Objectives: Students assess the extent to which slaves were perceived and treated as property in the antebellum period. Students hypothesize on the various responses slave may have to this treatment.
Objects Background:
By using receipts, inventories, and bills of sale, students will gain awareness for how slaves are treated as property. The bills of sale as well as receipts from Hampton and the Frederick Douglass collections are examples of how a slave holder gained ownership of an individual. The two slave inventories held by the Curtis family show the importance of tracking the ages and number of slaves owned. The use of the terms receipt and inventory are usually associated with objects, not people, and help the students understand how slaves were perceived as property during the time period.
Activity A: What do you own?
Ask each student to list:
- all of the items in their bedroom.
- all of their pets and/or other animals in their home
Debrief the items, then discuss the following:
- What do you own?
- What living items do some of us possess?
- Do any of us own humans? Why not?
- What rights do we humans have? What rights are protected by the Constitution today?
Activity B: Slaves are Property
State: “Slaves are property.” Ask:
- If slaves are property, what do slaves not have the right to do?
- If slaves are property, how are they restricted?
- When and where were people considered property?
- Should human beings ever be considered property?
Explain “Slaves are property” is a bold statement, but historians have the evidence to support it. Assign each student one of the four primary sources below:
- Bills of Sale
- Slave Inventory
- Slave List
- Receipts
Individually, read the source and on a separate sheet of paper write responses to the following:
- What type and date of source are you using?
- What does the source tell us about the institution of slavery generally and at that time?
- How is the slave being treated?
- Is the slave being treated like a human or like a piece of property? The teacher will encourage students to create and complete a venn diagram in order to analyze the source and construct opinion and note changes over time.
- To what extent does this support the statement: “Slavery is Property”?
Group students based on the source. Students analyze the source and discuss the above questions. Each group will present their source and explain, with evidence, the extent to which it supports the statement: “Slaves are property”. As a class, discuss:
- What are the various ways in which slaves were treated as property?
- What is a receipt? What is an inventory? What do we associate these terms with?
- What does an enslaved person lose because he or she is treated like property? How does this make enslaved person feel?
- How do you expect an enslaved person to respond?
- How do the sources relate? What do the sources have in common?
- Compare the positives and negatives of owning slaves and the economic benefits of slavery from the vantage point of a slave owner and an enslaved person.
Note: The teacher may have the students present each source in chronological order. This will allow the students to understand how the institution of slavery changed over time and may lead to additional conversations with higher level students.
Activity C: A Memo to a Slave Holder
Display Runaway Reward Notice. As a class discuss the following:
- Describe the runaway.
- What is being offered for his return?
- How does this source show that slaves had a choice? How does that choice to runaway or not give the slave some humanity/agency?
- Add a creative and meaningful way to have students do a structured analysis of the document, including style, language etc.
Assign each student to write two memos to a slave-holding family. The memos are intended to bring attention to the problem of slavery as well as provide a solution. The two memos should contain similar content but one memo is written in period and the other in the current English language. These memos will contain the following:
- State the reasons why slaves run away
- Provide a solution to the treatment of slaves
- Sample template of a Memo:
To:
From:
Date:
Subject:
Narrative: |
Objectives:
Students will analyze the various tasks performed and skills acquired by a house slave during the antebellum period.
Students will assess the useful and marketability of the skills acquired by house slaves during the antebellum period.
Students will identify the foodways [foods, preparation, serving] of 19th century Southern plantation owners.
Objects Background:
This lesson includes a photograph of objects on display in the winter kitchen at Arlington House. While several objects are not original to the home, they date to the 19th century. Other objects used in this lesson include a coffee mill, coffee pot, mortar, bean pot, plate warmer, mold and a pitcher The Arlington House winter kitchen shows the workspace used by the house slaves.
Activity A: What Skill Can One Acquire?
Display the following objects in the front of the classroom and identify each.
Divide the class into two groups. Assign each group one of the objects and ask them to identifying the skills that could be acquired from using each object and possible future occupations those skills could lead to in the future.
Debrief each group by asking:
- What skills are usually associated with using a hammer? What occupations could the person apply for in the future?
- What skills does a person acquire by using a needle and thread? What occupations could the person apply for in the future?
Discuss specific skills that provide people opportunities to perform other jobs. Ask:
- What are important skills to have today? How do you acquire those skills?
- What job do you want to do when you are an adult? What skills will you need to have? How do you acquire those skills?
