INTRODUCTION

When we started this course, the intention was to explore the “new approaches to slavery.”  Little did we know that face-to-face meetings would be replaced with digital meetings.  A global pandemic would require stay-at-home orders, quarantining and “quaran-teaching.”  Ten weeks in, the world would be introduced to Ahmaud Aubrey, Christian Cooper, Breyonna Taylor and George Floyd.  All of these African-Americans would find themselves as victims of systemic racism.  These names are added to the already long list of names of people whose lives were impacted because their constitutional rights were compromised, in most cases, leading to an untimely death.  These deaths would spark a movement amidst a global pandemic.  Peaceful protests evolved into nights of looting, in our front yards!  Now with stores boarded up and closed, the neighborhood looks like a ghost town with aimless visitors driving by.  Now what?  Where are citizens supposed to shop? What’s next for our economy?  The community looks more like a displaced scene from the 1960s.  It has been more than 50 years since the riots of 1967.   It has been more than 400 years since the first Africans were brought to North America, which eventually became the United States, “land of the free and home of the brave.” In 1858, Lincoln warned that the nation had become a “house divided.” He referred to the issue of slavery in North America and yet today, over 150 years after slavery ended, we find ourselves in the same predicament.  We are divided in this country over racial injustice, a problem that can be traced back to the same argument – slavery.

This course has led to poignant conversations that have left each of us asking more questions about why it is important to teach and learn about the institution of slavery. Now that COVID-19 has settled into the fabric of our existence, we are more socially distant and astutely aware of washing our hands, but teaching the concept of slavery has taken on a renewed meaning.  Using unconventional textbooks like Ibram X. Kendi’s, Stamped from the Beginning and the companion reader for younger readers co-authored by Jason Reynolds, Stamped, this unit will explore the historical impact slavery has had on evoking trauma in “Black and Brown” people.  Typically, I do not refer to people by their color but rather by their origin, but events like the aforementioned are constant reminders that African-Americans in this country are often unaware of their native land.  Robin J. DiAngelo, in White Fragility, says, “The United States was founded on the principle that all people are created equal. Yet the nation began with the attempted genocide of Indigenous people and the theft of their land.  American wealth was built on the labor of kidnapped and enslaved Africans and their descendants.” These two principles, genocide and stolen labor, would be the driving force of a system that would find Black and Brown people at the mercy of their White counterparts.  The United States is where many of us were born, but “this America” has a longstanding history of NOT welcoming people who, while in their native land, were free people of color.  This America and its founding fathers, established a country built on racism and systemic oppression.  Slavery was just the beginning.  The New York Times published a series of articles about slavery and named them, The 1619 Project, noting that “American history cannot be told truthfully without a clear vision of how inhuman and immoral the treatment of black Americans has been. By acknowledging this shameful history, by trying hard to understand its powerful influence on the present, perhaps we can prepare ourselves for a more just future. That is the hope of this project.”  The key words here: inhuman, immoral and shameful history.  Slavery and racism have been and will always be the blemish that causes African Americans and other people who are strong enough to acknowledge this history, to shake their heads and seek opportunities that are humane, moral and worthy of our pride.

This unit provides students with a closer look into the founding fathers’ hypocrisy as they gave birth to a nation that perpetuated and rewarded slavery and racism.  In 2020, anti-racism is re-emerging with a new agenda.  This agenda is to not just have conversation about systemic racism but to end it.  Ending racism is a mammoth task that must begin with educating students about the history of slavery in America.  Welcome to America: Enslaved Diasporic and Indigenous People is just an initial step in teaching the history of slavery in the Atlantic basin, North America and the United States.  Students will explore the economic greed and exploitation of enslaved people and its connections to colonialism.  Using slave narratives and other works written by or about former slaves, students will learn about the nation’s internal conflict around slavery that produced trauma that would leave its damaging mark on the souls of diasporic and indigenous peoples alike.

