Circles of Community: A compare and contrast activity about the enslaved Africans of the Northeast

Details

Author
Rachel Appell
Topic/Subject Area
Slavery, Indenture; African American, Black Life
Historical Era
Colonial settlement, 1620–1762, Revolutionary America, 1763–1783
Grade Level
Elementary (K–5)
Creation Date
2019
Last Revision Date
2024

About This Lesson

Summary and Objective

There is a long-emulated myth that slavery did not exist in the Northeast. This is simply not true. Although it was not used as commonly for the plantation-type work depicted in the cultural image of a slaveholding south, many northerners of all social classes and occupations held enslaved people and indentured servants. Slavery in the north contrasted sharply with the system in the south due to the close physical proximity of the enslaved to their enslavers in the North.

Students will: