeloupe, Grenada, Jamaica, Surinam, San Domingue (Haiti), Venezuela, and the Windward Island and many fugitive slaves, known as maroons, fled to remote regions and carried on guerrilla warfare (during the 1820s, a fugitive slave named Bob Ferebee led a band in fugitive slaves in guerrilla warfare in Virginia). During the early nineteenth century, major conspiracies or revolts against slavery took place in Richmond, Virginia, in 1800; in Louisiana in 1811; in Barbados in 1816; in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822; in Demerara in 1823; and in Jamaica and in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. Slave revolts were most likely when slaves outnumbered whites, when masters were absent, during periods of economic distress, and when there was a split within the ruling elite. They were also most common when large numbers of native-born Africans had been brought into an area at one time. The main result of slave insurrections was the mass executions of blacks. After a slave conspiracy was uncovered in New York City in 1740, 18 slaves were hanged and 13 were burned alive. After Denmark Vesey's conspiracy was uncovered, the authorities in Charleston hanged 37 blacks. Following Nat Turner's insurrection, the local militia killed about 100 blacks and 20 more slaves, including Turner, were later executed. In the South, the preconditions for successful rebellion did not exist, and tended to bring increased suffering and repression to the slave community. Violent rebellion was rarer and smaller in scale in the American South than in Brazil or the Caribbean, reflecting the relatively small proportion of blacks in the southern population, the low proportion of recent migrants from Africa, and the relatively small size of southern plantations. Compared to the Caribbean, prospects for successful sustained rebellions in the American South were bleak. In Jamaica, slaves outnumbered whites by ten or eleven to one; in the South, a much larger white population was committed to suppressing rebellion. In general, Africans were more likely than New Worldborn slaves to participate in outright revolts. Not only did many Africans have combat experience prior to enslavement, but they also had fewer family and communities ties that might inhibit violent insurrection. The Economics of Slavery Like other slave societies, the South did not produce urban centers on a scale equal with those in the North. Virginia's largest city, Richmond, had a population of just 15,274 in 1850. That same year, Wilmington, North Carolina's largest city, had just 7,264 inhabitants. Southern cities were small because they failed to develop diversified economies. Unlike the cities of the North, southern cities rarely became centers of commerce, finance, or processing and manufacturing and Southern ports rarely engaged in international trade.


By northern standards, the South's transportation network was primitive. Traveling the 1,460 miles from Baltimore to New Orleans in 1850 meant riding five different railroads, two stagecoaches, and two steamboats. Its educational system also lagged far behind the North's. In 1850, 20 percent of adult white southerners could not read or write, compared to a national figure of 8 percent. Nevertheless, there is no reason to think that slavery was doomed for economic reasons. Slavery was adaptable to a variety of occupations, ranging from agriculture and mining to factory work. During the decades before the Civil War, slave grown cotton accounted for over half the value of all United States exports, and provided virtually all the cotton used in the northern textile industry and 70 percent of the cotton used in British mills. Nevertheless, the South's political leaders had good reason for concern. Within the South, slave ownership was becoming concentrated into a smaller number of hands. The proportion of southern families owning slaves declined from 36 percent in 1830 to 25 percent in 1860. At the same time, slavery was sharply declining in the upper South. Between 1830 and 1860, the proportion of slaves in Missouri's population fell from 18 to 10 percent; in Kentucky, from 24 to 19 percent; in Maryland, from 23 to 13 percent. By the middle of the nineteenth century, slavery was becoming an exception in the New World, confined to Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rice, a number of small Dutch colonies, and the American South. But the most important threat to slavery came from abolitionists, who denounced slavery as immoral.

Facts about the Slave Trade and Slavery

Slave Trade

The level of slave exports grew from about 36,000 a year during the early 18th century to almost 80,000 a year during the 1780s.

The Angolan region of west-central Africa made up slightly more than half of all Africans sent to the Americas and a quarter of imports to British North America.

Approximately 11,863,000 Africans were shipped across the Atlantic, with a death rate during the Middle Passage reducing this number by 10-20 percent.

As a result between 9.6 and 10.8 million Africans arrived in the Americas.

About 500,000 Africans were imported into what is now the U.S. between 1619 and 1807--or about 6 percent of all Africans forcibly imported into the Americas. About 70 percent arrived directly from Africa.

Well over 90 percent of African slaves were imported into the Caribbean and South America. Only about 6 percent of imports went directly to British North America. Yet by 1825, the U.S. had a quarter of blacks in the New World.

The majority of African slaves were brought to British North America between 1720 and 1780. (Average date of arrival for whites is 1890)

Comparisons

American plantations were dwarfed by those in the West Indies. About a quarter of U.S. slaves lived on farms with 15 or fewer slaves. In 1850, just 125 plantations had over 250 slaves.

In the Caribbean, Dutch Guiana and Brazil, the slave death rate was so high and the birth rate so low that they could not sustain their population without importations from Africa. Rates of natural decrease ran as high as 5 percent a year. While the death rate of U.S. slaves was about the same as that of Jamaican slaves, the fertility rate was more than 80 percent higher.

U.S. slaves were further removed from Africa than those in the Caribbean. In the 19th century, the majority of slaves in the British Caribbean and Brazil were born in Africa. In contrast, by 1850, most U.S. slaves were third-, fourth-, or fifth generation Americans.


Demography

Slavery in the U.S. was distinctive in the near-balance of the sexes and the ability of the slave population to increase its numbers by natural reproduction.

Unlike any other slave society, the U.S. had a high and sustained natural increase in the slave population for a more than a century and a half.

In 1860, 89 percent of the nation's African Americans were slaves; blacks formed 13 percent of the country's population and 33 percent of the South's population.

In 1860, less than 10 percent of the slave population was over 50 and only 3.5 percent was over 60.

The average age of first birth for slave women was around 20. Child spacing averaged about 2 years.

The average number of children born to a slave woman was 9.2--twice as many in the West Indies. Most slaves lived in nuclear households consisting of two parents and children: 64 percent nuclear; 21 percent single parents; 15 percent non-family.

Mother-headed families were 50 percent more frequent on plantations with 15 or fewer slaves than on large ones. Smaller units also had a disproportionately large share of families in which the father and mother lived on different plantations for most of the week.

Average number of persons per household was 6.

Average age of women at birth of their first child was about 21.

Few slaves lived into old age. Between 1830 and 1860, only 10 percent of slaves in North America were over 50 years old.

Children

Most infants were weaned within three or four months

There were few instances in which slave women were released from field work for extended periods during slavery. Even during the last week before childbirth, pregnant women on average picked three-quarters or more of the amount normal for women.

Half of all slave babies died in the first year of life--twice the rate for white babies.

The average birth weight of slave infants was less than 5.5 pounds.

Slave children were tiny; their average height did not reach three feet until they were 4; they were 5.5 inches shorter than modern children and comparable to children in Bangladesh and the slums of Lagos.

At 17, slave men were shorter than 96 percent of men today and slave women shorter than 80 percent of contemporary women.

Slaves did not reach their full stature--67 inches for men and 62.5 inches for women--until their mid-20s.

Children entered the labor force as early as 3 or 4. Some were taken into the master's house to be servants while others were assigned to special children's gangs called "trash gangs," which swept yards, cleared drying cornstalks from fields, chopped cotton, carried water to field hands, weeded, picked cotton, fed work animals, and drove cows to pasture.

By age 7, over 40 percent of the boys and half the girls had entered the work force. At about 11, boys began to transfer to adult field jobs. Labor

At the beginning of the 18th century, it was common for small groups of slaves to live and work by themselves on properties remote from their masters' homes.


Sugar field workers in Jamaica worked about 4,000 hours a year--three times that of a modern factory worker. Cotton workers toiled about 3,000 hours a year.

he median size of slaveholdings ranged from approximately 25 slaves in the tobacco regions of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, to 30-50 slaves in upland cotton regions. Plantations in the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia and the sugar parishes of Louisiana averaged 60-80 slaves. In small areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, slaves lived on 125-175 person units.

In 1790, 44 percent of enslaved Africans lived on units of 20 or more slaves. In 1860, the figure was 53 percent (and approximately a third lived on units with 50 or more slaves).

Half of all masters owned five or fewer slaves. While most small slaveholders were farmers, a disproportionate share were artisans, shopkeepers, and public officials.

Prices of slaves varied widely over time. During the 18th century, slave prices generally rose. Though they fell somewhat before the start of the revolution, by the early 1790s, even before the onset of cotton expansion, prices had returned to earlier levels. Prices rose to a high of about $1,250 during the cotton boom of the late 1830s, fell to below half that level in the 1840s, and rose to about $1,450 in the late 1850. Males were valued 10-20 percent more than females; at age ten, children's prices were about half that of a prime male field hand.

By 1850, about 64 percent of slaves lived on cotton plantations; 12 percent raised tobacco, 5 percent sugar, 4 percent rice.

Among slaves 16-20, about 83 percent of the males and 89 percent of the females were field hands. The remainder were managers, artisans, or domestic servants.

Growing cotton required about 38 percent of the labor time of slaves; growing corn and caring for livestock 31 percent; and 31 percent improving land, constructing fences and buildings, raising other crops, and manufacturing products such as clothes.

Slaves constructed more than 9,500 miles of railroad track by 1860, a third of the nation's total and more than the mileage of Britain, France, and Germany.

About 2/3s of slaves were in the labor force, twice the proportion among free persons. Nearly a third of slave laborers were children and an eighth were elderly or crippled. Disease

Slaves suffered a variety of maladies--such as blindness, abdominal swelling, bowed legs, skin lesions, and convulsions--that may have been caused by beriberi (caused by a deficiency of thiamine), pellagra (caused by a niacin deficiency), tetany (caused by deficiencies of calcium, magnesium, and Vitamin D), rickets (also caused by a deficiency of Vitamin D), and kwashiorkor (caused by severe protein deficiency).

Diarrhea, dysentery, whooping cough, and respiratory diseases as well as worms pushed the infant and early childhood death rate of slaves to twice that experienced by white infants and children. Domestic Slave Trade

Between 1790 and 1860, 835,000 slaves were moved from Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

Between 16 and 60 percent of slaves were shipped west by traders. Profitability

Slaveholding became more concentrated over time. The fraction of households owning slaves fell from 36 percent in 1830 to 25 percent in 1860.


The distribution of wealth in the South was much more unequal than that of the North.

Nearly 2 of 3 males with estates of $100,000 or more lived in the South in 1860.

If the North and South are treated as separate nations, the South was the fourth most prosperous nation in the world in 1860. Italy did not achieve the southern level of per capita income until the eve of World War II.

During the Civil War, 140,500 freed slaves and 38,500 free blacks served in the Union Army.