Activity B: Acquiring Skills as a House Slave
Explain that the purpose of this lesson is to focus on slaves who worked in the master’s house and the skills they acquired doing those duties. Move the students into small groups. Supply each group with a color copy of the following objects:
Coffee Mill |
Coffee Pot |
Winter Kitchen |
Mortar |
Bean Pot |
Plate Warmer |
Mold |
Pitcher |
In the groups, discuss:
- How were foods prepared?
- What are some of the foods eaten in the mid-Atlantic region at the time of the Civil War and later in the 19th century?
- What are the tasks completed by house slaves?
- What skills do slaves acquire by completing these tasks?
As a class, ask:
- What are some of the dishes eaten in the mid-Atlantic region at the time of the Civil War and later in the 19th century? (The teacher may need to discuss where crops and foods were grown and manufactured.)
- How were the dishes prepared?
- Are these foods similar to foods we eat today?
- How do preparation methods compare with contemporary methods?
Return to small groups. Create a menu for a dinner in a 19th century mid-Atlantic home. Each group will present their menu to the class.
Discuss:
- Based on these skills, what jobs could these slaves apply for or services could they provide if they gained their freedom?
- How did the acquisition of skills provide slaves with choices?
Activity C: House Slave’s Resume
Each student develops and designs a resume for a house slave. (Note: Students should develop a polished and professional resume and can use resume software. The resume should contain the following:
- Goal: What is the purpose of the resume?
- Previous Jobs Experience: What job titles has the slave performed?
- Skills: What expertise does the slave possess?
Objectives:
- Students read excerpts from Douglass’ My Bondage and My Freedom to identify his growing realization of his enslaved state.
- Students assess how the power of reading shaped Frederick Douglass’ world view by identifying passages from The Columbian Orator may have inspired Frederick Douglass quest for freedom.
Objects Background:
Students read excerpts of the Columbian Orator and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Douglass, a young slave, purchased an 1817 copy of Caleb Bingham’s Columbian Orator for 50 cents in Baltimore, Maryland. He used the book to hone his oratory skills. It also helped inspire him to seek liberty and gain emancipation. Historians recognized the influence of the Columbian Orator because of passages in Douglass’ autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. The Columbian Orator discussed the inhumane treatment of slaves and “forced subjection” and depriving slaves of their “free will”. In his autobiographies, My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick discussed the impact of the Columbian Orator on his life..
Activity A: The Power of a Book
Ask and answer as a class:
- What book made you sad?
- What book made you happy?
- What book made you laugh?
- What book inspired you?
- What is your favorite book?
Discuss:
- Why can books change our mood?
- Why can books inspire people?
- Why do words have power?
Activity B: Frederick Douglass and the Written Word
Display the images of Douglass’ copy of The Columbian Orator. Title page available at: http://www1.assumption.edu/ahc/rhetoric/columbianoratorfront.gif
Ask:
- What is the purpose of this book?
- Who is the intended audience?
- Do you think a slave would have read this book?
Distribute excerpts of “Dialogue Between a Master and a Slave.”
As a class, have assigned students read the passage out loud. In small groups discuss and answer the questions below.
- How does the slave holder describe his treatment of the slave?
- According the slave, what has the master taken away?
- How did the slave become a slave? Is that right?
- What is the location of this story? Is slavery a global problem?
- How is this slave treated like property?
- What is outcome of the dialogue?
Each group completes the chart below and reports back to the class.
Arguments for Slavery Held by the Master |
Arguments Against Slavery Held by the Slave |
|
|
Discuss:
- How could this book inspire an American slave?
- Why do words have power?
- Why may a slave holder not want a slave to be literate?
- When do you think this source was written?
State: The Source was written in Ancient Greece. Ask:
- Is slavery unique to the United States?
- Is slavery unique to this time in history?
- Do we think slavery still exists today and where?
Assign the following passage from Frederick Douglass’ slave narrative, My Bondage and My Freedom. In groups, the students will translate the text into contemporary language and “orate” or present to the class. Provide students with oratory guidelines and have class assess the presentations. Oratory guidelines could include:
- Speed of Speech
- Posture
- Clarity
- Use of Vocabulary
- Tone
These could be taped for group analysis and feedback.