There are five themes of geography that are a part of the state’s curriculum: movement, region, human-environment interaction, location and place.  Movement will explore the translocation of humans, goods and ideas.  From the study of movement, students will examine the patterns of emigration, forced immigration and distribution of human bodies and products from continent to continent then state to state and city to city. This human movement allowed inhabitants to occupy all the world’s continents and islands. While humans were being traded, so were ideas.  Ideas allowed us to build a civilization that would question how and why.  These questions would help advance the thinking of its citizens while challenging the system to make changes to the system.  Region helps to identify where transactions occurred.  At a middle school level, students are expected to know the seven continents, the five oceans, the fifty states and its territories.  Region helps students identify places based upon its physical, socioeconomical and cultural traits.  Human-Environment Interaction looks at how humans depend on nature to live, how we adapt to live in a particular place and how the environment is modified to accommodate human need. This theme is where students will begin to explore the dynamics of slavery on the human mind, body and soul.  It will also look at how humans changed the environment.  For example, through the production of certain crops, the soil was compromised and required rest.  Students can explore many possibilities through this track of study.  Location addresses the absolute and relative locations where events occurred.  Knowledge of absolute and relative locations will help students identify with the physical address, whether the students have a longitudinal, latitudinal or postal address, this will refresh student memory and reinforce prerequisite learning from earlier grades.   Lastly, Place addresses the physical features and human-cultural characteristics that examine the patterns of human habitation and the cultural descriptions of the places touched by the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

This unit will explore each theme integrated with the reading of government documents and slave narratives.  The lessons will be differentiated by utilizing audio books, interactive websites that use video and audio versions of historical documents and slave narratives and all the text will be paired with modified text and children’s books.  This method allows the teacher to meet the needs of diverse learners while simultaneously teaching all students. Three approaches will be taken for this unit that will look at the impact the slave trade had on the economy, the people themselves, the government documents that granted freedoms and liberties to all American citizens and the resistance movements that occurred as a result of these documents.

Lesson 1 will look at the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the economic system impacted by it in the United States and geographical concepts in effected by the Transatlantic Slave Trade.  The movement of enslaved people and the crops that they were forced to produce, made room for more plantations in the United States.  By 1800, one out of every six people in the United States were enslaved. In 1790, the total population in the United States was 3,929, 214.  Ten years later, that number escalated to 5,308,483.  The population increase was largely in part to the number of Africans who were brought to this country.

Lesson 2 will give students first-hand accounts of indigenous and enslaved people.  This lesson will use the personal narratives of the indigenous people and the African slave.  Students will read excerpts from a slave narrative.  For struggling readers, students will listen and follow along with the written text.  As students read the text, they will record key ideas that analyze the historical characteristics of the location, place, region, customs and times.  Students will use graphic organizers to record their thoughts.  Typically, as students read or listen, they will use a strategy called, “Sketch to Stretch” where visual images are drawn in their notebooks with key words and phrases.  This allows students to make connections to what has been read. Student notebooks will then be used to cross-reference as students are developing their thoughts and projects.

During a lecture of this course, New Approaches to Slavery, Professor Brown said, “Abolition is the first campaign for human rights.” Lesson 3 is the social justice component of this unit.  This lesson will look at the founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation, The Emancipation Proclamation and the US Constitution.  Jason Reynolds says, “The degree to which a young person is able to learn about race via the school curriculum, will inform his or her understandings of race, both its significance and impact on the present.”  This lesson will not just leave the students at the impact of these racially charged documents, but it will look at resistance movements, past, present and proposed future.

Content Background

In the documentary, Liberty & Slavery: Paradox of Founding Fathers (2016) it was noted that across five centuries, 12.5 million slaves traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, of whom 2 million enslaved people died.  The Transatlantic Slave Trade moved 4 Africans to every 1 European person across the ocean.  Across the centuries, 45% of African captives went to Brazil, 40% to the Caribbean, 10% to the Spanish Americas and 3% to North America.  Twenty enslaved Africans landed in Jamestown in 1619.  There is a fundamental paradox between liberty and slavery.  Many of the America’s founding fathers lived with the conflict of liberty and slavery. In fact, during our last face-to-face lecture, I learned that 41 out of 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 26 out of 55 signers of the Constitution and 5 of 7 US presidents owned slaves.  This alarming detail makes clear the wealth and influence of the founding fathers.