Africans in America Introduction The years 1450-1750 brought enormous changes to the North American continent. The native Americans, or Indians, as the Europeans came to call them, first encountered European explorers, and before long, saw their world transformed and largely destroyed by European settlers. And European explorers not only ventured to the lands and natural wealth of the Americas; they also traveled to Africa, where they began a trans-Atlantic slave trade that would bring millions of Africans to the Americas as well. This slave trade would over time lead to a new social and economic system: one where the color of one's skin could determine whether he or she might live as a free citizen or be enslaved for life. Map: The British Colonies By the early 1600s, England was eager to gain a colonial foothold on the North American continent. The first enduring settlement was founded at Jamestown in Virginia in 1607. Colonies in Massachusetts and elsewhere up and down the eastern seaboard were settled as the century progressed. The English settlers had occasionally friendly relations with the native "Indians" of these lands, but for the most part, the interaction between the two turned hostile. Labor to clear the forests, tend the plantations and farms, and work in the developing seafaring industry became a crucial concern. From 1619 on, not long after the first settlement, the need for colonial labor was bolstered by the importation of African captives. At first, like their poor English counterparts, the Africans were treated as indentured servants, who would be freed of their obligations to their owners after serving for several years. However, over the course of the century, a new race-based slavery system developed, and by the dawn of the new century, the majority of Africans and African Americans were slaves for life. Control over the captive population became a significant issue for whites as rebellion and fear of rebellion spread. Map Information Virginia: 1619: A Dutch ship brings the first permanent African settlers to Jamestown. Africans soon are put to work on tobacco plantations. 1663: A Virginia court decides that a child born to a slave mother is also a slave. 1705: The General Assembly declares imported servants who were not Christians in their native lands slaves, and all negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves property. Massachusetts: 1641: Massachusetts becomes the first colony to recognize slavery as a legal institution. The Middle Passage: 1680: The Royal African company transports 5000 African captives annually. By the 18th century, 45,000 Africans are transported annually on British ships. South Carolina: 1700s: Almost half of the slaves coming to North America arrive in Charleston. Many stay in South Carolina to work on rice plantations. 1739: The Stono rebellion breaks out around Charleston; over 20 whites are killed by Jemmy and his band.

British Colonies


New York: 1741: Fires break out in New York City, which has the second-largest urban population of blacks. Numerous blacks are accused and executed in a witch-hunt atmosphere. Georgia: 1750: Georgia is the last of the British North American colonies to legalize slavery. Europeans Come to Western Africa

Concerning the trade on this Coast, we notified your Highness that nowadays the natives no longer occupy themselves with the search for gold, but rather make war on each other in order to furnish slaves. . . The Gold Coast has changed into a complete Slave Coast. - William De La Palma Director, Dutch West India Co. September 5, 1705 The history of the European seaborne slave trade with Africa goes back 50 years prior to Columbus' initial voyage to the Americas. It began with the Portuguese, who went to West Africa in search of gold. The first Europeans to come to Africa's West Coast to trade were funded by Prince Henry, the famous Portuguese patron, who hoped to bring riches to Portugal. The purpose of the exploration: to expand European geographic knowledge, to find the source of prized African gold, and to locate a possible sea route to

valuable Asian spices.

In 1441, for the first time, Portuguese sailors obtained gold dust from traders on the western coast of Africa. The following year, Portuguese explorers returned from Africa with more gold dust and another cargo: ten Africans. Forty years after that first human cargo traveled to Portugal, Portuguese sailors gained permission from a local African leader to build a trading outpost and storehouse on Africa's Guinea coast. It was near a region that had been mined for gold for many years and was called Elmina, which means "the mine" in Portuguese. Although originally built for trade in gold and ivory and other resources, Elmina was the first of many trading posts built by Europeans along Africa's western coast that would also come to export slaves. The well-armed fort provided a secure harbor for Portuguese (and later Dutch and English) ships. Africans were either captured in warring raids or kidnapped and taken to the port by African slave traders. There they were exchanged for iron, guns, gunpowder, mirrors, knives, cloth, and beads brought by boat from Europe. When Europeans arrived along the West African coast, slavery already existed on the continent. However, in his book The African Slave Trade, Basil Davidson points out that slavery in Africa and the brutal form of slavery that would develop in the Americas were vastly different. African slavery was more akin to

Many years had passed between the arrival of Europeans to Africa and 1795, the time this image was engraved. The Portuguese, who had explored much of the coast of western Africa under the sponsorship of Prince Henry, landed along the shores of the Senegal River 350 years earlier. Image Credit: Musée national des Arts d'Afrique


European serfdom --the condition of most Europeans in the 15th century. In the Ashanti Kingdom of West Africa, for example, slaves could marry, own property and even own slaves. And slavery ended after a certain number of years of servitude. Most importantly, African slavery was never passed from one generation to another, and it lacked the racist notion that whites were masters and blacks were slaves. New World Exploration and English Ambition

For the English in the New World there are really three labor options. One is to transport people from England to the New World. Another is to employ or exploit the indigenous labor... And the third is to bring people from Africa. - Peter Wood, historian At the end of the 16th century, Spain and Portugal dominated the South American continent and parts of the Caribbean. They had also gotten a foothold in Central America and the southern portions of North America, in Florida and the Southwest. England, with colonizing ambitions of its own, was eager to establish a foothold on the North American coast. Urging their countrymen to join in the race for the colonization of the New World were two men, an uncle and his nephew, each named Richard Hakluyt. In a number of popular pamphlets they made the argument for colonization: England stood to gain glory, profit, and adventure. The younger sons of English nobility, lacking property at home, would have new lands to lord over. Merchants would have exotic products to bring home and new markets in which to sell their goods. The clergy could convert "savages" to Christianity. The landless poor, who burdened English towns and cities in increasing numbers, would have opportunity to rise up from their poverty. English colonial ambition and the exhortations of the Hakluyts set the stage for England's first lasting settlement in the New World: Jamestown. The colony on Chesapeake Bay was first and foremost a business enterprise. It was funded by investors in the Virginia Company of London, who recruited the men who would settle Jamestown. The investors wanted what all investors dream of: a quick return of profit. The settlers were told to settle on an inland river that might lead to the Pacific and the riches of Asia. Failing that, investors hoped settlers would send home profitable goods, such as minerals, wooden masts, dyes, plant medicines, glass, and tar. Captain John Smith, one of the leaders of the Jamestown venture, later wrote that the force behind the settlement "was nothing but present profit." In 1607, 105 colonists landed in Jamestown, and by 1609, 500 settlers had come. However, English ambition was at first dashed by ignorance and an unforgiving land. Famine struck during the winter of 1609-1610. The settlers had arrived in the midst of a severe regional drought, and they had been too arrogant to till the soil. They could have received help from native Americans, but they considered the indigenous people to be savages and, eventually, enemies. The settlers ate their cattle, hogs, poultry, and finally their horses. And then they starved. Some cases of cannibalism were recorded. By the spring of 1610, only 60 were left alive. Nearly nine of every ten colonists had died. The dream of fortune had turned into a deadly nightmare. Not willing to give up and absorb heavy financial losses, the Virginia Company of London sent more colonists from England. In the next few years, they experimented with various types of tobacco, and by 1617, found success with a variety of seed from Trinidad. Only three years later, a staggering 55,000 pounds of tobacco reached English markets. Jamestown had found a way to survive: by growing and selling tobacco.


But all these new tobacco fields required many hands and hard labor. At first, the men needed in the fields came from the working classes of England. While the world of colonial America was controlled by the wealthy Englishmen, most immigrants were poor men under 25 years of age. At first, the supply of willing conscripts matched the demand. The population of England had swelled from under three million in 1500 to more than five million by the mid-1600s. The homeless and the unemployed turned their hopes to the New World. Throughout the 17th century, between half and two-thirds of all white immigrants to the American colonies came as indentured servants. In exchange for passage to Virginia or other colonies, these poor English people traded 4-7 years of their labor. They were fed, sheltered and clothed in exchange for their work. After their time was up, these indentured servants received their so-called "freedom dues." This often amounted to a bushel of corn for planting, a new suit of clothes and 100 acres of land. Now these men (and small numbers of women too) were free to labor for a living on their own.

The turn-over in indentured servants was rapid, so aspiring planters considered two other options for solving the need for plantation labor. One was to hire or exploit the native Americans. But such workers were susceptible to new diseases and often proved unreliable, as they could always choose to leave work behind and return to their people. There was also a second option. In 1619, a Dutch ship that had pirated the cargo of a Spanish vessel -- captive Africans --anchored at Jamestown in the mouth of the James River. The ship needed supplies,

so the Dutch sailors traded the Africans for food. The colonists purchased the Africans, baptized them, and gave them Christian names. At least some of these Africans, like their white counterparts, were

purchased according to the usual terms for all indentured servants. They and other Africans who were transported to America at this time would become free after their years of service. The English who had settled in Jamestown and, over the rest of the 17th century, in the other British North American colonies soon reached a turning point. Would they continue to hire Europeans and Africans as indentured servants? Or would they rely on Africans as enslaved workers for life, the model that had developed in the Caribbean? The colonists had a choice to make. They could use laborers who were free or who would one day become free. Or they could force people to work their fields for them indefinitely, without any hope of freedom for themselves or their children. To this day, we carry the scars of the decision they made: gradually, over several generations, they chose slavery. By the start of the 16th century, almost 200,000 Africans had been transported to Europe and islands in the Atlantic. But after the voyages of Columbus, slave traders found another market for slaves: New World plantations. In Spanish Caribbean islands and Portuguese Brazil by the mid 1500s, colonists had turned to the quick and highly profitable cultivation of sugar, a crop that required constant attention and exhausting labor. They tried to recruit native Americans, but many died from diseases brought by Europeans, such as smallpox, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. And the Indians who survived wanted no part of the work, often fleeing to the countryside they knew so well. European colonists found an answer to their pressing labor shortage by importing enslaved workers from Africa.

Howard Pyle illustrated many historical and adventure stories for periodicals, including Harper's Weekly. In 1917, he created this depiction of the 1619 arrival of Virginia's first blacks.


