SLAVERY AND HOW IT CHANGED HISTORY

TEXT SETBy Emily VerSchneider

Grade Level: 4th-5th Grade

Theme: Slavery and its affect on history

Subject: Social Studies and Language arts

Rationale: These books are connected through the idea of slavery. Essentially being a slave and being a freed person were far different experiences during that time. Students will be exploring the differences between both sides of the spectrum and understanding why most slaves did whatever they could to become a freed person. This is important to students because times have changed, and many students do not realize that the majority of our population did not just get things handed to them. They had to endure many trials and tribulations just to live a normal life. This historical time period and events changed how we are able to live today and that is something these students need to know.

Guiding Concepts: Slavery was a large part of our history in the United States. Many people were slaves, and some were freed people. However, those freed people and slaves were treated far differently from each other. This text set has key words such as underground railroad, north star, races, freedom, slavery, and many key people.

Martin, M. (2005). Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad. Mankato , Minnesota. Capstone Press.

Level: Average

Genre: Historic Fiction- Graphic History

Harriet Tubman’s life is depicted in this story throughout the beginning of her time being a slave. This story starts with her life as a slave, and carries all the way through when she founded the underground railroad and broke free from slavery. This story discusses all the trials and tribulations Tubman had to undergo in order to become a free woman in the united states. Tubman had many struggles, and this story describes how her path to freedom was not easy. She had to risk everything she had, even her life, in order to potentially be free one day.

I would use this in my text set because it discusses how Harriet Tubman was treated prior to becoming a freed woman. Obviously, she did not like nor enjoy being a slave and being someone else’s maid constantly. So Tubman freed herself. She did not like being a slave so much that she had to risk her life to be free. This should show students how important it was to her to live her own life.

Fradin, D.B. (2012). Stolen into slavery. National Geographic Children’s books.

Level: 5th- 8th grade

Genre: Biography

Solomon Northup is a slave held captive for approximately 12 years. However, Solomon Northup shouldn’t have been a slave as he was a free man from the north. One night he was stolen and his “free papers” were taken from his pocket. He awoke the next day after being unconscious and unaware of where he was. Solomon now had to figure out how to get himself free again and back to the north. He had to prove that he indeed was a free man, although no one believed him. Solomon needed to live his life again.

I would use this in my text set by letting students read this story as a class. We would read it together as it is above grade level or right on grade level for some children. I would make sure to discuss how Mr. Northup was able to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted until someone stole his freedom papers, which turned his life drastically. He is no longer allowed to do whatever he wants and has to follow everyone else’s plans for him, being beaten and abused during the time.

Wineapple, B. (2013). The rub; or, the moral debate over slavery. Raritan. Level: HardGenre: Article (Journal)This article is about how morally right or wrong the average person believes slavery was. This also discusses Abraham Lincoln’s views on slavery, as he was president during this time. Did he believe that the difference in treatment between races was ok? It is answered in this article, and I think that it important for students to know how the president during this time period answered this question. I would use this article by giving each student a copy. I would read it out loud to the students and have them segment the article as we went along to break it apart and understand it more thoroughly.

Dennis, A. (2013). A snitch in time: A historical sketch of black informing during slavery. Marquette Law Review.

Level: Hard

Genre: Academic Journal

This article discusses where slavery mainly took place and why it began. According to this article, the use of slavery occurred because white farmers had a growth in cotton and tobacco farming. The farmers were unable to maintain this growth by themselves, so they took slaves under their “wings” in order to get more helping hands on the farm. This article talks about how it quickly went sour after some farmers treated their slaves unfairly and abused them.

I would use this article as another read aloud. I would give each student a copy of a portion of this article and we would dissect it together as we went along reading. This article is important to read because it discusses why slavery began, and how it may not have began as a harmful or unfair solution to the problem they were having. I don’t want my students to think that everyone wanted to treat others poorly, so this article shows the difference between the slaves and the freed people, however it explains how harm wasn’t everyone's intention.

Longfellow, H. The good part that shall not be taken away. Poems on slavery.

Level: Average/Hard

Genre: Poetry

This is a higher level poem that has many hidden messages in it. This poem is about a little girl who was saved by another lady from slavery. The girl was covered in chains as a slave and was kept captive. The freed person kept her like this as they ran free and were able to do whatever they pleased. Now that the little girl is free she talks about how she runs and plays with her village friends.

This poem would be used as a guided reading lesson. I think that this could be good in small groups as it is an average level text, however it could be hard to understand the underlying meanings in the text. So I would help the students understand the hidden messages while letting them explore them themselves. This poem expresses how the girl felt when she was a slave and how different her life became when she broke free with help from another woman.

Dailey, D. (2013). Josiah Miller, an anti-slavery southerner: Letters to father and mother. Kansas History.

Level- Average

Genre- Letters ( inside a journal article, but only using the letters portion)

These letters are handwritten letters that Josiah Miller wrote to his mother and father after moving away from home in the south. Miller was a anti-slavery southerner, as was his family. He did not support slavery and he followed the news on it constantly. In his letters, he talks about the constant change in presidents and legislature on this topic. He urges his parents to move out of the south, as he does not want the freed people down in the south to retaliate against his family as they do not condone slavery.

I only want to use the letters in this article as I think they provide plenty of information about freed families who do not own slaves and do not agree with slavery. This also talks about how knowledgeable some of the south was with legislature and slavery.

Newman, S. (2002). Slavery in the United States. Demco Media.

Level- Average

Genre- Nonfiction

This book is generalized about slavery in the United States. This book is a basic description about slavery. It talks about where the idea of slavery came from which was actually from overseas in Egypt, Rome, and Greece. I think that this would be one of the first books that I read to the class in order to initiate the discussion and topic of slavery. I would conduct a KWL chart where I would ask students what the difference in freed people and slaves would be and what they know about it. Then I would read this story aloud to them so that they realize that this did not just happen in the United States but there were slaves in other countries and the slaves and freed people were treated differently in other countries also.

Kamma, A. (2004). If you lived when there was slavery in America. Scholastic Inc.

Level- Easy

Genre- Fact Fiction

Because this is a book for second graders, this is a very simplified version of what slavery is. It would be good for teaching students definitions and using a compare and contrast chart to determine what large differences we see between freed people and slave people. This book discusses the idea of slaves being bought and sold constantly.

PICTURES

I would show pictures to my students that represent the freed people and the slaves during that time. This will show the differences in clothes, housing, etc. Obviously with pictures I will have to make sure that they are not too graphic for this age level and topic.

VIDEOS- LIBERTY KIDS “CONFLICT IN THE SOUTH”

I chose to show this video in my presentation as it is grade level appropriate and is a cartoon version of what really happened when slavery occurred. The cartoon shows Thomas Jefferson having slaves and has Sarah, the main character, trying to defend the lives of those who are being mistreated because they are not freed people. http://youtu.be/v3lKABmSC0A

SONGS- “FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD”

I chose to incorporate this because it was a s song that was very profound during the discovery of the Underground Railroad. When slaves were trying to break free from their masters, they followed the big dipper and the stars in order to find the North. I think that this will help explain to them how diligently the slaves wanted to break free from their masters in order to be free people and do whatever they want whenever they want. These people worked hard and put their lives on the line in order to be treated fairly and this song depicts that.