As they escaped religious persecution and sought new opportunities in the new world, many of them perpetuated slavery in the newly formed colonies. Indentured servitude was customary at the time, creating a contract that would be executed in two parts. For example, after the period of three to seven years was satisfied, the indentured servant, would produce their portion of the contract and receive crops or goods, thus ending the servitude.  Indentured status differed greatly from enslavement.  There was a problem with chattel slavery for many of the Africans because there was “no end” to the enslavement. At least with indentured servitude, there was an end.  The numbers of enslaved Africans would grow to over 4 million slaves in the United States by 1860.

Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin all participated in the hateful business of slavery.  Slave labor drove the economy of the Atlantic world, including the British colonies and the early United States. The main crops, during the early years of slavery, were in Virginia (tobacco), in the Caribbean (sugar), North Carolina, (tobacco and cotton) and South Carolina (rice and later cotton).  By the early nineteenth century, cotton had taken hold of the economies of the southern states. Gerald Horne, in the documentary, Long Shadow (2017), speaks of how the banking system and economy were developed as a result of the enslavement of Africans.  He said, “The rise of capitalism in America was on the backs of enslaved people.”  Poor Blacks and Whites worked alongside each other as indentured servants.  Dispossession of land occurred among the Indigenous people and were either massacred or driven off their land.   Paul Kivel (2017) in this same documentary, speaks about slavery as a “benevolent process” reinforcing the reason why Europeans – English, French and Spanish – were comfortable bringing non-Christian Africans into the new world.  This process eliminated indigenous people and over time, caused indentured Africans to become enslaved people. The founding fathers of this country would ultimately feel justified and condone slave ownership. This belief created a conflict for many of America’s founding fathers.

While our founding fathers were designing the government, instituting the laws that every citizen should follow, women of all ethnicities, indigenous people and African descended people were factored in as non-citizens. In an effort to end their colonial relationship from the British, the founders knew what they wanted the newly founded country to be.  The Declaration of Independence declares that “All men are created equal,” yet the indigenous people and African people were not included in the terminology “men” in this founding document.  Ultimately, the issues that the thirteen colonies faced would lead to fighting in the American Revolution to ensure that the liberties that were afforded them, would not be threatened or revoked. The Articles of Confederation was originally drafted to serve to establish governance for a newly found country, fighting a war. With the recent breaking away from British rule, this document had problematic language that left the country with a war debt it could not pay and ambiguity about legal relationships between national and state governments and definitions of property.

The United States Constitution was written as a replacement for the Articles of Confederation.   Its 39 signers, permitted slavery to continue without using the words, “slave” or “slavery.”  This left open the possibility of the continuation of slavery.  This lack of agency would enable racist disparities to continue, many of which we still see today nearly 245 years later.  In his book Stamped, Jason Reynolds (2020) says that racist ideas are those which can be associated with the Atlantic Slave Trade because the enslavement of the African was a practice of institutionalizing white beliefs in African inferiority.  From 1789 to 1850, 8 American presidents were slaveowners. The United States was shaped by the violence of slavery; the haves and the have-nots; the people who were on top and those who were on the bottom.

These founding documents, The Articles of Confederation, The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution represent the voices of leaders who left space for slavery and for change.  In this pivotal age of social justice, exploration of the principles of these documents leave room for consideration toward racial reconciliation.

Content Objectives

Looking at slavery in North America, beginning with what is presumed to be “the discovery of America” through the end of the Civil War, historians have revealed the blemished past and abuse of power in the United States.  Nikita Stewart, a contributor to the New York Times 1619 Project, observes that there is no national standard for teaching the history of slavery. As a result, there is “…no uniform recommendation to explain an institution that was debated in the crafting of the Constitution and that has influenced nearly every aspect of American society since.” This curriculum unit will challenge the current paradigm of understanding by exploring the systems that were developed as a result of slavery and the impact they had on the existence of black and brown people in North America.

This curriculum unit will address four content strands: Principles of governmental documents, Economic Systems, Geographical Literacy, and Historical analysis.  One way to teach about historical slavery is to explore the ideas of slavery within the context of its impact on the five themes of geography.  This is an anchor curriculum expectation however students need to learn how slavery impacted movement and economics and how that movement impacted human environment interactions.