By 1619, more than a century and a half after the Portuguese first traded slaves on the African coast, European ships had brought a million Africans to colonies and plantations in the Americas and force them to labor as slaves. Trade through the West African forts continued for nearly three hundred years. The Europeans made more than 54,000 voyages to trade in human beings and sent at least ten to twelve million Africans to the Americas. From Indentured Servitude to Racial Slavery

We sometimes imagine that such oppressive laws were put quickly into full force by greedy landowners. But that's not the way slavery was established in colonial America. It happened gradually -- one person at a time, one law at a time, even one colony at a time. All servants imported and brought into the Country. . . who were not Christians in their native Country. . . shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion. . . shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master. . . correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction. . . the master shall be free of all punishment. . . as if such accident never happened. - Virginia General Assembly declaration, 1705 One of the places we have the clearest views of that "terrible transformation" is the colony of Virginia. In the early years of the colony, many Africans and poor whites -- most of the laborers came from the English working class -- stood on the same ground. Black and white women worked side-by-side in the fields. Black and white men who broke their servant contract were equally punished. All were indentured servants. During their time as servants, they were fed and housed. Afterwards, they would be given what were known as "freedom dues," which usually included a piece of land and supplies, including a gun. Black-skinned or white-skinned, they became free. Historically, the English only enslaved non-Christians, and not, in particular, Africans. And the status of slave (Europeans had African slaves prior to the colonization of the Americas) was not one that was life-long. A slave could become free by converting to Christianity. The first Virginia colonists did not even think of themselves as "white" or use that word to describe themselves. They saw themselves as Christians or Englishmen, or in terms of their social class. They were nobility, gentry, artisans, or servants. One of the few recorded histories of an African in America that we can glean from early court records is that of "Antonio the negro," as he was named in the 1625 Virginia census. He was brought to the colony in 1621. At this time, English and Colonial law did not define racial slavery; the census calls him not a slave but a "servant." Later, Antonio changed his name to Anthony Johnson, married an African American servant named Mary, and they had four children. Mary and Anthony also became free, and he soon owned land and cattle and even indentured servants of his own. By 1650, Anthony was still one of only 400 Africans in the colony among nearly 19,000 settlers. In Johnson's own county, at least 20 African men and women were free, and 13 owned their own homes. In 1640, the year Johnson purchased his first property, three servants fled a Virginia plantation. Caught and returned to their owner, two had their servitude extended four years. However, the third, a black man named John Punch, was sentenced to "serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life." He was made a slave. Traditionally, Englishmen believed they had a right to enslave a non-Christian or a captive taken in a just war. Africans and Indians might fit one or both of these definitions. But what if they learned English and converted to the Protestant church? Should they be released from bondage and given "freedom dues?"


What if, on the other hand, status were determined not by (changeable ) religious faith but by (unchangeable) skin color? This disorder that the indentured servant system had created made racial slavery to southern slaveholders much more attractive, because what were black slaves now? Well, they were a permanent dependent labor force, who could be defined as a people set apart. They were racially set apart. They were outsiders. They were strangers and in many ways throughout the world, slavery has taken root, especially where people are considered outsiders and can be put in a permanent status of slavery.

- David Blight, historian

Also, the indentured servants, especially once freed, began to pose a threat to the property-owning elite. The colonial establishment had placed restrictions on available lands, creating unrest among newly freed indentured servants. In 1676, working class men burned down Jamestown, making indentured servitude look even less attractive to Virginia leaders. Also, servants moved on, forcing a need for costly replacements; slaves, especially ones you could identify by skin color, could not move on and become free competitors. In 1641, Massachusetts became the first colony to legally recognize slavery. Other states, such as Virginia, followed. In 1662, Virginia decided all children born in the colony to a slave mother would be enslaved. Slavery was not only a life-long condition; now it could be passed, like skin color, from generation to generation. In 1665, Anthony Johnson moved to Maryland and leased a 300-acre plantation, where he died five years later. But back in Virginia that same year, a jury decided the land Johnson left behind could be seized by the government because he was a "negroe and by consequence an alien." In 1705 Virginia declared that "All servants imported and brought in this County... who were not Christians in their Native Country... shall be slaves. A Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves ... shall be held to be real estate." English suppliers responded to the increasing demand for slaves. In 1672, England officially got into the slave trade as the King of England chartered the Royal African Company, encouraging it to expand the British slave trade. In 1698, the English Parliament ruled that any British subject could trade in slaves. Over the first 50 years of the 18th century, the number of Africans brought to British colonies on British ships rose from 5,000 to 45,000 a year. England had passed Portugal and Spain as the number one trafficker of slaves in the world. The African Slave Trade and the Middle Passage. Who are we looking for, who are we looking for? It's Equiano we're looking for. Has he gone to the stream? Let him come back. Has he gone to the farm? Let him return. It's Equiano we're looking for.

- Kwa chant about the disappearance of an African boy, Equiano

This African chant mourns the loss of Olaudah Equiano, an 11-year-old boy and son of an African tribal leader who was kidnapped in 1755 from his home in what is now Nigeria. He was one of the 10 to 12 million Africans who were sold into slavery from the 15th through the 19th Centuries.. "I believe there are few events in my life that have not happened to many," wrote Equiano in his Autobiography. The "many" he refers to are the Africans taken as free people and then forced into slavery in South America, the Caribbean and North America.


Along the west coast of Africa, from the Cameroons in the south to Senegal in the north, Europeans built some sixty forts that served as trading posts. European sailors seeking riches brought rum, cloth, guns, and other goods to these posts and traded them for human beings. This human cargo was transported across the Atlantic Ocean and sold to New World slave owners, who bought slaves to work their crops. European traders such as Nicolas Owen waited at these forts for slaves; African traders transported slaves from the interior of Africa. Equiano and others found themselves sold and traded more than once, often in slave markets. African merchants, the poor, royalty -- anyone -- could be abducted in the raids and wars that were undertaken by Africans to secure slaves that they could trade. The slave trade devastated African life. Culture and traditions were torn asunder, as families, especially young men, were abducted. Guns were introduced and slave raids and even wars increased.

After kidnapping potential slaves, merchants forced them to walk in slave caravans to the European coastal forts, sometimes as far as 1,000 miles. Shackled and underfed, only half the people survived these death marches. Those too sick or weary to keep up were often killed or left to die. Those who reached the coastal forts were put into underground dungeons where they would stay -- sometimes for as long as a year -- until they were boarded on ships. Just as horrifying as these death marches was the Middle Passage, as it was called -- the transport of slaves across the Atlantic. On the first leg of their trip, slave traders delivered goods from European ports to West African ones. On the "middle" leg, ship captains such as John Newton (who later became a foe of slavery), loaded their then-empty holds with slaves and transported them to the Americas and the Caribbean. A typical Atlantic crossing took 60-90 days but some lasted up to four months Upon arrival, captains sold the slaves and purchased raw materials to be brought back to Europe on the last leg of the trip. Roughly 54,000 voyages were made by Europeans to buy and sell slaves. Africans were often treated like cattle during the crossing. On the slave ships, people were stuffed between decks in spaces too low for standing. The heat was often unbearable, and the air nearly unbreathable. Women were often used sexually. Men were often chained in pairs, shackled wrist to wrist or ankle to ankle. People were crowded together, usually forced to lie on their backs with their heads between the legs of others. This meant they often had to lie in each other's feces, urine, and, in the case of dysentery, even blood. In such cramped quarters, diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever spread like wildfire. The diseased were sometimes thrown overboard to prevent wholesale epidemics. Because a small crew had to control so many, cruel measures such as iron muzzles and whippings were used to control slaves.

In 1888, Harpers requested that Henry M. Stanley's Through a Dark Continent be adapted for young readers. On Stanley's recommendation, Thomas Wallace Knox was selected to write the book, which would be entitled, The Boy Travellers on the Congo. The illustrations used in Knox's book came from several volumes on African travels, including the book it was based on. Slave Caravans on the Road accompanies text describing Arab involvement with the slave trade and the town of Mombasa, a port on Africa's east coast. The book tells how Arabs made war with natives and enslaved captives, as well as inciting war between various tribes in order to purchase, as slaves, the prisoners of those


Over the centuries, between one and two million persons died in the crossing. This meant that the living were often chained to the dead until ship surgeons such as Alexander Falconbridge had the corpses thrown overboard. While ships were still close to shore, insurrections of desperate slaves sometimes broke out. Many went mad in these barbaric conditions; others chose to jump to their watery deaths rather than endure. Equiano wrote of his passage: "Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much happier than myself." The Growth of Slavery in North America

Is not the slave trade entirely at war with the heart of man? And surely that which is begun by breaking down the barriers of virtue, involves in its continuance destruction to every principle, and buries all sentiments in ruin! When you make men slaves, you... compel them to live with you in a state of war. - Olaudah Equiano, former slave Slavery became a highly profitable system for white plantation owners in the colonial South. In South Carolina, successful slave owners, such as the Middleton family from Barbados, established a system of full-blown, Caribbean-style slavery. The Middletons settled on land near Charleston, Carolina's main port and slave-trading capital. They took advantage of the fact that at the end of the 17th century, some of the earliest African arrivals had shown English settlers how rice could be grown in the swampy coastal environment. With cheap and permanent workers available in the form of slaves, plantation owners realized this strange new crop could make them rich. As rice boomed, land owners found the need to import more African slaves to clear the swamps where the rice was grown and to cultivate the crop. Many of the Africans knew how to grow and cultivate the crop, which was alien to Europeans. By 1710, scarcely 15 years after rice came to Carolina, Africans began to out-number Europeans in South Carolina. Slavery was rapidly becoming an entrenched institution in American society, but it took brutal force to imposed this sort of mass exploitation upon once-free people. As Equiano wrote, white and black lived together "in a state of war." The more harshly whites enforced racial enslavement, the more they came to fear black uprisings. As they became more fearful, they responded by further tightening the screws of oppression.

The importation of slaves had been prohibited in the United States since [1808], and yet, the trade continued illegally on a smaller scale for many years -- even up to the outbreak of the Civil War. Published in the June 2, 1860 issue of Harper's Weekly, The Slave Deck of the Bark "Wildfire" illustrated how Africans travelled on the upper deck of the ship. On board the ship were 510 captives, recently acquired from an area of Africa near the Congo River. The author of the article reported seeing, upon boarding the ship, "about four hundred and fifty native Africans, in a state of entire nudity, in a sitting or squatting posture, the most of them having their k l t d t f ti l f th i h d d "


This disturbing image was created for a book entitled, Narrative of a Five-Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. The author, Englishman John Gabriel Stedman, was hired by the Dutch to help quell slave uprisings in their South American colony. In his "narrative" he describes the plants and animals he encountered, as well as how he and fellow soldiers tortured runaway slaves who had been recaptured. A Negro Hung Alive by the Ribs to a Gallows is based on a crude sketch by Stedman, engraved by the famous English poet and artist, William Blake. Its graphic depiction of a slave in Surinam hanging by a single rib illustrates the general lack of compassion whites had when dealing with enslaved Africans throughout the world. Image Credit: James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota This disturbing image was created for a book entitled, Narrative of a Five-Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. The author, Englishman John Gabriel Stedman, was hired by the Dutch to help quell slave uprisings in their South A i l I hi " ti " h d ib th l t d i l h

"If you're a white authority, you're constantly trying to figure how tightly you want to impose the lid with respect to people running away. How fierce should the punishments be? Should it be a whipping? Should it be the loss of a finger or a hand or a foot? Should it be wearing shackles perpetually?" - Peter Wood, historian Carolina authorities developed laws to keep the African American population under control. Whipping, branding, dismembering, castrating, or killing a slave were legal under many circumstances. Freedom of movement, to assemble at a funeral, to earn money, even to learn to read and write, became outlawed.

