American history: growing up in slavery. (Lesson Plans).

OBJECTIVES

Students should understand:

* what it was like to grow up in slavery;

* how slaves were denied the rights called for in the Declaration of Independence;

* a slave's fear of being sold away from friends and family at any time.

SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS

Grades 5-8: * American history * human rights * causes and effects of slavery

TEACHING STRATEGY

Discuss with students all the freedoms and opportunities they enjoy, and probably take for granted. Ask them to picture facing a life of hard work without pay, rights, or hope for the future.

KEY TERM

Unalienable Rights: The term means rights that cannot be taken away, given up, or transferred to others. The word "inalienable" is preferred today.

THINKING SKILLS

MAKING COMPARISONS: Why was slavery at odds with the Declaration of Independence? (The Declaration called for the basic right "to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This was denied to African-American slaves.)

MAIN IDEA: What lesson did slaves try to teach their children? (How to survive!)

COMPREHENSION: What hardships did slaves endure? (Forced labor, minimal food and shelter, beatings, and the break-up of families through sales.).

EXPLORING PERCEPTIONS: In Lunsford Lane's narrative, what behavior values did the master pass to his children? (That they could order the slave children around, and while they would be educated, schooling was forbidden for slaves.)

ACTIVITY

Research and discuss the Three-Fifths Compromise regarding slaves agreed to by the Constitutional Convention.

RESOURCES

Print

* Dear Master: Letters of a Slave Family (University of Georgia Press, 1990) Grades 7-12

* Franklin, John Hope, From Slavery to Freedom (Young Oxford History of African Americans, 1997) Grades 6-10.

* Greene, Meg, Slave Young, Slave Long: The American Slave Experience (Random, 1976) Grade 5-8.

Videos

* A Slave's Story: Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom Phoenix/Coronet BFA Video

2349 Chaffee Drive St. Louis, MO 63146

1-800-777-8100

Web Site

* American Slave Narratives xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/wpa/wpahome.html

RELATED ARTICLE

Select the letter of the word, name, or phrase that correctly completes each sentence.

___ 21. Before the Civil War, slave children in the United States (A) gained freedom at age 18; (B) were protected by the Bill of Rights; (C) could be sold, beaten, or killed by their owners.

___ 22. A slave reading a book, was likely to be (A) punished; (B) rewarded with time off from work; (C) hired as a teacher to help other slaves learn to read.

___ 23. Alice Alexander wrote that a cruel overseer was (A) promoted for beating a slave; (B) fired for being mean to a slave; (C) fired for allowing a slave woman to beat him.

___ 24. Slavery ended Throughout the United States in (A) 1787; (B) 1863; (C)1865.

___ 25. James Green's mother was a black slave, but his father was an American Indian who set about making him a "free boy." After that (A) James was kidnapped and auctioned; (B) James went to live on an Indian Reservation; (C) James went to work in town and bought his mother's freedom.

ANSWERS

21. C

22. A

23. C

24. C

25. A