The target grade band for this unit is middle school, grades 6 through 8.  CCA Baldi Middle School thrives in presenting materials and activities to students so that they present their voice and challenge the status quo.  The lessons presented here are intended for students who have a learning difference. This means that this unit offers alternative assignments or ways of presentation.  Each student will create at least three work products, one of which includes a timeline, an objective summary and the other task will be student choice, as a part of “The Need in Deed” service learning project where students will create either a book, a slide presentation/website or public-service announcement.   The expectation is that students know the principles of the United States Constitution, the five themes of geography and know how to read charts.  Modifications are included within this unit to allow for differentiation for struggling readers and writers.  The design of this unit is to cover one full marking period (six weeks).  Given this timeline, each lesson can be taught over two weeks which will give ample time to introduce, explore, research and synthesize the learning of the lesson.

Indigenous people will also be included within the presented concepts. As students develop competencies around analytical, critical, strategic and chronological thinking, the unit will integrate multi-media platforms that include video, podcasts and audio content. The United States has been found guilty of commodifying humans and natural resources for the sole purpose of private economic gain.  Unfortunately, many textbooks perpetuate myths surrounding topics of slavery. The perpetuation of historical inaccuracies and misinformation appears glaringly in the “mythology” of mainstream heroes and heroines of American History, including the first American president and his wife.  Through more informed practice, educators can help improve understanding around the topic of slavery. This unit will conclude with on-site visits to local venues that are considered national historical sites relevant to American slavery.

Slavery is a critical topic associated with social justice and cultural awareness.  The enslaved person is historically viewed as one who lacks identity and self-efficacy.  In the book, Racial and Ethnic Groups, Gary David’s deficit model of ethnic identity (2003, 2007) suggests that the more assimilated a person is the less ethnic they are.  “American slavery developed as a permanent, hereditary status centrally tied to race,” according to the Equal Justice Initiative (2014).  The practice of enslaving African-Americans became a systemic problem that would be perpetuated for hundreds of years.  To this day, there are beliefs that are very closely associated with this dilemma that find African-American and Indigenous people groups at the bottom of education attainment, the economy and social programs.   Joy Barnes-Johnson (2020) says, “Literacy is its own activism.” She refers to the monument “Lifting the Veil” where the elder statesman, uncovers the African slave and celebrates the slave’s ability to see clearly, while “memorializing the shroud of secrecy.” For the African slave, who could read, he would become a threat to his oppressor.  Students need to be taught about indigenous peoples who were enslaved.

Nakia Parker (2015) in a podcast produced by Teaching Tolerance, explains that slavery cannot be taught in isolation.  Slavery must be taught in conjunction with the Indian Removal of the 1800s.  Chattel slavery means that people could be bought, sold, insured and willed.  This was a common practice during the period between 1600 and 1800.  Indigenous societies were keenly aware of the economic practice of slave trading and begin to participate as a way of securing economic autonomy and combatting colonialism.   The challenge is that indigenous people would find that they too were on the bottom of the racial hierarchy.  Captivity led to enslavement, maltreatment and marginalization.

Students would be enriched by exploring the topic in an integrated manner.  Tasks will incorporate Literacy, Math, Geography, History, Writing and Technology.  This helps students maximize their learning by making connections across content areas.  Students will be able to use primary sources to support their research including video, maps, narratives, graphs and charts.  These resources will help them to develop argumentative and informative work products.  Students will then choose a format to present their content.  This will allow student voice and creativity.  For example, some may choose to write a paper while another student may want to create a short video or slide presentation.

Children’s books will be used to modify the level of difficulty of the text.  “We need diverse books,” Rudine Sims Bishop observes, noting that, “children need to see themselves reflected in the books.”  Bishop (2015) continues to say that diversity needs to go both ways. By this, she calls them mirrors and sliding glass doors.  Children get an exaggerated sense of what the world is like when they only see themselves from one point-of-view.   Adding to this idea, Grace Lin, in a TED Talk said, “A book creates a window.”  Windows let light in. Light creates a reflection.  A book can show you the world and a reflection of yourself and allows kids to see themselves from other viewpoints, creating possibilities for self-worth and empathy – a road worth following.  A window becomes a mirror at night. Light has a way of transforming a window into a mirror.  It’s important to pay attention to how you allow the light to come through the window with your natural eye because how you perceive the light one day is something slightly different at night.  The purpose of this unit is to shed light on darkness. Students will use these children’s books as parallel text to primary sources.  This allows students to access more complicated resources at their reading level.