At times the cruelty seemed almost casual. A Virginia slaveowner's journal entry for April 17, 1709 reads: "Anaka was whipped yesterday for stealing the rum and filling the bottle up with water. I said my prayers and I danced my dance. Eugene was whipped again for pissing in bed and Jenny for concealing it." On the 9th of September last at Night a great Number of Negroes Arose in Rebellion, broke open a Store where they got arms, killed twenty one White Persons, and were marching the next morning in a Daring manner out of the Province, killing all they met and burning several Houses as they passed along the Road. - Wm Bull White fears of the people they kept enslaved were entirely justified. On September 9, 1739, an African man named Jemmy, thought to be of Angolan origin, led a march from Stono near Charleston toward Florida and what he believed would be freedom on Spanish soil. Other slaves joined Jemmy and their numbers grew to nearly 100. Jemmy and his companions killed dozens of whites on their way, in what became known as the Stono Rebellion. White colonists caught up with the rebels and executed those whom they managed to capture. The severed heads of the rebels were left on mile posts on the side of the road as a warning to others. White fear of blacks was also rampant in New York City, which had a density of slaves nearing that of Charleston. In 1741, fires were ignited all over New York, including one at the governor's mansion. In witch-hunt fashion, 160 blacks and at least a dozen working class whites were accused of conspiring against the City of New York. Thirty-one Africans were killed; 13 were burned at the stake. Four whites were hung. A few white men, although in the minority, balked at the cruelty toward African slaves. Francis Le Jau, an Anglican minister who oversaw a church built on land donated by the Middletons, spoke against the cruelty


of Carolina slavery. Samuel Sewall, a Boston judge, wrote a pamphlet called The Selling of Joseph, criticizing slavery. Georgia, the last free colony, legalized slavery in 1750. That meant slavery was now legal in each of the thirteen British colonies that would soon become the United States. But the conflict between those who supported racial enslavement and those who believed in freedom was only just beginning. In the tumultuous generation of the American Revolution, protests against "enslavement" by Britain and demands for American "liberty " would become common in the rebellious colonies, and many African Americans, both slave and free, had high hopes that the rhetoric of Independence would apply to them. These hopes, however, would eventually be dashed, and it would take a bloody civil war three generations later to finally bring an end to the enslavement of black Americans. Teacher’s Guide at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/narrative.html


Common Features and Patterns in Social Studies Reading Everyday Reading What kinds of reading do you do every day? Probably more than you think. For example, when you are waiting for dinner, you might look over the newspaper headlines or television listings. You may read e-mail and surf the Internet. You go to school and do homework. This all requires plenty of reading. Social Studies Reading When you are reading for a social studies class, you may not be reading just for pleasure. You are gathering information. What kinds of social studies reading does your teacher assign? How can you get the most benefit out of each kind?

Social studies reading falls into two basic groups: primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources include firsthand information: eyewitness accounts, true stories someone tells about his or her own life, speeches, laws, and other official documents. Secondary sources are everything else. They are other people's versions of something that has happened. Primary sources

letters court records diaries oral (spoken) histories speeches government records autobiographies

Secondary sources

textbooks biographies news reports histories magazine or journal articles

Both groups are important in social studies. Textbooks and other secondary sources give you the big picture about an era or a special theme in history. Diary accounts and other primary sources give you real-life details, feelings, and viewpoints about historical events and times. For most social studies students, though, reading assignments tend to be secondary sources-textbooks and other histories. Features and Patterns to Look For Here are some of the most common features to watch for when you read social studies assignments: Common Features

Graphics Special Text •maps •bulleted/ numbered lists •charts •boxed or shaded text •graphs •special chapter introductions with key topics •time lines •special chapter endings with summaries •photos •questions to think about •drawings •highlighted material Each of these features needs your attention as you read. They give you important information that is


not found in the regular text. Here are some of the most common patterns in social studies readings. These are ways of organizing information to be aware of as you read. Common Patterns

• Chronological order • Main idea and details • Cause and effect • Compare and contrast

Learn how to recognize these features and patterns. Then you can use the best reading strategy for each one. This will help you master your social studies material. It will also help you organize and express your thoughts better when you write. In the following lessons, you will look at many of these common features and patterns in more detail.


Unwritten History The integration of history and archaeology has led to the study of people who have often been

denied a voice in traditional history because of race, class, or gender. The historical archaeologist challenges traditional interpretations of the past and questions written sources of history. The historical archaeologist goes directly to the people for evidence of the people's history. The following two examples show historical archaeology at work.

While digging a site for an office tower in lower Manhattan, New York City, workers unearthed the bones of some 400 bodies buried in an 18th-century cemetery for African slaves. The information held in this cemetery provided data about the health of enslaved Africans prior to the American Revolution. Half of the 400 skeletons belonged to children under the age of 12. Nearly half of those were infants. Of the children who survived infancy, half showed signs of illness and malnutrition. Evidence of cultural continuity from Africa to the New World was found in a heart-shaped design of tacks hammered into one coffin lid. The design is thought to be a ritual symbol of the Akan people of Ghana and Ivory Coast.

The second example is found in the excavations at Southern plantations by Charles H. Fairbanks in the 1960s. Fairbanks's research pieced together information from the enslaved people. By excavating slave cabins, he found that Africans ate a variety of wild local plants, hunted game with guns, trapped and ate raccoons and opossums, caught mullet and catfish in tidal streams, and cooked in their homes. And like the evidence of the New York coffin design, Fairbanks's evidence also showed that African culture and identity-expressed in the people's pottery, food, and architecture-had been preserved in the New World.

Main Idea 1 Answer Score Mark the main idea M 15

Mark the statement that is too broad B 5

Mark the statement that is too narrow N 5

Score 15 points for each correct answer.

a. Historical archaeologists study cemeteries and plantations. b. Historical archaeologists study the nonwritten evidence of people lives. c. Historical archaeology is a field of study. Check the correct answer for 2-6 Subject Matter 2 This passage mostly focuses on

a. why historical archaeology is important. b. what historical archaeology can show about poor or enslaved people. c. how historical archaeology is changing today. d. comparing classical archaeology and historical archaeology


Supporting Details 3 The Manhattan cemetery yielded information about the a. health of African slaves. b. diet of African slaves c. clothing of African slaves d. literacy rate of African slaves. Conclusion 4 Fairbanks's excavations show that slaves on Southern plantations

a. often went hungry.

b. were excellent cooks. c. had a fair amount of leisure time d. had a varied diet.

Clarifying Devices 5 The term historical archaeology is explained through a. a dictionary definition. b. a question-and-answer format. c. definition and examples. d. comparison and contrast Vocabulary in Context 6 In this passage, interpretations means a. questions. b. evaluations c. translations. d. summaries Add your scores for questions 1-6. Enter the total here.


Unwritten History Answer Key

1 a N b M c B 2 a b √ c d 3 a √ b c d 4 a b c d √ 5 a b c √ d 6 a b √ c d


RAFT Assignment To complete a RAFT Assignment you are expected to write from the point of view of a historical character. It is important that you include historically accurate details to help the reader better understand your character, write clearly, strive for creativity, and pay attention to the format.

Answer the following to help you plan your writing:

R-ole: Which role from the historical past will you play?

A-udience: Who will you be writing to? [This relates to the format below and you have many choices. You could write to yourself in a diary entry, the public in a speech or newspaper article, a loved one in a letter or poem, etc.]

F-ormat: What type of format or writing style will you use? (Remember you can write a song, newspaper article, journal entry, letter, public speech, or poem.)

T-opic: What important event will you be writing about? [Think about the most significant times in your character's life.]

You may include an illustration that you draw or paste into the document. RAFT Rubric 10 5 0

Content Exhibits knowledge of the history, includes important facts and information.

Exhibits some knowledge of the material.

No historical facts included or major historical inaccuracies.

Writing Technique

Uses proper punctuation, spelling, grammar, and sentence structure. Some mistakes.

Displays a lack of attention for rules of formal writing.

Creativity Displays originality, creativity and thoughtfulness.

Some attempts at creativity.

Predictable, little creativity.

Presentation Neat, easy to read, interesting graphics.

Neat, but lacks artistic flair. Messy or no illustration.

© Copyright 2004 by the University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, all

rights reserved

URL: http://docsouth.unc.edu/classroom/lessonplans/RAFT.html Last updated October 27, 2005



Teacher cards – Making Words: continent


e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t e i o c n n n s t t

Student cards – Making Words: continent



Teacher cards – Making Words: frightening


e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t e i i f g g h n n r t

Student cards – Making Words: frightening



Teacher cards – Making Words: millions


i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s i i o l l m n s

Student cards – Making Words: millions



Teacher cards – Making Words: scared


a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s a e c d r s

Student cards – Making Words: scared


Frederick Douglass Cloze Activity Reading

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey Douglass (Feb. 7, 1817-Feb. 20, 1895) was an abolitionist, orator and writer who fought against slavery and for women's rights. Douglass was the first African-American citizen appointed to offices of high rank in the U.S. government. Douglass was born into slavery; his mother was a slave and his father was white. In 1838, he escaped slavery in Maryland and moved to Massachusetts, where he soon became an international figure in the fight against slavery. Douglass lectured extensively against slavery in the US and in Great Britain. During the Civil War, Douglass met with U.S. President Abraham Lincoln many times, discussing Lincoln's efforts to abolish slavery and the arming of former slaves to fight the Confederacy.

In 1847, Douglass started an anti-slavery newspaper called the North Star (it was later called Frederick Douglass's Paper); it was published until 1860. Douglass served as the assistant secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission (1871). He was later appointed marshal (1877-81) and recorder of deeds (1881-86) of Washington, D.C. His last government appointment was as the U.S. minister and consul general to Haiti (1889-91). Douglass' autobiography, "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," was published in 1882.


Frederick Douglass Cloze Activity

Fill in the blanks below using the word bank.