When I was about thirteen years old, and had succeeded in learning to read, every increase of knowledge, especially respecting the FREE STATES, added something to the almost intolerable burden of the thought - I AM A SLAVE FOR LIFE. To my bondage I saw no end. It was a terrible reality, and I shall never be able to tell how sadly that thought chafed my young spirit. Fortunately, or unfortunately, about this time in my life, I had made enough money to buy what was then a very popular school book, viz: the Columbian Orator. I bought this addition to my library, of Mr. Knight, on Thames street, Fell's Point, Baltimore, and paid him fifty cents for it. I was first led to buy this book, by hearing some little boys say they were going to learn some little pieces out of it for the Exhibition. This volume was, indeed, a rich treasure, and every opportunity afforded me, for a time, was spent in diligently perusing it. Among much other interesting matter, that which I had perused and reperused with unflagging satisfaction, was a short dialogue between a master and his slave. The slave is represented as having been recaptured, in a second attempt to run away; and the master opens the dialogue with an upbraiding speech, charging the slave with ingratitude, and demanding to know what he has to say in his own defense. Thus upbraided, and thus called upon to reply, the slave rejoins, that he knows how little anything that he can say will avail, seeing that he is completely in the hands of his owner; and with noble resolution, calmly says, "I submit to my fate." Touched by the slave's answer, the master insists upon his further speaking, and recapitulates the many acts of kindness which he has performed toward the slave, and tells him he is permitted to speak for himself. Thus invited to the debate, the quondam slave made a spirited defense of himself, and thereafter the whole argument, for and against slavery, was brought out. The master was vanquished at every turn in the argument; and seeing himself to be thus vanquished, he generously and meekly emancipates the slave, with his best wishes for his prosperity. It is scarcely neccessary{sic} to say, that a dialogue, with such an origin, and such an ending - read when the fact of my being a slave was a constant burden of grief - powerfully affected me; and I could not help feeling that the day might come, when the well- directed answers made by the slave to the master, in this instance, would find their counterpart in myself. |
Ask:
- How did the Columbian Orator inspire Frederick Douglass?
- What do you think Frederick Douglass, a slave, will seek?
- How did the reading help Frederick Douglass change his mindset and hopes for the future?
- How may a slave holder feel about this book? Why may a slave holder and Frederick Douglass have different responses?
- How has our language changed in the last 150years?
Activity C: Publishing a Book
Design the cover of The Columbian Orator and write the forward in three voices: Frederick Douglass voice, one of his admirers during his life, and a contemporary publisher/editor. The images and language should reflect the time period. Develop a publication schedule, costs, marketing strategy and sales pitch for the historic period and today.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to identify various components of newly formed African American communities.
- Students will be able to compare these African American communities with their own community.
Objects Background:
This case study will focus on a temporary community in Virginia and various visual sources associated with this developing African American community after the Civil War and through the end of the 19th century. Students will use two illustrations of freedmen villages. These, not all called by this name, were extensions of temporary camps or places where freedmen had gathered during the war. They were not in general designed and built as a housing choice by freedmen, although their structure physically and socially reflects actual efforts by freedmen themselves to build and maintain communities during and after the war. They would not be places advertised as a new housing choice. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands had as its original mandate to supply 40 acres and a mule to each freedman, for an independent living, but that was not achieved. Instead the Bureau tried to negotiate a new relationship between land owners and freedmen over wages and other conditions, as well as deal with the multiple communities of freedmen already in existence after the war with schools, medical care, etc. The Virginia Freedmen’s Village was a more developed camp, which the government had to work until 1900 to close. The map and photograph of the Freedmen’s Village in Arlington, which started as a camp for former slaves, shows the temporary home for many African Americans after 1863 up to 1900. Residents received federal assistance in the form of education and training. The map and sketch demonstrate the economic and social elements of this African American community. Following emancipation African Americans had legal mobility that had been denied during slavery. Some chose to move to urban areas and others became sharecroppers. This village, occupied by African Americans during the war, represented a choice in the years during and after the war.
Activity A: What Defines a Community?
Brainstorm attributes that make up a community. The teacher may need to ask probing questions like:
- What institutions exist within a community?
- What buildings exist within a community?
- What types of neighborhoods or districts exists within a community?
Distribute local maps of your community. Examine the map to identify the attribute the class listed as important to defining a community. Identify components that the class may have missed. Discuss:
- What parts of your town do you think other towns share in common?
- What parts of your town do you think are unique?
- Which components of your town make it a community?
- Which components of your town are less important?
Activity B: A New African American Community
Divide the class into two groups. Provide each group with one of the sources below as well as “How to Read an Object” chart.
- Freedmen’s Village Map
- Harper's Weekly Sketch of Freedmen’s Village
As they analyze the source, the group will consider:
- What can they identify on the map or in the picture?
- What parts of a community are identifiable?