Debbie Reese, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning History for Young People) added a dimension to the windows, mirrors and sliding doors. She added that books can be like curtains too. Mirrors – show you, you. Windows allow you to see into another person’s way of life. The sliding glass door, it’s like sitting with a writer, being present with the author and having an authentic experience with the author. Curtains – on the window – are the white people looking into our lives.  Too often, they look into the windows and misinterpret what they see. Too often, what they see, they perceive in an authoritative way and take what they see as fact. Their interpretation of what they see and their ability to turn into policy leads to exploitation.  Curtains protect what should not be seen by outsiders because too often it has been misunderstood.  This unit will indubitably include curtains.  The curtains, designed to protect how much is seen, will be created by each student.  The curtains will unfold naturally as students make relevant connections.  Whether the student perceives the literature as a mirror, window, sliding glass door or curtain, the experience is to be a type of “uncloaking,” helping the reader get a closer look, clearer perspective and developed understanding, developing their own agency.

This unit comes on the heels of unrest in the nation following COVID-19 quarantining and police brutality.  This unit will represent windows, mirrors and curtains.  As a window, this unit will provide an open space to explore the history of our blemished past.  It will be a mirror, looking into the narrative of slaves, former slaves and free people.  This mirror asks, “What do I have to know in this moment so that history is not repeated?”  Lastly, the curtains will exist until each student emerges strengthened, empowered and equipped to confront the issues behind them.

I want students to understand that slavery has produced a historical system of bondage, oppression and racism.  In light of the events of the last three months, America is in a pivotal place of change. Condoleezza Rice, in an interview with Face the Nation, said, “America has a birth defect.”  The issues of race have left a deep and abiding wound. She continued, “Europeans and Africans came to America together – Africans came in chains.”  How slavery has been taught in the past is a problem.  Educational institutions have a duty and responsibility to inform the movement with data and history that enables protests to become changes in policy, legislation and systems of power. The intention is that this unit will be paired with a service learning project that is supported by “Need in Deed.”  Students with special needs, will be engaged with high quality content as they are guided through difficult topics related to slavery in America.  Through this unit, the insights that are learned will be used to encourage the students to critically examine the conditions in our country and the historical basis from which racist ideas have been born.  Slavery is an ugly part of America’s past.  It is time to address it.

Student Objectives

1. Students will be able to use digital tools (i.e. Google Classroom, interactive whiteboards, etc.) and historical artifacts in order to apply multidisciplinary concepts, integrated within the five themes of geography and create products based on multiple sources.
2. Students will be able to write an objective summary in order to make inferences and draw conclusions
3. Students will be able to develop questions about paired passages (primary source paired with literary text) in order to analyze the historical struggle of balance represented by pre-colonial America
4. Students will gather and evaluate sources and make claims/state a position about the impact of slavery on American democracy.

Welcome to America is designed so that students can complete the activities in both a synchronous and asynchronous manner.  There will be some whole class activities, with a gradual release of tasks toward student voice ending with a service learning project.

Vocabulary

Check-In

This strategy will be used for introductory lessons that get students thinking about the issues of historical documents such as The Articles of Confederation, The Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation and US Constitution and its direct impact on slavery.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal…” This, among other key phrases from historical documents, will be visited in each check-in.  The check-ins will be facilitated through interactive “Shout-it-Out” activities using digital platforms, through individual whiteboard activities and posting group consensus surveys in the classroom.  These provide kinesthetic opportunities for students while supporting the content.

Mini-Lesson

Lessons will be presented in 15-minute segments that focuses on skills or content that are critical in understanding the current unit of study.  These lessons will serve as a whole-class teaching that gives students an opportunity to ask questions and get clarification of directions and concepts.

Student Voice & Choice

Student voice and choice is important to how students think out-loud. Students are allowed to express their thoughts as they are creating.  A strategy, “Sketch to Stretch” will be used when students are reading or listening to a story.  Students are allowed to doodle as they listen and read.  This helps students who are reluctant readers and reluctant writers to partner with others to get their own ideas down on paper. As student work is recorded, they will analyze what they say and look for objectivity and question their thinking so that it is free of opinions.