Word Bank:

Confederacy father

offices

abolish

Lincoln

slave writer

slavery

first

former

Massachusetts Civil

north

Great

newspaper

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey Douglass (Feb. 7, 1817-Feb. 20, 1895) was an abolitionist, orator and _____________________ who fought against slavery and for women's rights. Douglass was the _____________________ African-American citizen appointed to _____________________ of high rank in the U.S. government. Douglass was born into slavery; his mother was a ___________________ and his _____________________ was white. In 1838, he escaped slavery in Maryland and moved __________________ to _____________________, where he soon became an international figure in the fight against slavery. Douglass lectured extensively against _____________________ in the U.S. and in _____________________ Britain. During the _____________________ War, Douglass met with U.S. President Abraham _____________________ many times, discussing Lincoln's efforts to _____________________ slavery and the arming of _____________________ slaves to fight the _____________________. In 1847, Douglass started an anti-slavery _____________________ called the North

Star (it was later called Frederick Douglass's Paper); it was published until 1860. Douglass served as the assistant secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission

(1871). He was later appointed marshal (1877-81) and recorder of deeds (1881-86) of Washington, D.C. His last government appointment was as the U.S. minister and

consul general to Haiti (1889-91). Douglass' autobiography, "Life and Times of Frederick newspaper," was published in 1882.


On being brought from A F R I C A to A M E R I CA.

Phyllis Wheatley

‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew, Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

"Their colour is a diabolic die." Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.


THE SLAVE'S COMPLAINT

by: George Moses Horton (c.1797-c.1883) 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?--then 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!


DEATH OF AN OLD CARRIAGE HORSE

by: George Moses Horton (c.1797-c.1883)

I was a harness horse, Constrained to travel weak or strong, With orders from oppressing force,

Push along, push along.

I had no space of rest, And took at forks the roughest prong,

Still by the cruel driver pressed, Push along, push along.

Vain strove the idle bird,

To charm me with her artless song, But pleasure lingered from the word,

Push along, push along.

The order of the day Was push, the peal of every tongue,

The only word was all the way, Push along, push along.

Thus to my journey's end,

Had I to travel right or wrong, 'Till death my sweet and favored friend,

Bade me from life to push along.


This Train The passengers are hidden

The conductors are on guard. The stations secret places –

A cellar, a barn, a yard The train tracks are invisible,

Hope is the engineer, The final stop is freedom From slavery and fear.

From Brainjuice: American History Fresh Squeezed, by Carol Diggory Shields, Handprint Books, 2002


Civil War

Harper’s Ferry, Shiloh, Picket’s Mill, Seven Pines, Appomattox, Malvern Hill. Vicksburg, Atlanta, Battle of Bull Run. Names like the beat Of a muffled drum.

Cedar Mountain, Mossy Creek, Bloody Bridge, Nashville, Saltville, Indian Ridge. Chickamauga, Tupelo, Gettysburg. Their names are the words Of a funeral dirge.

Face to face, Side by side, We fought ourselves. Many of us died.

From Brainjuice: American History Fresh Squeezed, by Carol Diggory Shields, Handprint Books, 2002


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.

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. Tombigbee from other north-south rivers that flow into it.

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

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

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 you

follow the Drinking Gourd.


The Ballad of Nat Turner BY ROBERT E. HAYDEN

Then fled, O brethren, the wicked juba

and wandered wandered far from curfew joys in the Dismal’s night.

Fool of St. Elmo’s fire

In scary night I wandered, praying, Lord God my harshener,

speak to me now or let me die; speak, Lord, to this mourner.

And came at length to livid trees

where Ibo warriors hung shadowless, turning in wind

that moaned like Africa,

Their belltongue bodies dead, their eyes alive with the anger deep

in my own heart. Is this the sign, the sign forepromised me?

The spirits vanished. Afraid and lonely

I wandered on in blackness. Speak to me now or let me die. Die, whispered the blackness.

And wild things gasped and scuffled in

the night; seething shapes of evil frolicked upon the air. I reeled with fear, I prayed.

Sudden brightness clove the preying

darkness, brightness that was itself a golden darkness, brightness

so bright that it was darkness.

And there were angels, their faces hidden from me, angels at war

with one another, angels in dazzling combat. And oh the splendo

The fearful splendor of that warring. Hide me, I cried to rock and bramble.

Hide me, the rock, the bramble cried. . . .

How tell you of that holy battle?

The shock of wing on wing and sword on sword was the tumult of

a taken city burning. I cannot say how long they strove,

For the wheel in a turning wheel which is time in eternity had ceased

its whirling, and owl and moccasin, panther and nameless beast

And I were held like creatures fixed

in flaming, in fiery amber. But I saw I saw oh many of those mighty beings waver,

Waver and fall, go streaking down into swamp water, and the water

hissed and steamed and bubbled and locked shuddering shuddering over

The fallen and soon was motionless.

Then that massive light began a-folding slowly in

upon itself, and I

Beheld the conqueror faces and, lo, they were like mine, I saw

they were like mine and in joy and terror wept, praising praising Jehovah.

Oh praised my honer, harshener

till a sleep came over me, a sleep heavy as death. And when

I awoke at last free

And purified, I rose and prayed and returned after a time

to the blazing fields, to the humbleness. And bided my time.


12 Sonnets in Memory of Nathaniel Turner Poet & Prophet of Southampton

By Rudolph Lewis November 11 (on a Friday at high noon), 175 years ago (1831), Nathaniel Turner, the son of an African woman, was executed by the state of Virginia for his leadership of a revolt against slavery in the town of Cross Keys in Southampton County, Virginia. There has been much that has been written about Turner and his life, much that undermined his integrity and dignity and the truth of his life. This series of 12 poems may be an excellent means of teaching Turner's life and the role he played in reforming religion and political democracy in America.

Loving That Other Man Former-slaves built Jerusalem with hard

labor. But for their children today it is no sanctuary from misery.

Fog thickens after a day of showers & revelations. A full moon rises high.

Nathaniel Turner knew such an evening as his Day of Reckoning came nearer during August Revival. Like Baldwin

he knew men turn away from true being for fleshly ecstasy—incest, & pride

in the marketing of hearts & souls—all for small comforts & manliness. I am

no naturalist. I know evil when discovered wears the mask that glumly grins.

* * * * * Sonnet for 22 August 1831

If we slipped away unknown into dark forests often as black men did so long ago in secret coves like Booze Island

in the Loco woods & converse in tongues dine on dripping hot roast pig, smoking yams with moonshine & brandy, we could win all.

Nobody will know what we put down or the cross we pick up. A faith communion

will fuel acts heroic—sacrificial. Beyond our master’s grasp & driver’s whip,

free of fears & reckonings, wingéd flights across the dark purple skies will birth a

bold love & a daring defiance. For seven determined men can rock the world.


* * * * *

Rivers Run Into Oceans

More than a month of dangerous nights in the dark forest had come & gone since his

six men fell to bullets or from the rope. Wooly heads without eyelids rested on

pikes at plantation crossroads; skeletons left as signs of those pleasures taken by

fastidious insects, birds, dogs & men lay in the woods—mothers, fathers, babies. Those terrible hours on cool autumn days still haunt their kinsmen after almost two

centuries. We’re under fence rails concealed in a cave with God—tears fall for the dead.

The minstrel moments of servitude pass as we embrace our turn for martyrdom.

* * * * *

Meditations on the Moons

He hides out in the forest of Cross Keys alone. The carnage has ended—only sullen silence remains. The 2nd moon

since August Revival comes into view from behind dark clouds. It’s not loneliness

or his belly that drives him to spy out farmhouses nightly. He listens at doors & windows. Darkness fills the candlelit

rooms. Masters have rekindled their slavish routines: truth remains twisted as grapevines.

Soft breezes are in the autumn leaves. He knows his work’s unfinished: he must rescue

sacramental blood that fell to earth by sacrificing himself on the 3rd moon.

* * * * *


Wanted Alive, Not Dead

He knew his blood must fall to earth like red dew from heaven on leaves of corn. This debt

due he had to pay. The community he loved would thrash him like wheat all along

the route—whips with nails; needle punctures; feet fists thudding on yellow flesh; curses hurled. This torment he must endure for their sake.

Cross Keys wanted to know the origins— dust storming brigands on horseback hacking away at white flesh—men, women, children.

He needed a scribe to re-mark pages— tales dispersed at home & afar—a means

for his reentry to the human fold. His vision of Christ was unforgiving.

* * * * *

Crickets Sing His Song

Clouds thicken dark over Jerusalem. Winds come & go. A gust—pines dance, their limbs

of green needles sweeping the air. A breeze in the pear tree shimmers the yellow leaves like sweet love flesh. Crickets chirp by my window.

In his cell, the moon will not shine for him tonight nor will stars twinkle through the jailhouse bars.

This is his second night in prison chained— wrist & ankles. He desires no escape. This was the destiny he freely chose.

His ruse was at work, & Mr. Tom Gray had bought into his scheme—his visions shall

be broadcast near & far. His final sword thrust into the Serpent is his death song.

* * * *


Drowning Noise with Silence

His mind moves to its fullness like the moon that glows purple in his dark cell. He prays

without cease. He tracks back over the ground, the metaphysical turf & prologue

he traversed after Thomas Gray stepped from the autumn sun to the chirping chorus

of crickets crashing leaves by his window. He thanks God he’s not like his white father

who sought to resolve slavery between white sheets. . . . The pen waits to drum out echoes

of dead bones in the shadows of madness. . . . His tale is silent beats bleeding the stink

of church men—their death stamp on holiness. His gospel blues won’t hang on rotting trees.

* * * * *

Eyes Bound to Lies

The near full moon set & rose behind clouds on his 2nd interview. The crickets

were silent. The chilled air sharpened his mind sharper than the razor edge of his sword.

His voyage through this hell was near complete. The setting sun shone bright & cast shadows through the bars onto Gray’s pen & paper. In blue eyes the slaughter of children made

him blacker than a million sinister midnights—children who’ll never sing sunlight

in the mad luxury of their whiteness. This unholy fantasy stilled his heart.

He had crossed that Nottoway years ago: black life falling, ever falling like leaves.

* * * * *


Dying Echoes of Dead Words

This full moon frost night he will leave his cell slipping from chains/shackles, like dirty clothes & stroll the woods where the Spirit who speaks

to prophets—chastens men to sacrifice. Hunting dogs will sense his haunting presence

whimper in their pens fearing his grandeur. He will pass through fields of boll-filled white fleece

in purple light. Shadowed tombstones, symbols of nigger luck, gained on black backs & blood:

owl wisdom will sound darkness with “Who? Whoooo?” His father lies there. Fires will blaze tonight.

Smoke from chimneys will bellow to the stars. They sleep cozy now with doom at their door.

Small rainbows glisten from the morning lawn.

* * * * *

Birthed in a Conundrum

The heaven purples with stars twinkling clear above this autumn forest. No sound stirs

this cold full moon silence. Frost thickens white on leaves & grass in the blue hours before

midnight. He reads again Gray’s “Confessions.” He sleeps soundly without dreams. Mockingbird

sings a sun overture. Jailers march him from his cell. At the courthouse crows rally.

Icy-faced judges are suffused with guilt. Their cave eyes are horror without remorse . . . mouths rusty hinges that open & close.

This dark mirror mystery outrageous is beyond their scalpels. They are losers—

his righteous spirit blossoms yet from thorns.

* * * * *


Blues in the Cosmos

A star falls in the southern sky. Dogs bark at the rising of the moon.. The seasons

flip through the calendar pages quickly. First the glow of autumn, then frost, showers & then I’m sweating. The earth is soaked in

cosmic tears of joy & despair. The noose shapes our destiny. Crickets sing. Rooster crows before daybreak. Naked vibrations!

These are witnesses, a greater audience than he who walks. They are no clockmaker

withdrawn, sightless, uncaring of a work begun at eternity’s beginning.

We don’t come/go without signifying. We’re healed when Mockingbird sings in the sun.

* * * * *

40 Days & 40 Nights

We hovel, we slaves, trembling. It’s been weeks

since the sun shone clear, or the rising moon appeared through the trees, when dew drops fell on

the blown, un-bagged brown leaves. It keeps raining. The water keeps rising—the rain keeps falling.

They should’ve known, we all should’ve known, it’s no routine stroll—picnic to hang a prophet,

a holy man, even Ben Turner’s boy. The vault of heaven turned black, clouds & winds

gathered & the sky cracked, the earth rumbled when he fell from the rope & hung still like

a scarecrow. In fright the gathering scattered. The surgeons keep busy with their scalpels while we wade gospel waters of end time.


ODE TO ETHIOPIA Lyrics of Lowly Life - 1896

Paul Dunbar

O Mother Race! to thee I bring This pledge of faith unwavering,

This tribute to thy glory. I know the pangs which thou didst feel,

When Slavery crushed thee with its heel, With thy dear blood all gory.

Sad Days were those - ah, sad indeed! But through the land the fruitful seed

Of better times was growing. The plant of freedom upward sprung,

And spread its leaves so fresh and young - Its blossoms now are blowing.

On every hand in this fair land, Proud Ethiope's swarthy children stand

Beside their fairer neighbor; The forests flee before their stroke,

Their hammers ring, their forges smoke, - They stir in honest labour.

They tread the fields where honor calls; Their voices sound through senate halls

In majesty and power. To right they cling; the hymns they sing

Up to skies in beauty ring, And bolder grow each hour.

Be proud, my Race, in mind and soul; They name is writ on Glory's scroll

In characters of fire. High 'mid the clouds of Fame's bright sky

Thy banner's blazoned folds now fly, And truth shall lift them higher.

Thou hast the right to nobel pride, Whose spotless robes were purified

By blood's severe baptism. Upon thy brow the cross was laid,

And labour's painful sweat-beads made A consecrating chrism.

No other race, or white or black, When bound s thou wert, to the rack,

So seldom stooped to grieving;


No other race, when free again, Forgot the past and proved them men

So noble in forgiving.

Go on and up! Our souls and eyes Shall follow they continuous rise;

Our ears shall list thy story From bards who from thy root shall spring,

And proudly tune their lyres to sing Of Ethiopia's glory.


Poems in the Lyrics in a Lowly Life, 1896

Accountability By Paul Laurence Dunbar

FOLKS ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits; Him dat giv' de squir'ls de bushtails made de bobtails fu' de rabbits. Him dat built de gread big mountains hollered out de little valleys,

Him dat made de streets an' driveways wasn't shamed to make de alleys.

We is all constructed diff'ent, d'ain't no two of us de same; We cain't he'p ouah likes an' dislikes, ef we 'se bad we ain't to blame. Ef we 'se good, we needn't show off, case you bet it ain't ouah doin'

We gits into su'ttain channels dat we jes' cain't he'p pu'suin'.

But we all fits into places dat no othah ones could fill, An' we does the things we has to, big er little, good er ill. John cain't tek de place o' Henry, Su an' Sally ain't alike;

Bass ain't nuthin' like a suckah, chub ain't nuthin' like a pike.

When you come to think about it, how it 's all planned out it 's splendid. Nuthin 's done er evah happens, 'dout hit 's somefin' dat 's intended;

Don't keer whut you does, you has to, an' hit sholy beats de dickens,-- Viney, go put on de kittle, I got one o' mastah's chickens.


Poems in the Lyrics in a Lowly Life, 1896 Frederick Douglass

By Paul Laurence Dunbar HELLO, ole man, you 're a-gittin' gray,

An' it beats ole Ned to see the way 'At the crow's feet 's a-getherin' aroun' yore eyes;

Tho' it ought n't to cause me no su'prise, Fur there 's many a sun 'at you 've seen rise

An' many a one you 've seen go down Sence yore step was light an' yore hair was

brown, An' storms an' snows have had their way--

Hello, ole man, you 're a-gittin' gray.

Hello, ole man, you 're a-gittin' gray, An' the youthful pranks 'at you used to play

Are dreams of a far past long ago That lie in a heart where the fires burn low--

That has lost the flame though it kept the glow, An' spite of drivin' snow an' storm,

Beats bravely on forever warm. December holds the place of May--

Hello, ole man, you 're a-gittin' gray.

Hello, ole man, you 're a-gittin' gray-- Who cares what the carpin' youngsters say?

For, after all, when the tale is told, Love proves if a man is young or old!

Old age can't make the heart grow cold When it does the will of an honest mind; When it beats with love fur all mankind; Then the night but leads to a fairer day--

Hello, ole man, you 're a-gittin' gray!


In 1828, students in the New York African Free School were asked to write poems on the subjects of slavery and freedom. These topics were very much on the minds of even free Blacks. Here are poems that were written by two of the students from the school. Both students were 12 years of age.

On Slavery

by George R. Allen

Slavery, oh, thou cruel stain, Thou dost fill my heart with pain: See my brother, there he stands Chained by slavery’s cruel bands.

Could we not feel a brother’s woes, Relieve the wants he undergoes,! Snatch him from slavery’s cruel smart, And to him freedom’s joy impart?

On Freedom

by Thomas Sidney

Freedom will break the tyrant’s chains, And shatter all his whole domain; From slavery she will always free And all her aim is liberty.


You Were There: A Witness to History Speech Objective: To promote historical awareness, storytelling techniques, and speech delivery.

Instructions:

1. Based on your reading of a primary source, choose a particular event(s) which might be of interest to you and your audience.

2. Give a "bird's eye view" of the event as if you were an actual witness or participant. Aim for historical accuracy and creativity in your account.

3. The speech should be told in the first person and should be delivered in a clear voice and easy-to-understand format.

4. You can pretend that you were either an active participant or an interested spectator.

5. You may use a note card as you speak and should limit your speech to 3 minutes.

10 5 0An

Content Exhibits knowledge of the history, includes important facts and information.

Exhibits some knowledge of the material.

No historical facts included or major historical inaccuracies.

Speech Technique

Delivers the speech in a clear manner.

Some aspects of the delivery are unorganized or hard to understand.

Displays a lack of attention to delivery of the speech.

Creativity Displays originality, creativity and thoughtfulness.

Some attempts at creativity.

Predictable, little creativity.

© Copyright 2004 by the University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, all rights reserved


An Introduction to Slave Narratives: Harriet Jacobs' Life of a Slave Girl

This lesson is intended to enhance student knowledge about the life experiences of a slave in America during the 1800's by using the story of a North Carolina slave woman who eventually escaped. For Grade 8 Social Studies by Joe Hooten About the author This lesson plan was created at the 2004 Documenting the South Summer Writing Institute and made possible through funding provided by NC ECHO, Learn NC, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education, and the UNC-Chapel Hill library system. On the web

• Find websites with resources on African Americans and United States history. Learning outcomes Students will read a selected oral history to learn about individual experiences of African Americans in the pre Civil War era. Students will use collaborative skills with each other to share their understandings and develop different perspectives on the reading. Interpret primary source oral history document. Summarize narrative of former slave. Teacher planning Time required for lesson - 1 to 2 days Materials/resources Students will need:

• excerpt of Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl • pen & paper

Technology resources None. Or... if you do not want to use handouts and instead, display the excerpt on an overhead:

• LCD projector • internet connection to Doc South • laptop

Pre-activities Teacher will need to read the excerpt prior to handout to be able to answer any student questions regarding the reading. Explain the importance of using primary documents to investigate historical events and eras to better understand history.


Activities

1. Introduce the lesson. 2. Teacher will place students in groups of 3–4 depending on size of class. Have students

sitting in their groups, if possible. 3. Ask students to have pen and paper out on their desks. 4. Pass out selected reading of Harriet Jacob's narrative. 5. Allow time (depending on ability) for students to completely read the handout. 10–20

minutes. 6. Students will then meet with their small collaborative groups. 7. Pass out the Discussion Handout. This handout will have questions that students can use in

their discussions. They should record each other's responses and thoughts during the discussion.

8. Allow for collaboration between the groups. 10–20 minutes. 9. End the discussions and engage the whole class in a dialogue about their perceptions and

what they discussed. 10. Collect their completed Discussion Handouts.

Assessment Assessment can be based on student completion of Discussion Handout. Teachers can also assess student learning by asking questions to see if students have gained knowledge of slave life through the readings and discussions. Teachers may create their own quiz based on the reading if applicable. Supplemental information Related websites Picture of Harriet Jacob's narrative title page from UNC-Chapel Hill DocSouth. You may want to showcase the written by herself on this page. Excerpt of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl starting on page 71. Have them read to top of page 74. Cut and paste this as your handout. Starting at page 97 through top of page 103 is another excellent excerpt. Slave Narratives. This is another site on the Doc South with more relevant material and explanation for further research and investigation. Comments Teachers may revise the Discussion Handout to best fit the objectives you would like to focus on. Teachers may revise the selected excerpts to best fit the objectives you would like to focus on.


Discussion Handout

Harriet Jacobs: “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” After you and your group have read the selected passages from Jacob’s narrative, all students should participate in a discussion –using the questions below- to help you further understanding the experiences of an African American slave prior in the pre-Civil War era. Students should write their own thoughts as well as the rest of the group. 1) What was life like for slaves prior to the beginning of the Civil War? You may list both

the good & bad if applicable.

2) What are some specific examples of hardships suffered by slaves during this time?

3) Do you believe that all whites held the same view about African American slaves during this time period? What is your evidence (from the readings) that would prompt your response?

4) Education was denied to most slaves, does it surprise you that she was able to write such a descriptive account of her experiences? Why or why not?

5) Why is it important to study history through the use of primary sources?


