Diana Fiddler
5th Grade Language Arts
Sailing to Freedom
July 14-20, 2013
Lesson Plan
Gallery Walk
OBJECTIVE:
Students will develop a better understanding of the Underground Railroad. They will gain insight in
how the coastal areas and maritime navigation played an important role in the attempt to reach
freedom.
**NOTE: This lesson would take place after the current lessons which cover slavery and the
Underground Railroad; which are already in place in my classroom. Prior to this lesson the students will
have read the book “Chasing the Nightbird” by Krista Russell. I would be introducing to the students
how the Underground Railroad also occurred along the coast through attempts to “Sail to Freedom” and
how New Bedford played an important role in this experience.
TIME PERIOD:
Approximately five 45 minute class periods: This does NOT include the time required to read the
chapter book “Chasing the Nightbird” by Krista Russell. This book would be read prior to the “Gallery
Walk” lesson.
MATERIALS NEEDED:











Chart Paper (7 sheets)
Sticky Notes (14 per student)
Students will need paper and pencil per group
Analysis Sheet (1 per group)
Caution Slave Ad
Runaway Slave Ad i.e. Harriet Tubman
Painting (New Bedford Whaler)
Underground Railroad Map
Painting (Enslaved People Attempting to Flee to Freedom)
Photo of a Sculpture depicting Harpooning
An Excerpt from the Narrative of Henry “Box” Brown
PROCEDURE:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The teacher will place the seven sources of information on the wall/chalkboard (the sources
should be covered, so the students cannot see the information until specified—this will allow
them to stay on task, rather than trying to work ahead).
Next to each source, place a sheet of chart paper. The chart paper should be split as a “T-Chart.”
One side of the chart should be labeled “BEFORE” and the other side “AFTER.” Therefore, seven
separate “T-Charts” are needed for this activity.
Distribute seven sticky notes to each student. *NOTE: This portion of the activity is based on an
individual basis. Students will work in groups AFTER this portion has been completed. The
teacher will give each student a copy of one of the document examples. The same copy will be
given to each student. The student will examine the document and write what they believe is the
meaning of the document or what comes to mind when viewing this particular document.
The teacher will unveil the same document which has been placed on the wall. Each student will
place their sticky note with their interpretation on the designated “T-Chart” under the BEFORE
section. This will continue until all seven documents have been viewed and examined.
The teacher will then place the students into groups. Each group will need a copy of the seven
documents, an analysis sheet, paper, and pencil.
Students will meet in groups and analyze each document. Through the aide of the
“W.H.A.L.I.N.G.” analysis sheet, they will create a thesis statement regarding each of the
documents. A total of seven thesis statements per group will be written.
Students will present their thesis statement to each of the remaining groups.
After the thesis statements have been presented, students will use sticky notes to individually
state their thoughts regarding each of these documents. The new sticky notes will be placed
under the “AFTER” section of the “T-Chart.”
Through discussion the students will examine the differing (if any) thoughts/opinions which were
listed on the charts and why the thoughts/opinions may have changed.
EXTENSION ACTIVITY:
Each student will create a diamante poem with regards to the topic of the Underground Railroad.
ANALYSIS SHEET
W.H.A.L.I.N.G.
Where did the event take place?
How could the document impact specific individuals?
Audience written/painted for
Look for actions/action words/details.
Include dates (if given)
Note the characters
Gist/Main Idea
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/harris/utc/images/caution.jpg
http://www.tubmaninstitute.ca/biography_harriet_tubman
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai/image/NewBedford_whaler.jpg
http://www.tntwebs.com/underground_railroad.jpg
http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/underground-railroad-4.jpg
http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=c9bd267d-644c-4e2a-b4c4-06bfd3a0bf8a&gid=3
Henry Box Brown, b. 1816 and Charles Stearns
Narrative of Henry Box Brown, Who Escaped from Slavery, Enclosed in a Box 3 Feet Long
and 2 Wide. Written from a Statement of Facts Made by Himself. With Remarks Upon the
Remedy for Slavery. By Charles Stearns
Boston: Brown and Stearns, 1849.
Summary
Henry Box Brown (b. 1816) was born in Louisa County, Virginia, and was a slave for thirty-three years
before escaping to Philadelphia in a three-by-two-foot box. His life as a slave was relatively free from
physical abuse by his slaveholders. His first owner was John Barret, a former Richmond mayor. Upon
Barret's death, Brown was enslaved by William Barret, John's son. Brown was fed, clothed, and given
spending money, much to the amazement of slaves on neighboring plantations. However, despite this
relatively liberal treatment, he suffered many trials and much heartache as a slave. In his narrative, Brown
explains that the horrors of slavery were not limited to physical abuse alone. The pains he suffered were
tortures of the heart and soul, as illustrated by the sale of his wife and children. This act of cruelty drove
Brown to escape. Assisted by friends, and trusting in divine providence to deliver him safely, Brown
arrived in Philadelphia jarred, but in one piece. After his escape, he traveled across New England
delivering antislavery lectures, and he also showcased a moving panorama called "Henry Box Brown's
Mirror of Slavery" in 1850. He moved to England later that year in fear of the Fugitive Slave Act, which
was passed soon after. He exhibited the panorama in Liverpool, Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire
through the spring of 1851 and continued to lecture. Brown returned to the United States from England in
1875 with his new wife and daughter Annie, and he performed as a magician. The date and location of his
death are unknown.