Baldi Non-Negotiables

CCA Baldi has several non-negotiables in Literacy and in Math that include (1) Turn-and-talk (2) Can state the purpose for the lesson and the instructional task (3) Have their written or higher order thinking work posted in the classroom (4) Cite textual evidence and or explain thinking or reasoning (5) Stop and jot, write or speak at least every 20 minutes (6) Think/write; pair/share (7) Actively engage in doing math (8) Take risks, make mistakes and learn from them (9) Use multiple strategies/methods to persevere through challenging tasks (10) Make connections to previous learning, future learning and/or the world and (11) Answer and/or ask “Why?” questions.  These eleven strategies drive and support student engagement.  Additionally, these strategies ensure that the teacher pauses to assess what students know and gives feedback.  These strategies are meant to guide students into their own discovery of content through a structured process that leads them to completing quality tasks.

Mentor Texts

Many of the students read more than three years below their grade assignment.  So, it is important that grade-level text be paired with passages and text that students are able to read.  Excerpts of the historical documents will be read aloud and will follow subsequent lessons that help them to analyze what is happening in the text.  Examples of which documents will be read are included here but are not limited to The Articles of Confederation, The Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation and The Preamble/The US Constitution will be paired with simplified passages that help students analyze key terms, phrases and contextual significance to the institution of slavery.

Peer and Teacher Feedback

Students will be encouraged to give feedback to each other as they are working on their projects.  This will provide students an opportunity to develop their own voices and clarify the purpose of their projects.  Protocol will be given and modelled by the teacher in order to maintain consistency throughout their project.

Big Questions

Slavery – What is slavery? What is the Triangular Trade? What impact did it have on the people? what impact did it have on the economy? what impact did it have on the culture? what other forms of bondage are considered slavery? How? What part did President Washington play in perpetuating slavery?

Indigenous People – What other peoples were impacted by slavery? Who are the Indigenous peoples living in North America during the period of discovery in the Americas? Why is Columbus Day now called Indigenous People’s Day? What is the Indian Removal Act of 1830?

Resistance Movements – What did people do to resist slavery? How do we resist slavery today? Exploring cause-effect relationships, primary sources and themed maps.

Prompts

1. Students will explore the multimedia map, “The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes.” – what did you notice?  Create a timeline, entitle it, “American Slavery.” This timeline will be an ongoing timeline where dates will be added as they are working on this project.
2. Students will explore the Timeline that is included in the textbook, Sugar Changed the World (pgs. 134 – 137) and compare it with their timeline of American slavery. What do you notice? What similarities/differences are seen?
3. Students will analyze the narratives of Indigenous and African-American slaves. Adding details to the timeline, students will examine the central ideas and pose questions and answers of historical people. What is the main idea/key principle and theme of the passage? What lesson was learned? What lesson can be learned?
4. Students will create a final project that includes the facts/details that have been learned. Examples could include multi-media (PSA) presentation, creative artistic presentation, research presentation or website.

Lesson 1

Economic Systems and Geographical Literacy

Guiding Questions

1. What is the Triangular Slave Trade?
2. How does the Slave Trade impact the five themes of geography?
3. What was the primary source of trade?

Materials

• “The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes” (Kahn & Bouie, 2015)
• Sugar Changed the World. (Aronson & Budhos, 2010)
• Slave Voyage Maps www.slavevoyages.org
• Timeline Template/Graphic Organizer
• Computer/Kindle
• Student Notebooks

Standards

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.A

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.G

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.I

Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

Standard – CC.8.5.9-10.G

Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

Objectives

• Students will be able to analyze the movements of the Triangular Slave Trade in order to describe the impact it had on the economy
• Students will be able to describe how the Triangular Slave Trade impacted the five themes of geography

Tasks

Students will examine the 5 themes of Geography: Movement, Region, Human Environment Interaction, Location and Place, within the context of The Triangular Trade.  They will respond to how one theme relates to the other.

Students will explore the Triangular Slave Trade video clip.  Using the Triangular slave trade model, students will trace enslaved people from their homelands.