Lessons for the Children: Creating a Picture Book about Slavery Using the slave narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Ellen Craft made available through the Documenting the American South on-line collection, students will examine the institution of slavery, and create their own picture books.

by Meghan Mcglinn

About the author This plan was created with the support of the Documenting the American South collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library System, and NC ECHO.

Learning outcomes 1. Students will learn more about the institution of slavery and its social and emotional effects. 2. Students will gain an understanding of history on a more human and personal level. 3. Students will learn to evaluate and read primary sources.

Teacher planning Time required for lesson - 3-4 days

Materials/resources Examples of picture books such as The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft by Cathy Moore and Mary O Keefe Young (illus.).

Art supplies for making picture books (optional) Technology resources

Internet connection

Microsoft publisher or word processing software (optional)

Pre-activities Read students a picture book on slavery like the story titled The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft by Cathy Moore and Mary O Keefe Young (illus.).

Activities 1. Choose excerpts from Harriet Jacob's Life of a Slave Girl and Ellen and Henry Craft's narratives. It is suggested that you choose excerpts related to particular themes such as: work, plantation life, family, the role of church, love, escape, etc. You can make paper copies of these to distribute to students or give page numbers to students working on-line. 2. Divide students into groups of three. Assign each of the groups a collection of document excerpts to read. Have students complete an "Evaluating Primary Sources" handout for each document excerpt. 3. Ask students to join in a discussion with the whole group about major themes read in the excerpts. The teacher may wish to create a concept map as a class or ask individual students to create their own. 4. Next, allow students to begin developing their own picture book related to slavery and one of the themes encountered in the primary sources. You may want students to work in groups of 2-3.


5. Depending on the available resources, students can create their finished book from construction paper and other art supplies or using Microsoft Publisher or word processing software.

Assessment Students should be evaluated on the basis of the historical content, creativity, and aesthetics of the picture book they produce.

Supplemental information Students will probably be thrilled to share their books with younger students. If possible arrange for a visit to the local elementary school or after-school program.

Related websites

Harriet Jacobs: Life of a Slave Girl

Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom: The Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery


The Middle Passage According to Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano is perhaps one of the most well-known abolitionist writers and former slaves to live in America. His narrative has been digitized as a part of the Documenting the American South North American Slave Narratives collection. His vivid retelling of his trip onboard a slave ship bound for the New World illustrates the horrific and dehumanizing experience.

by Regina Wooten About the author

This plan was created with the support of the Documenting the American South collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library System, and NC ECHO.

On the web Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn more about the kidnapping, enslavement, and transport of African slaves to the New World via the infamous Middle Passage.

• gain insight into the horrifying conditions facing slaves throughout the ordeal. Teacher planning

Time required for lesson - 15 minutes Technology resources

Internet access to Documenting the American South resources.

Pre-activities K-W-L format

1. The teacher should divide the board into three columns. In the first column, labeled "K" (what you know) have the students brainstorm and record a list of all of the things they already know about slaver and the process of bringing slaves to the New World.

2. Next, in the "W" (what you want to know) have students list all of the things they would like to know or the subjects on which they need more information.

Activities

Have students each read the account of Equiano.

Assessment Pair-share format

1. After students read their documents they should list all of the things they learned in the final "L" column (representing what you learned).

2. Students should share these with a partner first and then add anything to their list that they gained through collaboration.

3. Finally, as a group the students help the teacher list one long “L” on the board. Again, students should add anything they learned.


4. Teachers may choose to collect the charts for a daily participation grade or ask students to write a brief free write on the topic of the Middle Passage.

Supplemental information

These options require additional class time and extend the reading.

Option #1: Compare Olaudah Equiano's account of passage to the New World with that of William Bradford's writings about his journey.

Option #2: Have students conduct further research on Equiano's life. (He is an amazing figure who eventually bought his own freedom and became a well-known abolitionist in England.)

Option #3: Students may also wish to compare Equiano's experiences to those of other slaves or the accounts of slave traders.

Related websites The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African

Comments

Recently, video recreations of the Middle Passage have been produced; these provide vivid illustrations of the horrendous conditions endured. Teachers should pre-view these videos, of course, as they are graphic in portions.


The Underground Railroad

Ideas developed in this lesson:

♦ The Underground Railroad helped many slaves to freedom.

♦ Many slaves gained their freedom in other ways.

Objectives: The student will be able to: 1. understand what it meant to be a slave in the South in the mid 1800s. 2. realize the struggle and danger many African Americans faced to be free. Description of lesson/activity: 1. Look up the words "slave" and "slavery" in the dictionary. Record the meaning on a chart or the

board. 2. Read The Drinking Gourd , by F.N. Monjo, to the children. In small groups have the children

make up a role play to be presented to the class about the Underground Railroad.

3. Define "Underground Railroad" on the chart or the board.

4. Beneath the definitions, create a class story about a slave who used the Underground Railroad. Have the students draw pictures to hang around the story about a part of the journey.

5. Read A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass , by David A. Adler. Discuss what it was like to be a slave. Did he use the Underground Railroad to get his freedom? Brainstorm the steps in Frederick Douglass's life to his death. List in any order on the board. When done, transpose them to a time line with the children putting them in the right order.

6. Have the children make their own stories telling about slavery. When complete, share these with each other and another class.

Resources: Monjo, F.N. The Drinking Gourd . (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1970). Adler, David A. A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass . (New York: Holiday House, 1993) (ISBN 0823410021).


Applying Question–Answer Relationships to Pictures Overview Students are often asked comprehension questions based on text that they have read. However, it is important for students to consider pictures used in the text as well. Pictures can help increase students' understanding of the text, topic, or story. In this lesson, students are asked four different types of questions about the pictures found in a wordless picture book. The questions range in difficulty from those with answers that can be found in the text to those that require inferences. Students learn to categorize questions by the four question types and use pictures to help them better understand a story.

From Theory to Practice Cortese, E.E. (2003). The application of Question–Answer Relationship strategies to pictures. The Reading Teacher, 57, 374–380.

• Pictures can be used with question-answer relationships (QARs) as a way to teach students how to use pictorial images, in addition to the printed text, to answer comprehension questions.

• Engaging students in different levels of questioning in relationship to pictures can help them to identify main ideas, make inferences, and draw conclusions.

• Applying the QAR strategy to pictures may help to increase students' schema and background knowledge needed to comprehend the text.

Student Objectives Students will

• Categorize questions according to the four picture–question–answer relationships: Right There, Artist and You, On My Own, and Putting It Together

• Answer basic and inferential comprehension questions using the pictures in a text Explain their reasoning when answering comprehension questions

Instructional Plan Preparation

1. This lesson uses individual pictures or pictures in a book. 2. Familiarize yourself with the Purpose and Meaning of the P–QAR Types (below). For older students,

you may wish to distribute this list to students before or after the lesson as a reference. 3. Peruse the pictures or the text in the book you are using and make up questions that you would like to

use for the four question types. Make sure that you include questions for all four question types. If you are using a book with pictures and text, the students will be asked not to read the text.

Instruction and Activities Session 1 1. If you don’t have copies of the pictures or book for each student, have students sit in such a way that

they will all be able to see the pictures or the screen if you are using a computer and projector or overhead.

2. Begin by introducing students to the pictures or book. If using a book, explain that you want them not to read the text because you want them to think about how pictures can tell a story. Go on to explain that pictures can also help readers to better understand a story they are reading. The focus of this session will be to practice this type of thinking by looking only at the pictures in the story.

3. Explain that you will be asking students four different types of questions about the pictures in the book. They will be able to answer some of the questions by looking directly at the picture. Other questions will require them to make their best guess based on the other pictures they have seen or their own prior knowledge. If you wish, you may state the four question types now or wait to discuss each one as you progress through the story (see Purpose and Meaning of the P–QAR Types below). Tell students that


the purpose of these questions is to help them think about what is going on in the story and to make connections across the pictures.

4. Begin by showing students the picture(s) or cover of the book. Pose the question, “What time of day is it in this picture?” This would be an example of a Right There question. State some things that are right there in the picture. An example would be, “I can tell it is not nighttime because the sky is not dark.”

5. Engage students in a brief discussion about how answering this type of question can help them as readers. In this case, you might say, “Knowing this information helps me to make predictions about the story. I think this picture/book is going to be about something that happens at during the day. I am also guessing that the story is about _______ since that is in the title of the book.”

6. Ask students to brainstorm and share some other examples of Right There questions based on the picture/cover illustration. You may wish to list these questions on a sheet of chart paper for later reference. When finished, ask students what other predictions they can make about the picture of if using a book, what they can predict based on the picture on the cover and the questions they have developed.

7. For a book, have students begin examining the pictures on each page of the book while you ask them questions. Move through the story page by page, making sure to ask one or more of the four question types for each set of pictures. Explain to students the definition and purpose of each question type as you introduce it (see Purpose and Meaning of the P–QAR Types below). As you progress through the story, have students identify the type of question you are asking. Remember to allow time for students to also develop their own questions in addition to answering yours, and record their questions for each question type on chart paper as reference. Always ask students to explain how they arrived at their answers, as well as how each type of question can help them as readers. A few examples of questions for a story follow. You will need to adapt depending on your story. Also see Teacher’s Guide below. Right There. Open to the first page of the book, and pose the following examples of Right There questions:

• What is the setting for this page? • What time of day is it?

Artist and You. Turn to the next page and ask the following examples of Artist and You questions: • What do you think the people are doing? • How do you think they feel?

You can ask a combination of Right There and Artist and You questions as follows: • What is the setting for this page? • What are the children/people doing? • How do the masters seem to feel about the slaves?

On My Own. Pictures later in the story lend themselves well to On My Own questions, such as: • Why do you think this (whatever you choose) happened?

Putting It Together. To answer this type of question, students may need to review numerous pictures in the story. Have students look at the picture on the last page of the book.

• What is going to happen next? 8. Remind students that good readers ask themselves questions as they read a story. Asking and answering

questions about the pictures in a story can help them to better make predictions about the story and understand what is happening.

9. End the session by reviewing the four question types, and answering any questions students may have. In the next session, students will have an opportunity to apply the strategy in small groups or in pairs.

Session 2 (for older students) 1. Review and discuss with students the activity from the previous session. Remind students how they

used pictures in a book to help answer questions about the story.


2. Use different pictures or a different book and P–QARs you have created . Have students look at the pictures or read the book and complete the activity sheet in groups or in pairs.

3. Make sure that students understand how to complete the activity sheet. After reading each question, students will first need to determine the question type. Then, after examining the picture, they can record their answers to the question. In the third column, students will need to explain how they arrived at their answers. You might work through a few questions together as a class to make sure that students are comfortable with the directions.

