Transcript Slavery
Slavery in a Land of Freedom
TAH Freedom Project
10/13/12
Standards & Methods
Fran O’Malley
Delaware Social Studies Education Project
University of Delaware
Activity I
Whisper Down the Lane.
Count off 1-5.
#1 is lane leader.
Lane leader reads slave population statistics off of handout to
Person 2.
Person 2 tells Person 3 what the population statistics were but
does not provide the document.
Person 3 tells Person 4…until Person 5 hears the statistics.
Person 1 records accuracy data (without verbal or visual cues).
Literacy Connection
Optional Reading
Hidden in Plain View
Activity II: Create an
Underground Railroad Quilt Code
Create a UGRR quilt.
Use quilt template, yarn,
crayons.
Be able to explain how the
quilt’s messages.
Tools
Analyzing Claims
A.
Do you believe that the earth has been visited by aliens from outer space?
B.
If someone told you that aliens have visited earth, would that be enough to
convince you of alien visitations?
C.
Why do you (or do you not) believe that aliens have visited?
D.
What evidence do we have that aliens have visited?
E.
What evidence would you require to serve as proof of alien visitations?
What is “evidence?”
Work in small groups to
complete the Frayer Model
for the concept of
EVIDENCE.
Definition: a thing or things
that are helpful in forming a
conclusion or judgment; or
that are used to “prove”
something.
Circling Round:
Whisper Down the Lane
How accurately were the slave population statistics transmitted
orally?
Would the data on the number of slaves in Delaware from
1790-1860 have been more or less accurate if information had
been passed down via the document i.e. Resource 1 rather
than orally?
Should information passed down orally through generations be
counted as evidence by historians? Why or why not?
Are documents flawless sources of evidence about the past?
Explain.
Is the quilt code a case of “problematic prior learning (PPL)?”
Competing Interpretations: Why?
“Hidden in Plain View, is based on the oral
testimony of an elderly lady,
In my opinion, this book is a major insult to
intelligent people everywhere yet it has been picked
up to be shared as "fact" in Social Studies classes
across America, instead of the "fiction" that it is. The
book does not jibe with what we know about the
Underground Railroad and African American history.
Most certainly, the depiction of quilt blocks is not in
tandem with known quilt and/or quilt block history.
Members of the American Quilt Study Group, a
group that is comprised of University professors,
professional writers/book authors, appraisers,
publishers, and many others associated with the
quilt world, have privately and publicly condemned
this book.”
Patricia L. Cummings
Self described Quilt Historian/author
Amazon Book Reviewer
Ms Cummings, I cannot disagree with you more
strongly. My paternal great grandmother, my halfbrother's grandmother, and my future mother-inlaw's family "wrote" stories in the quilts they made.
These women who were born between 1842 and
1895. To say books like Hidden in Plain View are
American myths is just plain wrong and borders
being an out-right lie. I personally spoke with my
great grand mother and my brother's grand mother
about these "story" quilts and received a first hand
account. These women were not in their dying
moments, they were in their 60's and 70's and were
of very sound mind.
And just as an additional note, using a quilt to tell a
story is not limited to Black history, my maternal
great grandmother (from Russia) also used quilts to
tell stories and taught me the same way her
grandmother taught her. “
Shelley Jeltema
Amazon review response
PPL Intervention:
“Refutational Text”
“Some people believe that slaves and others who
assisted with the Underground Railroad used a quilt
code to communicate messages to escaping slaves.
Perhaps you were one of those believers.
Though the idea of a quilt code is very interesting, most
historians have concluded that there is not enough
evidence to support the claim.”
Summarizing Activity
Students compose a
“museum caption” that can
be placed under their quilts
that explains the quilt code
theory and why it should or
should not be considered
historically accurate.
See handout
Potential Research Lesson
Standards Addressed
History 3a, Gr. 4-5: Students will explain why historical accounts of the
same event sometimes differ and relate this explanation to the
evidence presented…
History 2b, Gr. 6-8: Students will examine historical documents,
artifacts, and other materials, and analyze them in terms of
credibility…
History 2b, Gr. 9-12: Students will examine and analyze primary and
secondary sources in order to differentiate between historical facts and
historical interpretations.
Activity 3:
The Nature of Slave Life
Work in triads.
Review the documents and images in your folders.
Use Post-It Poster paper to design a poster that offers a
description of slave life based on the documents in your folders.
Create a title from the stem “Slave Life Was _________.”
Cut and paste images and write quotes from the documents to
support your title.
Debrief:
Competing Accounts
Account 1
Slaves as objects.
Horror remembered.
Account 2
Slaves as subjects
Better moments
remembered.
Why might there be different interpretations of slave life?
Big Idea
Slave as Objects
Slaves as Subjects
History Standard 3
Interpretation [Grades 4-5]: Students will explain why historical accounts of the
same event sometimes differ and relate this explanation to the evidence
presented or the point-of-view of the author.
Interpretation [Grades 6-8]: Students will compare different historians
descriptions of the same societies in order to examine how the choice of
questions and use of sources may affect their conclusions.
Interpretation [Grades 9-12]: Students will compare competing historical
narratives, by contrasting different historians' choice of questions, use and
choice of sources, perspectives, beliefs, and points of view, in order to
demonstrate how these factors contribute to different interpretations.
Attending to Standards
Considering the wrap-around activity with slavery as a context…
how might the evidence presented influence the conclusion one
arrives at? (Grades 4-5)
how might one’s use of sources explain differences in conclusions
about slavery? (Grades 6-8)
How might one’s choice of sources explain differences in historical
interpretations? (Grades 9-12)
History 1: Chronology
Slavery trends over time
in Delaware
Continuity or change?
Why?
Slavery trends over time
in the United States
Continuity or change?
Why?
Slavery in Delaware over Time
1.
Did the slave population in Delaware
change or remain the same between 1790
and 1860? [History Standard 1 - continuity v
change]
2.
Why might Delaware's slave
population have changed or remained the
same from 1790-1860? [History Standard 1 causation]
Slavery in the U.S. over Time
1.
Did the slave population in the United
States change or remain the same between
1790 and 1860? [History Standard 1 continuity v change]
2.
Why might the U.S. slave population
have changed or remained the same from
1790-1860? [History Standard 1 - causation]
Mapping Slavery
in the United States
Students will demonstrate development of mental
maps of Delaware and of the United States which
include the relative location and characteristics of
major… political divisions... [G1, 4-5]
Students will explain how conflict and cooperation
among people contribute to the division of the
Earth's surface into distinctive cultural regions and
political territories. [G4, 6-8]
Big Ideas: History Standards
Chronology/Analysis
Slave life changed over
time.
Understandings of
property have changed
over time.
Interpretation
Slaves as objects.
Slaves as subjects with
agency.
Problematic Prior Knowledge:
Misconceptions
Slavery only existed in the U.S.
Slavery in the U.S. was the same as slavery
everywhere.
Slavery only involved whites owning blacks.
All blacks were slaves prior to the Civil War.
All slave owners were white.
Most southerners owned slaves.
All slave work involved picking cotton.
Slavery was the same across time in the U.S.
Kolchin presentation 10-12-12