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American Centuries > Lessons > History Lessons By Teachers > African American Experiences During the Pre-Civil War Era

African American Experiences During the Pre-Civil War Era

Details

Author
Nolan Kitfield
Topic/Subject Area
African American, Black Life
Historical Era
National Expansion and Reform, 1816–1860, Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877
Grade Level
Elementary (K–5)
Creation Date
2005
Last Revision Date
2024

Related items

About This Lesson

Summary and Objective

Students will understand that there was not a single perspective on the events leading up to the Civil War. They will read and analyze several primary documents from 1860. Students will demonstrate their understanding by responding to one of these documents in a related format.

Materials & Resources

Collection Items
Websites

Teaching Plan

  1. PRE-ACTIVITY: Students will read a variety of historical fiction and non-fiction on the topic of slavery. Suggestions: Jip, His Story by Katherine Patterson; Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder; My America series books on the underground railroad; children’s biographies or autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman or Harriet Jacobs; etc. Class discussions will focus on the life experiences of the characters. Summarize by discussing the different genres of texts (non-fiction, historical fiction, etc.). Preparation for teaching: enlarge copies of all documents for display in classroom; prepare for In-Focus digital presentation or make transparency copies of digital items for overhead projector; have chart paper available.
  2. Introduce the items listed above in “Collection Items,” identifying the dates and sources. Stress that these items are primary sources, written by someone who lived at that time. Presentation of the items should be for the whole class on the screen in classroom or computer lab.
  3. Read the articles with students and identify the facts with student input. These facts should be noted in list form on chart paper and remain available for student use during later work. Enlarged copies of the collection items could be mounted with the notes made in class for student reference.
  4. Each student will then choose one of the articles to create a response in a related format. (For example, a student could choose to respond to “Frederick Douglas Refused Passport” by writing a letter to the editor of the paper from Frederick Douglass; a student could choose to respond to “Slave Gives Talk in Northfield” by creating a transcript of the talk.) These activities should be supported by the visual poster/display created earlier (see step 3).
  5. Students will then share their responses and explain how they came to frame them in those ways. An alternative or additional option could include role playing giving the talk in Northfield, or perhaps students could portray citizens of the time in debate about slave hunting.