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Experiencing Slavery and Imagining Freedom

Subjects

• Arts and Humanities
  Language Arts, Literature
• Social Studies
  Civics, Geography, History, U.S. History, Sociology

Grade

• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief Description

Students read a slave's account of his or her life of slavery, then write accounts of what that person's life might have been like after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Objectives

Students

• read a slave's account of his or her life as a slave.
• read the Emancipation Proclamation.
• write "first-person" accounts of what that person's life might have been like after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Keywords

African American, black, black history, diary, Emancipation Proclamation, freedom, journal, Lincoln, slave, slavery

Materials Needed

• computer with Internet access (optional)
• Slave Accounts or print versions of similar accounts
• a print or an online copy of The Emancipation Proclamation

Lesson Plan

Explain to students that they will compare a life of slavery with a life of freedom before and after the Civil War.

• Ask each student to read one of the Slave Accounts at the Spartacus Web site, either online or in a print version.
• Have students read, or read aloud to students, pertinent paragraphs in The Emancipation Proclamation. Discuss the document's meaning.
• Ask students to use print or online resources to research life immediately after the Civil War. Remind each student to concentrate on the state or region where the slave he or she was assigned lived.
• Have each student write an account of the life of that slave after he or she was freed.

Extension: Ask students to research and write editorials on the following topic: Should the descendents of slaves be financially compensated for the suffering of their ancestors?

Assessment

Evaluate students on the historical accuracy of the accounts they write.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Linda Starr

National Standards

LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.1 Reading for Perspective
NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.3 Evaluation Strategies
NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills
NL-ENG.K-12.5 Communication Strategies
NL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying Knowledge
NL-ENG.K-12.7 Evaluating Data
NL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research Skills
NL-ENG.K-12.9 Multicultural Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.11 Participating in Society
NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Civics
GRADES K - 4
NSS-C.K-4.1 What Is Government?
NSS-C.K-4.2 Values and Principles of Democracy
NSS-C.K-4.3 Principles of Democracy
NSS-C.K-4.5 Roles of the Citizen
GRADES 5 - 8
NSS-C.5-8.1 Civic Life, Politics, and Government
NSS-C.5-8.2 Foundations of the American Political System
NSS-C.5-8.3 Principles of Democracy
NSS-C.5-8.5 Roles of the Citizen
GRADES 9 - 12
NSS-C.9-12.1 Civic Life, Politics, and Government
NSS-C.9-12.3 Principles of Democracy
NSS-C.9-12.5 Roles of the Citizen

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography
GRADES K - 12
NSS-G.K-12.5 Environment and Society
NSS-G.K-12.6 Uses of Geography

SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. History
GRADES K - 4
NSS-USH.K-4.1 Living and Working Together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago
NSS-USH.K-4.3 The History of the United States: Democratic Principles and Values and the People from Many Cultures Who Contributed to Its Cultural, Economic, and Political Heritage
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-USH.5-12.5 Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

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