PROJECT TITLE:
SLAVERY: The Pathway from
Property to Person
AUTHOR: Tamie Campbell
SUBJECT & GRADE LEVEL
9th grade World History II
CLASSROOM PRACTICE
HI Overview & Teaching Thesis:
Students are asked to view history chronologically, however our instruction of history is often
divided into segments, which act to interrupt an overall understanding of cause and effect. This lesson
will allow students to put together a chronological timeline of events surrounding slavery in the Americas,
Caribbean, and Great Britain to better understand when slavery started in the Americas, how the laws
changed, due to troublesome occurrences, and where many key events took place. As students analyze
particular events, they will link them to legislation passed soon after the occurrences. This allows
students to understand how laws are often made in direct relation to a problem or concern of the society at
a given time, and that events in other areas of the world can directly effect legislation at home.
1.
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Guiding Questions
When did slavery become legal in the colonies?
What events may have led to early slave codes?
When did slavery become based on race?
Where did events take place, and did that play a role in new legislation?
What led to the eventual abolition of slavery?
2.
Suggested Grade Level and Length of Activities:
9th World History II
Lesson I The Legalization of Slavery in America- 90 minutes
Lesson II American Slavery: An Interactive Map - 90 minutes
3.
Significance & Relevance:
Selected State and National Standards
WHII. 1a,b,e,f The student will improve skills in historical research and geographical analysis by
a) identifying, analyzing, and interpreting primary and secondary sources to make generalizations
about events and life in world history since 1500 A.D. (C.E.); (Students will be analyzing primary
and secondary sources to examine the evolution of slave codes in the American colonies.)
b) using maps, globes, artifacts, and pictures to analyze the physical and cultural landscapes of the
world and to interpret the past since 1500 A.D. (C.E.); (Students will locate where events of the
slave trade took place, in the North Atlantic region during the 17th and 18th centuries.)
f) analyzing the impact of economic forces, including taxation, government spending, trade,
resources, and monetary systems, on events from 1500 A.D. (C.E.). (Students will analyze slave
codes and related events to recognize the economic forces involved in the legal decisions.)
WHII.4c The student will demonstrate knowledge of the impact of the European Age of Discovery
and expansion into the Americas, Africa, and Asia by
c) explaining migration, settlement patterns, cultural diffusion, and social classes in the colonized
areas. (Students will document events which trace the evolution of the slave trade, based on race.)
OAH Historical Inquiry Skills –
1F Chronological Thinking –
Students will use historical events to follow the development of slave codes, and the change of
public opinion, which led to the abolition of slavery in America and Great Britain.
2B,D Historical Comprehension – After reading about court cases involving slaves, and owners,
students will identify legal precedent which initiated the creation of slave codes.
3B,D Historical Analysis and Interpretation - Students will analyze the perspectives of slaves,
slave owners, and business persons involved in the slave trade by reading about their
experiences from primary and secondary sources.
4C Historical Research Capabilities - Students will use historical data to question the social,
political, and economic decisions made by slave traders involved in related events.
5D,F Historical Issues - Analysis and Decision-Making - Students will evaluate the various
possibilities in the court cases in terms of ethics, and how the various parties would be affected in
financially, socially, and politically.
4.
Lesson Objectives –
● Students will be able to examine events and identify key facts leading Africans to life-long slavery
based on race, and then to abolition.
● Students will be able to prepare summaries of events, and formulate connections between the
events and slave code legislation.
● Students will be able to consider various perspectives based on different motivations, interests,
and fears; including those of the slaves, slave owners, slave traders, and abolitionists.
● Students will be able to locate where events took place in the North Atlantic region.
● Students will select illustration(s) to match to their event, and include with the information.
● Students will create an interactive power point map to chronicle where events occurred, how they
were important to the progression on the pathway to slavery and from slavery to abolition.
5.
Lesson Plans or Instructional Activities – (See Lesson Plans for detailed information)
● Lesson 1 - The Legalization of Slavery -Students will use primary and secondary source
documents, as well as internet sites related to the subject, to summarize historical events
which were linked to the Atlantic Slave Trade, into concise paragraphs. Students will
match the events to slave codes, or relate them to the abolition movement, while analyzing
various perspectives involved.