Each group will assess the map or photograph and infer what historians can learn about the Freedmen’s village at Arlington. Each group will present their findings to the class in order to complete the following chart:
Components of the Community
Based on evidence contained in the historic documents |
Components of the Community
Based on INFERENCES made on viewing the historical documents |
|
|
Ask the class:
- Based on the sketch and village map, what components of a community were incorporated by African Americans?
- What can we infer were present in this African American community based on the objects?
- How was this newly formed African American community similar to your local community?
- How was this newly formed African American community different from your local community?
- Why did African Americans want to form their own communities?
- Why do you think this community only lasted a short time?
- What advantages or disadvantages did this community have for their residents?
Activity C: Promotional Flyer
While these temporary villages and camps were not promoted during the time period, students design a flyer to in the voice of recently emancipated enslaved person to promote the Freedmen’s Village at Arlington. The flyer will contain the following:
- Contains persuasive language
- Describes the Freedmen’s Village
- Addresses the advantages of living in a Freedmen’s village
- Notifies African Americans that the village is temporary
Objectives:
Students will be able to compare and contrast the methods used by the Tuskegee Institute and the Mobile School to educate African American in the South from1876 -1930. Students will be able to create brochures promoting the educational opportunities available at the Tuskegee Institute and at the Tuskegee mobile school.
Objects Background:
Activity A: Traditional School versus Tutor
Ask students to brainstorm a list of different types of schools. For example: magnet, public, boarding, technology and home schools. Ask:
- How are these schools similar?
- What makes some of these schools unique?
- Why do some students elect to go to certain types of schools?
Ask:
- What career do you want to pursue?
- What classes or skills may help you pursue that career goal?
Activity B: Tuskegee Institute versus The Movable School
Divide the class into t groups. Supply each group with a resource sheet for the Tuskegee Institute titled “Mobile School Resource Sheet” or a resource sheet for the mobile school titled “Mobile School Resource Sheet”. The resource sheets contain background information as well as the following visual resources:
Tuskegee Institute Source Sheet |
Movable School Source Sheet |
Horticultural Students Working in Seed Beds
Library at Tuskegee Institute
Tuskegee Institute Print Shop
Classroom of Students |
Agricultural Bulletins
Agents and Rural Nurses with the Mobile School
Jesup Wagon
Jesup Wagon |
Note: Teacher may edit the resource sheets to reduce the number of sources or content based on the academic ability of their students.
Each group will answer the following questions as it relates to their specific type of school:
- What is the goal of the school?
- What do students learn at the school?
- What are the advantages for freedmen in attending this school?
- What are the disadvantages for freedmen in attending this school?
- How did the school make students and the school itself self-reliant?
Students will partner up with a student from another group and share information. Together, the students will complete a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two types of schools. Debrief as a class.
Display one of the scenarios from the list below and allow the partners to evaluate which educational method (Tuskegee Institute or Movable School) would best suit that person. Allow 2-3 minutes and then display the next scenario. Possible scenarios:
- A literate African American born free to a hard working dock worker and successful seamstress.
- An 18 year old former slave who has only worked on large plantations.
- A former house slave who had been taught how to read and write by his master’s wife.
- An illiterate African American tenant farmer who is indebted to a landowner.
After completing each of the scenarios, debrief by asking:
- What is the goal of each institution? How are the goals similar and different?
- What classes or subjects can be learned at each institution? How is the subject matter similar and different?
- Review each scenario as a class and discuss the conclusion drawn by the partners.
- What type of student preferred each institution? Explain.
- How is the Tuskegee Institute and Mobile School similar to our schools?
Activity C: Educational Brochure
Each student develops a brochure for Tuskegee Institute or the mobile school. The brochure can be completed using a publishing program in the computer lab or by using paper and markers. The brochure will contain the following information on the six panels:
- Title and cover images: Students will select a picture and create a clear title for the brochure.
- Letter from the Founder: Written in letter format, the students will state the purpose of the school.
- Specialty: Students will describe the main coursework studied at this school.
- Other Courses: Students will list and describe the other classes available to students.
- Student Comments: Students will make up hypothetical comments based on Activity B.
- Collage: Student will make a collage page of at least four images related to the school.
Objective:
Students will determine who inspired Frederick Douglass by identifying and analyzing objects and artwork in his home.
Background:
This lesson will use objects owned by Mr. Douglass that are located in the Frederick Douglass home.
East Parlor:
- Abraham Lincoln Lithograph,1869: Frederick Douglass met with Lincoln three times at the White House.
- Scenic tile of John Greenleaf Whittier's birthplace in Massachusetts: Whittier was a poet and abolitionist.
