If You Were A Slave

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If You Were A Slave

• Amanda R. Earle
• ED 629

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This Lesson is for

• Grade 5
• Social Studies
• Class that is discussing African American Slaves
  in the United States during the time of the Civil
  War

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State of Ohio Social Studies Standards for Grade
5

• Standard People in Societies
• Benchmark B. Explain the reasons people from
  various cultural groups come to North America and
  the consequences of their interactions with each
  other. (p.118)
• Indicator Describe the experiences of African
  Americans under the institution of slavery. (p.
  131)

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Goal

• To develop an understanding of what it was like
  to be an African American slave and their role in
  the American society during the Civil War.

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Objectives

• Students will have an understanding of basic
  terms that define slavery by completing a word
  sort.
• Students will be able to locate on a map the
  routes of the triangular slave trade by tracing
  and drawing the routes on a map.
• Students will be able to explain the experiences
  of the slaves on the ships by completing a
  simulation of the arrangement of the slave ships.
  
• Students will be able to define key people in the
  abolitionist movement by watching an
  informational video .
• Students will be able to connect with plantation
  life of a slave by hearing musical testimonials .

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Materials

• Computer with LCD Projector
• Vocabulary cards for Word Sort
• Maps of the globe
• Colored Pencils
• Scissors
• Social Studies Notebooks
• Pencils

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If you were a slave
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Activity 1 What is Slavery?

• Define the term slavery and list important key
  terms. (Knowledge)
• Slavery the state of being under the control by
  another person
• Terms Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Rebellion,
  Slavery, Slave ships, Abolitionists, Underground
  Railroad, Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman,
  Sojourner Truth ,Triangular Slave Trade,
  Freedom                        
                         

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Activity 1 continued

• Vocabulary word sort
• - Students will be given the vocabulary words
  for the unit and their definitions. Working with
  a partner, students will match up the terms with
  their definitions.
• http//www.motopera.org/mg_ed/educational/ms_lp_b.
  html

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Activity 2 The Transatlantic Slave Trade
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Activity 2 The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Continued

• Students will examine the following website and
  discuss the triangular slave trade.
• The transatlantic slave trade generally followed
  a triangular route. Traders set out from European
  ports towards Africa's west coast.
• There they bought people in exchange for goods
  and loaded them into the ships.
• The voyage itself generally took 6 to 8 weeks.
• Once in the Americas, those Africans who had
  survived the journey were off-loaded for sale and
  put to work as slaves.
• http//www.nmm.ac.uk/freedom/viewTheme.cfm/theme/t
  riangular

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Activity 2 The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Continued

• After viewing the webpage, students will get a
  map of the globe and will color and draw in the
  trade routes and continents that were involved in
  the Transatlantic Slave Trade

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Activity 3 Slave Ships

• Students will learn about the conditions aboard a
  slave ship by examining this webpage
• http//www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveship.htm
• After this discussion students will now be able
  to pretend that they are a slave.

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Activity 3 Slave Ships Continued

• You are now a slave.
• Students will lay down in a designated spot in
  the classroom, head to foot and be asked to lay
  there for 3 minutes in silence, simulating the
  ride over from Africa to the Americas.
• Students will now write about their experiences
  and how it made them feel. Also they will
  describe what they think it must have been like
  aboard the ships.

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Activity 4 Abolitionist

• Abolitionism is a political movement that seeks
  to end the practice of slavery and the worldwide
  slave trade.
• Black as well as white people played an important
  part in the movement for abolition.
• The Underground Railroad consisted of clandestine
  routes, transportation, meeting points, safe
  homes and other havens, and assistance maintained
  by abolitionist sympathizers.
• The underground railroad played an important role
  in the abolitionist movement under Harriet
  Tubman.

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Activity 4 Abolitionist Continued
Harriet Tubman
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Activity 4 Abolitionist Continued

• Sojourner Truth
• Students will watch the
• video about Sojourner
• Truth and then will be asked
• to write in their social studies
• notebook a letter to her asking
• important questions, and giving
• their opinions about slavery and
• Abolitionism.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vCEBk_F7mPK4

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Activity 5 Singing on the Plantation

• Approximately one Southern family in four held
  slaves prior to the Civil War.
• Slaves in many parts of the south were freed by
  Union armies or when they simply left their
  former owners.
• The division of the land into smaller units under
  private ownership became known as the plantation
  system.
• Crops grown on these plantations such as tobacco,
  rice, sugar cane and cotton were labor intensive.
  

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Activity 5 Singing on the Plantation Continued

• Slaves were in the fields from sunrise to sunset
  and at harvest time they did an eighteen hour
  day.
• The death-rate amongst slaves was high.
• Slaves would often sing songs to help the days go
  by and to help relieve their pain.
• http//www.history.org/history/teaching/enewslette
  r/february03/worksongs.cfm

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Activity 5 Singing on the Plantation Continued
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Activity 5 Singing on the Plantation Continued

• Students will listen to the examples of the slave
  songs and they will then be required to write
  their own song, based on the knowledge they have
  gained about what it was like to be a slave.

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Assessment

• Students will complete a written essay exam where
  they must explain what they learned about slavery
  and what slavery means to them.
• Students must be sure to include important
  elements such as
• How have their views changed?
• How they would have felt if they were a slave?
• Who did they find to be an influential part of
  the abolitionist movement, and why?