● Lesson 2 - American Slavery: An Interactive Map - Students will take the information they
gathered, summarized, and synthesized, copy and paste it to a Power Point slide. They will
use an interactive map, and locate where their event(s) took place in the North Atlantic
region. Images will be chosen which best illustrate their events, and added to the
information slide. A class presentation of the map and information will allow all students
to be aware of many events, which chronicled the evolution of slavery in America.
6. Technology
Students will collectively create an interactive activity using Power Point technology. Skills
covered, or learned, will include:
● Creating a shape to designate a location on the map
● Creating a hyperlink from the location to the informational slide in the Power Point
● Presentation of the finished website, while manipulating the interactive map
7. Modifications, Differentiation, and Extensions –
I have included information on events at various levels of difficulty to allow all students to
participate at their reading level. These lessons were been prepared with strong readers in mind. It may
be necessary to group students to complete the activity.
8. Related Materials and Resources:
Lesson 1
● Lesson Plan - The Legalization of Slavery in America
● Handouts on related events
● Computers with Word capability
● Summary chart on a Word document
● List of Virginia Slave Codes
Lesson 2
● Lesson Plan - American Slavery - An Interactive Map
● Computers
● Interactive power point map template
● “Illustration Gallery,” downloaded on computers - includes embedded and linked sites if picture(s)
will not copy and paste
● Instructions to lead students through the steps to copy/paste information and pictures, and to
hyperlink their point on the map to their slide.
● Teacher power point to use as a “check” that all material was presented for each event.
● Rubric for teacher to grade students’ portfolio which will consist of their event information,
illustration(s), completed summary chart, as well as their presentation.
I have included handouts for lesson 1 in PDF format. The summary chart has been included as a Word
document so the spaces will allow for longer responses, as necessary. If students are to write their
information onto a paper chart, the spaces may need to be enlarged prior to printing.
The interactive Power Point map, and teacher Power Point can be modified by adding or deleting events
as teachers so choose. The pbs.org website, listed below, offers numerous events which could be
included in this lesson for larger classes.
9. Annotated Instructional Bibliography
Primary Sources
13th amendment Retrieved from
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=40&page=pdf
This website provides true copies of our nation’s documents. They are available either by actual
image, high resolution PDF, or in print version. It also provides detailed information about events
preceding and following the publication of the documents. The 13th Amendment was the final
step in the process toward complete abolition of slavery in the United States.
Atkins, Johnathan. National Archives, (1675). (CO1-35-f231). U.K.:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52115725@N03/4945396876/in/set-72157624724102677/
The flickr photographs bring a very real sense of events to students. While the print is often hard
to decipher, the descriptions are very good, giving a summary of the information in the
document.
(1863). This letter is from the collection of Transatlantic Slave Trade Documents’ photostream.
emancipation proclamation Retrieved from
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=34
(1865).
This document, signed by President Lincoln, was pivotal in the move toward the final abolition of
slavery. In this proclamation, all slaves in states in rebellion were freed. President Lincoln took
advantage of a victory at Antietam to make this announcement. Also allowing freed blacks to
join the Union army, this proclamation gave rights to former slaves for the first time since slavery
began in America.
Handler, J.S., & Tuite, M.L. (2008). The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A
Visual Record. The virginia foundation for the humanities the digital media lab at the university of
virginia library. Retrieved December 18, 2010, from www.slaveryimages.org
Numerous illustrations related to slavery. This is a marvelous source for appropriate illustrations
of events related to slavery, Africans, and the slave trade. I would encourage teachers to allow
students to peruse this site to enhance their project with authentic art work, or accurate
recreations of historical events.
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. (n.d.). Slave woman and child
(LC-USZ62-15385). Washington, DC: Retrieved from
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004669294/
The Library of Congress is another valuable site to allow students to find appropriate illustrations
historical events. This illustration, “Slave woman and child,” allows the students to see the pain
and injustice felt by a mother, knowing her child would follow in her condition of slavery, due to
the Virginia Slave Codes, and laws of other states, which often followed the lead of Virginia.