Charles L. Stearns (1809-1867), a wealthy merchant and abolitionist, was Brown's biographer. Stearns
earned a fortune early in his career as a shy, conservative Massachusetts businessman. He organized
the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee in 1856, and when the Civil War began, he used his money
to work for emancipation and then civil rights. After the Emancipation Proclamation, he began organizing
the Freedman's Bureau. He also created organizations to lobby for the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
amendments to the Constitution. Recognized by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and given a
commission as a major, he became the Assistant Adjutant General for the Recruitment of Colored Troops
in 1863. Stearns had many famous and influential friends, including the Emersons, the Alcotts, William
Lloyd Garrison, and Andrew Johnson.
The Narrative begins with a preface explaining that readers should not expect "to hear and see some new
thing" to amuse and entertain in its pages but that readers will "be made acquainted with the horrid
sufferings" of slavery and Brown's triumphant escape (p. v). Just as Lazarus astonished people in New
Testament times when he emerged from the grave, overcoming death, Brown's emergence from his
escape box evoked a similar response in its symbolic denunciation of slavery. Brown also includes an
original hymn of thanksgiving in the preface, setting a tone of praise and deliverance fully articulated at
the Narrative's conclusion. Brown explains that there are two sides of slavery: that of disturbing violence
and abuse and that of "comparative freedom" (p. 11). His narrative presents the so-called "beautiful side
of the picture of slavery" because of "partial kindness" on the part of his master, John Barret (p. 12).
Brown was never whipped, and he never went naked or hungry. He explains that "It was not for fear of
the lash's dreaded infliction, that I endured that fearful imprisonment," but rather "those inner pangs which
rend the heart of fond affection" (p. 12).
Perhaps the best illustration of Brown's relatively humane treatment while enslaved is the description of
his travels to a granary in a neighboring county. While he and his brother were there delivering grain to
the mill, a number of resident slaves "turned and gazed earnestly" upon Brown and his brother. The
slaves in Yansinville county were amazed to see them dressed in shoes, vests, and hats, and said they
had "never seen negroes dressed that way before" (p. 22).
When their first master was dying, the Brown brothers were summoned to his bedside. The young boys
were excited, as they "expected to be set free when he died" (p. 31). However, he simply commanded that
they be obedient to his son, William, who would inherit them as his own. Brown was thirteen years old at
the time.
Brown spent the next several years in the Richmond, Virginia, tobacco plant owned by William Barret.
Slaves there worked fourteen hours a day in the summer and sixteen in the winter. Brown exerted himself
"to the utmost to please Barret who rewarded him with a new suit of clothing, spending money, and a
continued immunity to the whip (p. 36).
In 1836, when Brown reached his twenties, he fell in love with Nancy, a woman enslaved by a Mr. Lee,
who worked for the local bank. Brown explains that their "friendship ripened into mutual love," and they
soon after asked for permission to be married (p. 47-8). Brown was able to pay his wife's new slaveholder
fifty dollars a year to persuade him to keep her in his ownership, as well as seventy-two dollars to rent a
house for their family, which grew to include three children.
In August of 1848, as usual, Brown left his wife and three children at home, where Nancy worked washing
the clothes of her slaveholder's family. But when he returned, he learned that they had been sold to
another slaveholder, a Methodist minister from North Carolina. Brown went to his master and begged for
help in retrieving his family members but was told only that "you can get another wife" (p. 53).
Extremely distressed by this betrayal, Brown resolved to escape. He burned his finger with vitriol oil and
claimed that he was too injured to work in order to excuse himself from work and buy time to plan his
escape. In 1849, he heard in his mind these words: "Go and get a box, and put yourself in it" (p. 59).
Stearns includes a footnote with his confidence in the truth of this account, writing, "Reader, smile not at
the above idea, for if there is a God of love, we must believe that he suggests steps to those who apply to
him in times of trouble" (p. 59).
Brown hired a carpenter to build a box and enlisted his friends Samuel Smith, a white Massachusetts
native, and James C. Smith, a free African-American dentist and merchant, to help him make his escape.
The Smiths put him in the box and shipped it to the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia.
The journey was physically exhausting and dangerous, as Brown spent much of it on his head, upside
down, despite the "this side up with care" memo on top of the box. Brown did not bring any food or water
besides a water bladder to "bathe [his] neck with, in case of too great heat" (p. 60). After several hours of
"terrible pain" in which death seemed an "inevitable fate," Brown arrived at his destination (p. 61).
After a short time in Pennsylvania, Brown proceeded to Massachusetts, where he spoke at an antislavery rally in Boston. There he won the moniker "Henry 'Box' Brown". Brown continued to fight for
abolition by publishing his narrative and touring New England to promote it with antislavery lectures in the
fall of 1849. He did the same in England the following year.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/boxbrown/summary.html