4. Upon completion, gather students together to go over the activity sheet. Make sure students are actively involved in the discussion, particularly if they have disagreements about the categorization of or answers to certain questions. Encourage students to explain their rationales and work together to come to a consensus.

5. Ask students to reflect on the usefulness of this questioning strategy, and if they can see themselves using pictures more often to help them better understand a story and answer comprehension questions. You might have them complete a written journal reflection for assessment purposes.

Extensions

• Have students use the Comic Creator (http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/index.html) to make wordless stories. When they are finished, have them question and answer each other in pairs about the stories they created. Make sure that they use the P-QAR question types.

• Have students create and draw their own stories based on the concept in Zoom. Have them use the P-QAR strategy to ask each other questions about the story illustrations and then answer the questions.

Student Assessment/Reflections • Note how successful students were at brainstorming and answering each of the four question types

in Session 1. For example, some students may be comfortable with Right There questions, but may have difficulty with the other question types.

• Ask students to write journal reflections explaining whether they find this strategy to be useful or not. Have students explain their rationales.

• Use the completed P–QARs activity sheets and the class discussion at the end of Session 2 to assess each student's ability to: a. Determine the type of question–answer relationship b. Answer questions by looking at pictures c. Explain how they arrived at the answers to questions You may want to review the question types that seem to give students the most difficulty.

Adapted from ReadWriteThink


Purpose and Meaning of the Picture–Question–Answer Relationship (P–QAR) Types

Copyright 2006 IRA/NCTE. All rights reserved. ReadWriteThink.org materials may be reproduced for educational purposes.

Right There These questions ask students to state what they see in the picture. Right There questions do not require students to make inferences, draw conclusions, or make judgments. These questions are appropriate to use at the beginning of the lesson to help get students oriented to the book.

Artist and You

These questions ask students to make inferences about what they think is happening in a picture. Students are encouraged to explain how they came to their conclusions. Unlike Right There questions, the answers to Artist and You cannot be found by looking at the picture. Students should use the picture and their own prior knowledge of the topic to reach a conclusion.

On My Own These questions ask students to make inferences about a picture based solely on their own knowledge base.

Answers to these questions cannot be found in the pictures. Students do not even need to look at the picture in order to answer this type of question. However, studentsʹ conclusions should still be logical.

Putting It Together

These questions require students to think about what they have seen in pictures on previous pages, as well as the one they are currently viewing. Students are encouraged to draw conclusions based on what they have noticed across all the illustrations.


TEACHERʹS GUIDE TO THE Types of Questions for P‐QARS

P–QAR Types

1 What do you think this is a picture of? Artist and You What do you see in the picture? Right There

2 How does this picture connect to the picture before it? Putting it Together

3 Where is the rooster? Artist and You Where do you think the children are? Artist and You

4 Where are you looking at the children from? On My Own Why are the children smaller? On My Own

What is around the barn? Right There 5

Why do the kids look even smaller? On My Own What else do you see in the picture? Right There

6 Why can you see even more buildings? On My Own What do you see in the upper-left and upper-right corners? Right There

7 Somebody can move the houses and animals by hand. Why? Artist and You What do you think the girl is doing? Right There

8 Why is there writing at the top of the picture? Artist and You Why do the girl and the toys look smaller? Artist and You

9 Look at the top right corner. What do you see? Right There Where are the girl and the toys now? Right There

10 What is the boy doing? Right There Where is the boy? Artist and You

11 Why do the boy and the book look smaller? On My Own What are the people in the picture doing? Right There

12 Why does the boy look even smaller? On My Own Where are the people in the picture? Right There

13 Why do they look smaller? On My Own

14 Where do you think the ship is? Artist and Me 15 Where is the ship now? Right There 16 Where is the bus? Right There

Why does the ship look smaller? On My Own Where is the bus? Artist and You 17 There is something on the bottom left of the picture. What do you think it is? Artist and You


TEACHERʹS GUIDE TO THE Types of Questions for P‐QARS

P–QAR Types

What do you think the thing on the bottom left of the last picture is now? Right There

18 Where is the cowboy watching TV? Artist and You Why is the downtown scene becoming smaller? On My Own

19 Where is the cowboy? Right There Where is the desert located? Right There

20 What do you think is around the edges of the picture? Artist and You

Where is the cowboy now and why is he even smaller? Right There 21 Who is the mail for and where does it come from? Right There

Who is holding the mail? Artist and You How do you know that the people are from a tribe? Artist and You

22 Who do you think the man is in the middle? Right There Why does the stamp on the mail look even smaller? On My Own

How does the postman come to deliver the mail? Right There 23

Where do you think the people live? Artist and You Why do the shore and the postman's boat become smaller? On My Own

24 There is something else on the left side of the picture. What do you think it is? Artist and You

25 Who do you see in the picture? Right There 26 Where do the people in the tribe live? Right There

Where is the plane going? Artist and You 27 What else do you see besides the island and the plane? Right There

Why are the island and the plane becoming even smaller? On My Own Why do you not see the island at all? On My Own

28 Why is the plane becoming smaller? On My Own What do you see? Artist and You

29 Why do you not see the plane in the picture? On My Own

30 What do you see? Right There What do you see? Right There

Why is it now a spot? On My Own 31 What have you seen in the story and how is each picture connected? Putting It Together

Copyright 2006 IRA/NCTE. All rights reserved. ReadWriteThink materials may be reproduced for educational purposes


80 Nat Turner Instructional Unit Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools



Teaching With Documents: The Amistad Case

". . . each of them are natives of Africa and were born free, and ever since have been and still of right are and ought to be free and not slaves . . ." S. Staples, R. Baldwin, and T. Sedgewick, Proctors for the Amistad Africans, January 7, 1840

Background In February of 1839, Portuguese slave hunters abducted a large group of Africans from Sierra Leone and shipped them to Havana, Cuba, a center for the slave trade. This abduction violated all of the treaties then in existence. Fifty-three Africans were purchased by two Spanish planters and put aboard the Cuban schooner Amistad for shipment to a Caribbean plantation. On July 1, 1839, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered the planters to sail to Africa. On August 24, 1839, the Amistad was seized off Long Island, NY, by the U.S. brig Washington. The planters were freed and the Africans were imprisoned in New Haven, CT, on charges of murder. Although the murder charges were dismissed, the Africans continued to be held in confinement as the focus of the case turned to salvage claims and property rights. President Van Buren was in favor of extraditing the Africans to Cuba. However, abolitionists in the North opposed extradition and raised money to defend the Africans. Claims to the Africans by the planters, the government of Spain, and the captain of the brig led the case to trial in the Federal District Court in Connecticut. The court ruled that the case fell within Federal jurisdiction and that the claims to the Africans as property were not legitimate because they were illegally held as slaves. The case went to the Supreme Court in January 1841, and former President John Quincy Adams argued the defendants' case. Adams defended the right of the accused to fight to regain their freedom. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the Africans, and 35 of them were returned to their homeland. The others died at sea or in prison while awaiting trial. Cross-curricular Connections Share these exercises with your history, government, language arts, and drama colleagues. Teaching Activities 1. Review with students the meanings of the following terms: schooner, brig, writ of habeas corpus,

proctor, and libel. Terms are defined in the text of the online headnotes. 2. Divide students into five groups. Print out the featured documents and the Written Document Analysis

Worksheet (below), and provide one document and a copy of the worksheet for each group. Ask each group to analyze their document. Using the jigsaw method, regroup the students to share the information. Lead the class in oral responses to the worksheet questions, and discuss how the documents relate to one another.

3. Ask students to complete a chart similar to the one below comparing the individuals involved in the Amistad case. Documents #1 and #2 provide adequate information to compare Thomas R. Gedney and the Africans. Additional research will provide information on President Van Buren, the Spanish Government, the Abolitionists, and the Spanish planters.

Comparison Chart Who? Africans Gedney Van Buren The Spanish Government Abolitionists Spanish Planters What role did they play in the trial? (defendants) (financial & moral support for Africans) What was their motivation? (economic gain) (political gain) What were their arguments? (property rights) What was the basis for their arguments? (Pinckney's Treaty) 4. Ask students to write an article for an 1841 newspaper describing the decision of the Supreme Court in

the Amistad case. Encourage them to research the provisions of the Congressional Act of March 19,


1819, for background information. To insure that students recognize the differences in sectional reactions to the case, assign students particular newspapers, some in the North and some in the South.

5. Encourage students to write a review of the Amistad movie, comparing the film version to the actual events as described in the documents. Ask for student volunteers to share their reviews with the class. Lead a class discussion about the value of preserving the historical integrity of the story and the value of changing that story for a screenplay.

6. Following analysis of the documents, divide students into groups of five. Instruct student groups to write and stage a one-act play about the events and personalities involved in the case. The acts might focus on the formation of the Amistad Committee by abolitionists Lewis Tappan, Joshua Levitt, and Symeon Jocelyn; the decision by John Quincy Adams to represent the Africans; the challenges of securing translators for the Africans; and Van Buren's concerns about the election of 1840. Encourage students to quote directly from the documents. Schedule a media specialist to videotape the final productions.

7. Ask student volunteers to research and make an oral presentation to the class comparing the Amistad case to other significant incidents related to slavery prior to the Civil War, including Nat Turner's rebellion (1831), the Creole revolt (1841), and the Dred Scott decision (1857). Use the following questions to prompt comparisons: To what extent did these incidents involve violence? What were their outcomes? How did they influence sectional differences?

For Further Reading: Jones, Howard. Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. The Legal Information Institute at Cornell University has created a web site devoted to the legal issues surrounding the Amistad case.


Written Document Analysis Worksheet 1. TYPE OF DOCUMENT (Check one):

___ Newspaper ___ Letter ___ Patent ___ Memorandum

___ Map ___ Telegram ___ Press release ___ Report

___ Advertisement ___ Congressional record ___ Census report ___ Other

2. UNIQUE PHYSICAL QUALITIES OF THE DOCUMENT (Check one or more): ___ Interesting letterhead ___ Handwritten ___ Typed ___ Seals

___ Notations ___ "RECEIVED" stamp___ Other

3. DATE(S) OF DOCUMENT:

___________________________________________________________________________4. AUTHOR (OR CREATOR) OF THE DOCUMENT:

___________________________________________________________________________ POSITION (TITLE): ___________________________________________________________________________

5. FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WAS THE DOCUMENT WRITTEN? ___________________________________________________________________________

6. DOCUMENT INFORMATION (There are many possible ways to answer A-E.) A. List three things the author said that you think are important: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________B. Why do you think this document was written? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________D. List two things the document tells you about life in the United States at the time it was written: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Designed and developed by the Education Staff, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408


"Slave Ship Interior," Library of Congress.