National Archives, Teacher's Resources. (n.d.). Teaching with documents:the amistad case (ARC
Identifier:301672). Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved
from http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/amistad/
The National Archives has an enormous amount of resources for teachers to use in classroom
instruction. I used the, “Teaching with Documents” section for this lesson, however in addition to
the documents, there are worksheets, pictures, and much more. The Archives has the
information broken down by time periods, to make it easier to locate the information needed. A
fabulous website to get historical information for any history lesson.
William wilberforce's abolition speech. (1789). [Web]. Retrieved from
ThemeBook_Finalpgs6284.pdf+william+wilberforce%27s+1789+abolition+speech&cd=3&hl=en&
ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
This speech was given by William Wilberforce, before the House of Commons On Tuesday, May
12th, 1789. In this speech he calls for the total abolition of the slave trade, based on its evil
nature, and abominable treatment of fellow humans. In this speech he describes the
wretchedness of the middle passage with such detail, that he asks his audience not to use
passion, but “impartial reason” to end the trading of humans.
Secondary Sources
Billings, W.M. (1973). The cases of fernando and elizabeth key: a note on the status of blacks in
seventeenth-century virgini. The William and Mary Quarterly, 30(3), 467-474.
Mr. Billings writes a thorough essay on the condition of slaves in the mid-1600’s, looking
specifically at the issues of Christian affiliation, and the status of the mother and father. While the
cases studied are not definitive, as Mr. Billings mentions, they give strong evidence that slave
codes were written because land owners could not afford having their slaves sue for their
freedom based on these reasons, as was apparently done successfully under English common
law.
Gloucestershire, (2007). The "zong" incident. [Web]. Retrieved from
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=19007
A concise summary of the Zong event, including a picture that has often been used to illustrate
the slaves being thrown overboard, although it is from another similar happening. This web page
also has embedded a short, two minute You Tube video that might be useful in the classroom.
Robinson, A.J. (1999). Slave Resistance. Africana: the encyclopedia of the african and african
american experience. Retrieved December 18, 2010, from
http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/barbados/barbados3.html
Africana is an online encyclopedia with a wealth of information on the history of Africans from all over the world. Much factual information was found from this site concerning the slave resistance in Barbados in 1675. Robinson has done thorough research to help the reader gain incite that is invaluable when studying history from this time period, when often so little is available. Sicker, T. (1996). Africans in america. [Web]. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html
This website is a companion to a six hour pbs series examining all phases of the history of
slavery and exploring the paradox of enslaving people in a land based on freedom and
democracy. The pieces in this site are perfect vignettes for the teacher to use in the classroom
to tell a complicated story in a direct but age appropriate fashion.
This classroom project includes many pages from this website, saved in pdf format, for both
information on events, and for pictures illustrating the events. Teachers should consult the,
“Resource Bank Index,” from the Africans in America site for additional information on people,
events, and historical documents to expand this lesson.
Theobald, M.M. (2005-2006). Slave conspiracies in colonial virginia. CW Journal, Retrieved from
http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter05-06/conspiracy.cfm
This journal article provides academic, and detailed information for the subject of slave
conspiracies, as well as related information to expand on the subject matter. Illustrations from
this site are useful for students to have a visual interpretation of the events they are studying.
The Colonial Williamsburg Journal offers a myriad of opportunities for teachers to use in the
classroom for this and other lessons.
Virginia Slave Codes
Hening, W.W. (2009, July 19). Hening's statutes at large. Retrieved from
http://vagenweb.org/hening/
The pdf included in the event handouts folder provides excerpts from the Henning Statutes
(1823). The website from which the information was taken includes all Hening statutes,
transcribed from the original for access online. Statutes can be searched by date or Act, and
comments on the side help clarify the meanings of the acts. Very good resource for providing
primary source information to students in an easy to use format.
Information on the Virginia Slave Codes are also available through the pbs.org website, listed
above. While the individual codes are not listed here, it does give additional information for
students to use in their assignment.