- Bust of Diana: Diana was the Roman Goddess known as the protector of slaves.
West Parlor:
- 1855 Bust of Wendell Phillips: Phillips was an abolitionist, lawyer, and orator.
- Table Belonging to Senator Charles Sumner: a Massachusetts senator and abolitionist. Frederick Douglass purchased this table at the Sumner Estate sale in 1874.
Library:
- Portrait of Wendell Phillips: Phillips was another Massachusetts abolitionist and reformer. Douglas enjoyed listening to his speeches
- Portrait of Joseph Cinque: Joseph Cinque was a West African captured and transported on the slave ship, Amistad. American courts declared these West Africans free because they were illegally captured and sold into slavery.
- Armchair 1857: This chair was made for the House of Representative and the chair contains the coat-of-arms of the Washington family. Douglass purchased it in 1873
- Portrait of Susan B. Anthony: Anthony fought for women’s equality in the 19th century in United States
Bedroom:
- Portrait of Frederick Douglass as a Youth
- Dumbbells that Mr. Douglass and his sons likely used to improve their strength.
Activity A: What Inspires You?
Ask:
- What posters do you hang on your bedroom walls? Why?
- What music do you listen to? Why?
- What objects sit on desk or dresser? Why?
- Why do these objects inspire you?
- Why are these objects important to you?
Activity B: Inspiration All Around Him
Remind the students that Frederick Douglass was a former escaped slave who eventually earned the respect of many of his contemporaries such as President Lincoln. Ask:
- What do you think Frederick Douglass kept in his home to inspire him?
- What objects do you think Frederick Douglass hung on his walls?
- What objects do you think Frederick Douglass displayed throughout his home?
On the walls of the classroom, display a copy of the items and their captions located in the list below. The teacher will group the objects on the walls based on the room in which the items can be found in the Frederick Douglass home in order to set up the gallery walk.
East Parlor |
Library |
Bedroom |
West Parlor |
- Lithograph of Abraham Lincoln
- Bust of Diana
- John Greenleaf Whittier's Home Tile
|
- Portrait of Joseph Cinque
- Portrait of Wendell Williams
- House of Representative’s Chair
- Susan B. Anthony Portrait
|
- Young Portrait of Himself
- Dumbbells
|
- Senator Charles Sumner’s Table
- Bust of Wendell Phillips
|
Students rotate around the classroom and list the items that Frederick Douglas displayed. Once the students have created a list, each student will rank the items from most to least important on inspiring Douglass and be prepared to argue his/her rationale. Debate:
- What object in his home do you think inspired Douglass the most?
- What room do you think had the most inspiration items?
Activity C: A Tour of the Douglas Home
Using a floor plan of the Douglas Home, students will design and write a page of interpretive text for a tour of the Frederick Douglass Home. The tour will focus on objects that inspired Frederick Douglass. The students will:
- Determine the route in which the visitors will view the East Parlor, West Parlor, Library and Bedroom
- Write a one page script for each room and point out the most important object for each room in the house
- Present the interpretative tour to the class.
See the Douglass Home floor plan at: http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/douglass/houseTour.html
Objectives:
Students demonstrate their knowledge of the transition from slavery to freedmen by developing a museum exhibit.
Students use primary sources, including historic objects and documents to exemplify the transition process.
Activity A: How Our Possessions Define Us
As a class, brainstorm objects associated with being a student. Have class to select five objects that are most relevant to being a student. Students debate and discuss the significance of certain objects and the insignificance of others
Activity B: Your Museum Exhibit
1. Students will develop an exhibit using objects identified in this lesson unit . The exhibit is organized into three phases: a slave in bondage, seeking emancipation, and freedom. For each phase, students will:
- Identify the role and state of African Americans
- Select three objects that embody the scope of the African American experience
The exhibit should focus on the choices slaves made to ensure that they did not become victims and how they maintained their own identity. This exhibit will require students to examine the Antebellum and post Civil War periods through historic objects, documents and photographs from each era. Briefly discuss the topic to ensure that all students understand the eras within the exhibit.
2. Organize class into groups of 3-4 students. Each group will create an exhibit of the experiences of African Americans in three phases noted above using the objects and sources used throughout this unit plan.
3. Groups write a docent script for a tour of the exhibit that discusses the different stages and selected objects. Each group will present their illustrated tour to the class.
4. Encourage creativity by awarding extra points for any additonal research, object captions, explanatory exhibit copy, television, radio or print advertisements promoting the new exhibit, or items designed for sale in the museum shop.
|