“The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes”

Students will trace the movement of sugar, examining how sugar had a direct correlation on enslaved people groups.  Students will also explain how supply and demand impacted slavery.

Sugar Changed the World by Aronson & Budhos

Lesson 2

Indigenous and Enslaved People with Historical analysis

Guiding Questions

1. Who is the historical person?
2. What is the “primary problem?’’
3. When did the person live/die?
4. When did s/he make their first effort to resist enslavement?
5. What happened?
6. What was her/his impact on slavery or the removal of indigenous people?

Materials

Computer/Kindle

Student Notebooks

Graphic Organizers

“Inseparable Separations: Slavery and Indian Removal.” https://www.tolerance.org/podcasts/teaching-hard-history/american-slavery/inseparable-separations-slavery-and-indian-removal

Slave Narratives (See List Below)

Standards

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.A

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.B

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.E

Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.F

Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.H

Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.I

Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

Standard – CC.8.5.9-10.F

Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

Objectives

• Students will be able to cite textual evidence from slave narratives in order to analyze the characteristics of a hero/heroine of the American slavery
• Students will write a summary of the central ideas of the passage/text in order to explain the experiences of enslaved and indigenous people

Tasks

Students will read the narratives of enslaved and indigenous people.  They will write an objective summary of the narrative

• Ona Judge
• Olaudah Equiano
• Phyllis Wheatley
• Teedyuscung
• Joseph Cinque (Sengbe Pieh)
• Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree)
• George Moses Horton
• Chief George W. Harkins (Letter to the American People)
• Chief John Ross
• “Walking the Choctaw Road: Stories from Red People Memory” by Tim Tingle

Students will pair readings – historical and fictional – to determine the facts of America’s interaction with slavery and forced removal of Diasporic enslaved people and indigenous people. Source:  Graphic organizer “On the Historical Trail”

• Reads and responds to historical fiction
• Identifies key literary elements: setting, character, and plot
• Distinguishes between historical fact and fiction

Students will keep track of which sources they use for this project.  Source: Graphic Organizers 1-2-3 Summary, All My Sources, Sources Matrix, Inquiry Chart

• Collects information from a variety of sources
• Classifies types of information sources
• Distinguishes between primary and secondary sources
• Generates questions to guide research
• Uses multiple sources to locate answers
  to questions
• Identifies conflicting information

Lesson 3

Resistance Movements and Principles of Governmental documents

Guiding Questions

What are the central ideas written in the “Document?”

How does the central idea relate to the institution of enslavement and indigenous removal?

What inconsistencies are seen in the “Document?”

Materials

Computer/Kindle

Student Notebooks

Graphic Organizers

Documents retrieved from https://www.ushistory.org/documents

• The Articles of Confederation (excerpt)
• The Preamble/US Constitution (excerpt)
• The Declaration of Independence (excerpt)
• The Emancipation Proclamation (excerpt)

Standards

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.A

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.B

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.C

Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.E

Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.F

Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.G

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.H

Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.I

Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

Standard – CC.8.5.9-10.F

Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

Standard – CC.8.5.9-10.G

Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

Objectives

• Students will be able to explain the historical nature of slavery in order to write an objective summary, free from opinion
• Students will be able to create a written account of a hero/heroine impacted by slavery or indigenous removal in order to analyze the impact of American documents
• Students will develop a written argument based upon their analysis of the culmination of study about the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the impact that it has had on history
• Students will develop a service learning project in order to share their learnings about the enslavement of diasporic Africans and indigenous peoples

Tasks

Students will analyze the principles of governmental documents and the impact they have on how this country was built.  Students will use a reading strategy called “Close reading” of excerpts of at least two government documents in addition to The Declaration of Independence and The US Constitution.  Students will be asked to analyze and examine the founding fathers’ relationship and conflict with publishing these documents.  With this insight, students will propose ways to promote ways to address the inconsistencies of the founding documents.

Evaluation

Students will create

• An objective summary of their findings
• Public Service Announcement (PSA) or Multi-media presentation/Website
• Timelines
• Persuasive argument
• A book

Standards

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.A

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.B

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.C

Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.E

Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.F

Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.G

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.H

Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

Standard – CC.8.5.6-8.I

Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

Standard – CC.8.5.9-10.F

Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

Standard – CC.8.5.9-10.G

Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

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