Tasks

We all have within us the power to remain not captives but free; for no one can take away from us who we are. As Julius Lester expressed in his book To Be A Slave.

“There are two ways in which a man can be enslaved. One is through force. He can be penned behind fences, guarded constantly, punished severely for breaking the slightest rule, and meant to live in constant fear. The second is to teach him to think that his own best interests will be served by doing what his master wishes him to do. He can be taught that he is inferior and that only through slavery will he eventually rise to the ‘level’ of his master.” 
(Julius Lester, To Be A Slave )

Tasks:

Through the series of tasks that will follow, you will be able to examine primary sources and other related materials that will enable you to formulate an opinion concerning the validity of the above statement.  

Music and art crafts became an integral part of the culture and the communication among the slaves. Throughout this WebQuest you will grow to understand how music and crafts became the voice of the slave. The music and art tasks will be woven throughout this WebQuest. 

The slave has many means of resisting the dehumanizing effects of slavery. Religion became one of them...Through religious songs they made up from biblical stories, they expressed their real feelings about slavery. (Lester, To Be A Slave)

Task #1a:      The Journey(Map of the Slave Trade)

  “The sound rings in my ears. His voice was so loud---so final. Where am I going? What is going to happen to me? Will I ever see my family again? No, it can’t be….And so the story goes. That was a long time ago--those days of slave ships, slave auctions, and separations. How did it all begin?

Slave Narrative #1: "The Slave Ship": An Autobiographical Narrative of Olaudah Equiano

Read the above narrative account of the life of Olaudah Equiano. Based on what you have read, answer these questions.

Slave Narrative #2: "A Slave Ship in the South Atlantic" by Robert Walsh

Read the narrative account "A Slave Ship in the South Atlantic" by Robert Walsh. Based on what you have read, complete this task.

Slave Narrative #3: "A Slaver Describes the Atlantic Slave Trade"

Read the slave narrative and then based on what you have read, answer these questions.

Task #1b:  (Novel) Slave Dancer by Paula Fox 

After listening to the story, complete this task.

Task # 2: "Sold To The Highest Bidder."
“The sound rings in my ears. His voice was so loud---so final. Where am I going? What is going to happen to me? Will I ever see my family again? No, it can’t be..."

Read  The Narrative of Henry Watson and his description of a slave upon the auction block as background information.

"To be a slave. To be owned by another person, as a car, a house, or a table is owned, as a piece of property that could be sold."( Julius Lester, To Be A Slave)

Read this description of a slave auction block from the book To Be A Slave.

Task #3: The Plantation

Using books in print available from our Media Center and the following readings, you will be able to develop a more accurate picture of life as it was experienced by the slave on a Southern plantation. This will also help you develop your art tasks. 

Read these questions and answer them in essay form.

Task #4: The Economics of Slavery

• Did slavery create the way for the developing industrialized North?

• Was there a relationship between the growth of the black population in the South and the increase in Southern production?

• Would the South have been able to develop economically without the African slave?

Using the following, answer the above questions in essay form and place them
in your binder.

Task #5: Sectionalism

You are to read this historical background, Answer the following questions, based on your reading of the document and your knowledge of history.  It would also be helpful to read Chapters 14, 15, and 16 in your Social Studies text. Place your essay responses in your binder. 

• Describe what was going on at this time. 

• Why was the nation becoming sectionalized?

• There was an economic division between the agrarian South and the growing industrialized North.
  How did this affect the growing sectional interests? 

Task #6: The Dred Scott Decision

The Abolitionist Movement was growing in the United States in the 1850's. It had supporters in both the North and the South. Growing economic problems facing both the North and the South coupled with the admission of new states into the Union forced many people to take sides on the issue of slavery. To many, slavery was an economic way of life. To others, slavery was a moral evil. One of the strongest cases for argument over this question, came with the Supreme Court decision reached by Chief Justice Taney in what became known as The Dred Scott Decision

You will be looking at the case Dred Scott v. John Sanford. You will be reenacting the culminating decision reached  by Chief Justice Taney and explore the constitutional principles by which he reached his decision.
(Scott's Arguments)                                    (Sanford's Arguments)
Mock Trial Proceedings

Mrs. Diana Langone, a para-legal and social studies teacher, will present a lecture on legal terminology and the procedural steps leading to the Supreme Court decision. As a class you will take notes and use this information in reenacting the decision. You will also use excerpts from the actual decision, as well as information gathered from your text book and related library media resources. 

After listening to the lecture and doing the reenactments, you will be responsible for completing the following activities.

Task #7: Abolitionist Movement

 Read the Historical Background.

The following tasks are based on the accompanying documents, the historical background of the abolition movement, and your own research of information found in the print resources in our Media Center.

Document 7a      Document 7b  
Questions to be answered and placed in your binder  

Task #8 - Resistance to Slavery: The Underground Railroad
  
The slave has many means of resisting the dehumanizing effects of slavery. Religion became one of them...Through religious songs they made up from biblical stories they expressed their real feelings about slavery. (Lester, To Be A Slave).
Through the music tasks, you will learn the meaning of the songs.

Harriet Tubman, for example, used songs to instruct the passengers on the Underground Railroad...she instructed her "passengers" to hide in the woods during the day while she went to the home of a friend of the Underground Railway...to buy needed provisions. She could not return to her chargers until nightfall... A song that Tubman would sing as an all-clear sign was one she composed herself. You can read about it in Tobin's Hidden in Plain View on pages 146-147. "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" was Harriet Tubman's favorite song.

Task #8a: 

Using information gathered from your readings of To Be A Slave, Under the Quilt of Darkness, Hidden in Plain View, and other library books in print, create a PowerPoint presentation that will reflect the path of a runaway slave:

Running, Waiting, Watching, Hiding, Traveling, Singing

Task #8b: 

In the book Hidden in Plain View, Ozella McDaniel Williams explained the mystery of the quilt:

"The MONKEY WRENCH turns the WAGON WHEEL toward Canada on the BEAR'S PAW trail to the CROSSROADS. Once they go to the crossroads, they dug a LOG CABIN on the ground. SHOOFLY told them to dress  up in cotton and satin BOWTIES and go the cathedral church, get married and exchange DOUBLE WEDDING RINGS. FLYING GEESE stay on the DRUNKARD'S PATH and follow the STARS."

In an essay, explain how these encoded quilts reflected the slave resistance and aided the runaway.

Task #9:

From early colonial days to the formation of the U.S. Constitution, slavery and all it entailed affected the lives of all Americans. Through the course of time, the question of the morality and the importance of slavery as an economic institution created moral and political problems for the citizens of both the North and the South. Slavery by its very term denies the individual the social and human justice that he is entitled to because he is a person.

In a well organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs and a conclusion, using evidence from the primary sources documents and your responses to them, complete the following tasks:

•     Identify and discuss two problems that created a sectional difference between the North and the South.

•     Discuss how the decisions reached in Dred Scott v. Sanford affected the growing abolitionist movement of the late 1850's. How did this change the "Face of Slavery?"