Text Set 4-Slavery

1. Scholastic- The Underground Railroad, Escape from Slavery.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/plantation.htm.
On this site here are five different areas that the site covers. The areas are Beginning Journey, On the 


Plantation, Escape, Reaching Safety, and Reaching Freedom. Each one of these sections when clicked on follows the story of Walter who is a slave in Virginia. When each section is selected, Walter reads his story out loud to the students. There are pictures and important facts that can be clicked on to give more information. There are sounds and pictures and in each section it tells the story of how Walter escaped into slavery. It tells how he hid during the day, how he received help, how he knew about safe houses, and what it was like for him to receive slavery. While there is no evidence that the story is true, it does provide a real life example for students.

Age: Grade 3 and Up

2.  East Tennessee PBS (2010). Slavery and the Making of America.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/teachers/virtual.html.

The Students can create their own virtual museums exhibits for personal and classroom use by using this site’s downloadable PowerPoint template. Students and teachers can use the lesson plan What We Leave Behind for tips on how to use the images already in the Virtual Museum, find material from local museums and communities, and add their own content creations. Students create a virtual museum that can be use for presentations or study guides that will provide important events and information related to slavery.

Age: Grade 3 and Up

3. University of Virginia (2008). American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology

http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7EHYPER/wpa/wpahome.html.

This is a great representation of the real life stories from slaves. There is a combination of slave narratives from actual slaves. Students can read the narratives or a teacher can read them aloud. It is probably a good idea to read them first because some of the can be graphic in details. The examples provided give students a first hand look at the extreme conditions that slaves experience while in America. It helps students realize the severity of the issue.

Age: Grade 3 and Up

4.EdSITEment (2009). Families in Bondage.

            http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/families-bondage.

This two-part lesson plan draws on letters written by African Americans in slavery and by free blacks to loved ones still in bondage, singling out a few among the many slave experiences to offer students a glimpse into slavery and its effects on African American family life. In Part I, students examine the letters of Hannah Valentine, an enslaved woman who lived on a Virginia plantation, drawing information from them to diagram her own family circle and the network of relationships to white society that defined her world. In part two, students read letters from a fugitive slave to his wife who is still in slavery. 

 

Age: Grade 4 and Up

5. National Underground Railroad Freedom Center 

http://www.freedomcenter.org/underground-railroad/

During the 1800s, estimates suggest that more than 100,000 enslaved people sought freedom through the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad is the symbolic term given to the routes enslaved Black Americans took to gain their freedom as they traveled, often as far as Canada and Mexico. Free Blacks, Whites, Native Americans and other slaves acted as conductors by aiding fugitive slaves to their freedom. This 19th century freedom movement challenged the way Americans viewed slavery and freedom. This site answers questions and provides details that students would not learn through the textbook. 

           Age: Grade 4 and Up

6.BrainPop on slavery 

http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/slavery/preview.weml

This BrainPop is a great introduction to the issue of slavery. Tim and Moby will help you understand the terrible institution of slavery from its beginnings in ancient history up through the slavery of Africans in the United States. You’ll learn about when the U.S. slave trade started and why some colonies came to rely on slave labor. Find out how the slave trade worked, what happened once slave ships landed in America and the extent of suffering that slaves had to endure.

Age: Grade 3 and Up

7. BrainPop on the Underground Railroad.

http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/undergroundrailroad/preview.weml

During the years prior to the Civil War, tens of thousands of African-American slaves won their freedom by heading north along the Underground Railroad. In this BrainPop movie, Tim and Moby will tell you all about the treacherous journey they took. You’ll learn the origin of the term Underground Railroad, and find out why people called abolitionists risked jail time to help slaves escape. You’ll learn about Harriet Tubman, the most famous conductor in the history of the railroad, and how something called the Fugitive Slave Law inflamed public opinion against slavery.

Age: Grade 3 and Up

8.Nick News - The Legacy of Slavery.

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/legacy-slavery-clip.html

This 25 minute video covers all ends of slavery in the United States. It talks about important words such as the triangular trade route, conductors, safe house, Underground Railroad, and the Civil War. It shows pictures and paintings that have been created to depict the realism of slavery. Students will get a brief and informative description of the reality that slaves lived them.

Age: Grade 2 and Up

9. History Channel - Slavery and Civil War’s Greatest Myths.

http://www.history.com/topics/slavery/videos#civil-wars-greatest-myth

Slavery and its legacy have shaped American history, from the Civil War to Reconstruction in the 1860s and 1870s to the struggle over civil rights a century later. This video covers when slavery begin to what slavery looks like today. It covers the question of whether or not slavery still exists today. Students will get a descriptive example of important events that shaped slavery. The myths of the Civil War are covered from actual battles that defined slavery and whether or not slaves could actually fight in the Civil War.

Age: Grade 4 and Up

10. History Channel - Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad 

http://www.history.com/topics/slavery/videos#harriet-tubman-and-the-underground-railroad.

This video from the History Channel covers the importance of Harriet Tubman and the impact she had on the Underground Railroad. She led over 300 slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad. It covers how she escaped to slavery and how she led family, friends, and strangers to freedom. It covers specific strategies and secret communication strategies that were used in order to remain in safety. There are specific examples from actual escaped slaves and the journey they took to escape to freedom. 

Age: Grade 4 and Up

11. Hamilton, V. Many thousands gone: African Americans from slavery to freedom.

This book traces the history of slavery in America. It tells the actual voices and stories of those who lived it. The illustrations in the book are all black-and-white. It portrays the stories’ power and makes the book a strong book to use in a classroom. There is some graphic content in the book, but the material is suitable for 4^th grade. Students read real life examples of the struggle that slaves faced on a daily basis. The combination of the reality and illustrations make this book very powerful.

Age: Grade 3 and Up

12. Miller, W. Frederick Douglass: the last days of slavery.

This is a book based on the life of Frederick Douglass. It is the beginning of Douglass's slave narrative. Reading this together with students gives the teacher an opportunity to bring up the sensitive subject of slavery and the language associated with it. It is a true story based on real events that Douglass experienced. It would be helpful to show how a slave was able to overcome slavery and become successful in life.

Age: Grade 4 and Up

13. Johnson, P. & Kamma, A. If you lived when there was slavery in america 

 

It is sometimes hard to imagine that a person in America could be owned by another person. But from the time the colonies were settled in the 1600s until the end of the Civil War in 1865, millions of black people were bought and sold like goods. The book answers a variety of different questions that students may have concerning slavery. Where did the slaves come from? Where did they live when they were brought to this country? What kind of work did they do? With compassion and respect for the enslaved, this book answers questions children might have about this era in American history.

Age: Grade 4 and Up

14. Turner, A. Nettie's Trip South

A big difference for this book is that it is a picture book, but the content is geared towards intermediate grades. In a letter to her friend, Nettie remembers her trip to the pre-Civil War South. The main idea that she remembers in her letters is the slave auction where people were bought and sold like sacks of flour. Nettie can't forget these images, and she can't help but wonder what life would be like if she were a slave.  A bonus of this book is that it is written from a child's perspective. Many of the readers' observations may be similar to the characters' observations and the readers connect with the characters and with the story.

Age: Grade 3 and Up

15. Nordan, R. The Secret Road.

This book is another book that is told on the opposite side of slavery. Laura is a young girl who discovers her Quaker aunt and uncle's home is a stop on the Underground Railroad. Along her journey she charts a dangerous plan to accompany a pregnant slave to her husband and freedom. This book is would be useful in the classroom because it is told from a child’s perspective and covers the Underground Railroad. It shows how not all white people were in support of slavery and there was help for the slaves.

Age: Grade 4 and Up