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American Centuries > Lessons > History Lessons By Teachers > Massachusetts’ Complicity in Slavery 1640 – 1865

Massachusetts’ Complicity in Slavery 1640 – 1865

Details

Author
Dawne Piers-Gamble
Topic/Subject Area
African American, Black Life; Slavery, Indenture
Historical Era
Colonial settlement, 1620–1762, Revolutionary America, 1763–1783, The New Nation, 1784–1815, National Expansion and Reform, 1816–1860, Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877
Grade Level
Middle School (6–8)
Creation Date
Last Revision Date
2024

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About This Lesson

Summary and Objective

Students will understand that from the 1640s through the Civil War the dichotomy that existed between pro and antislavery sentiments in Massachusetts made it complicit in the perpetuation of slavery in the United States. This lesson will take two class periods.

Materials & Resources

Collection Items
Website

Teaching Plan

Day One
  1. Individual students will be surveyed in writing, as to whether or not they believe Massachusetts was a state that perpetuated or denounced slavery and why. The results of the survey will be anonymous and graphed.
  2. The class will discuss what an abolitionist was and when and where they were most prevalent in the United States. A class definition will be written down on the board.
  3. Students in small groups (reader, speaker, writer, timeline builder) will be given one or two (depending on length) of the first seven primary source documents listed in the Materials & Resources section that relate to the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts. They will be asked to consider the class definition of abolitionism as they read and share the documents with the class. (Note: use pages 5-16 of  “The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1838”)
  4. At the conclusion of the sharing, students will discuss the following questions:
    1. What means did abolitionists use to get the word out about their cause?
    2. How broad was their audience?
    3. Do you think they were effective in raising awareness and opposition to slavery?
  5. Next, the documents will be placed on a timeline on the board. When it is complete, students will be asked, what does this time line show us?
Day Two
  1. Students in small groups (reader, speaker, writer, timeline builder) will be given three to four (depending on length) of the final 15 primary source documents listed in the Materials & Resources section to read. As a group, students will determine if and what information gathered from the documents, perpetuates or denounces slavery. Groups will share what they have identified as things that perpetuate or denounce slavery. The class will discuss these assertions. (Note: use page iii, of Pages from “The Great South: A Record of Journeys” on cotton statistics in U.S. and pages 4, 13, 16, of “Negro Slavery in Massachusetts”)
  2. Each group will then place one of the primary source documents from step 1 on the timeline created during Day One. Once the timeline is complete, students will be asked:
    1. What does this timeline tell us?
    2. Did a dichotomy of views exist regarding slavery?
    3. Do you believe Massachusetts’ residents were complicit in the perpetuation of slavery in the United States from the 1640s to 1862?
  3. Individual students will again be surveyed in writing, as to whether or not they believe Massachusetts was a state that perpetuated or denounced slavery and why. The results of the survey will be anonymous and graphed. The class will compare the two graphs and discuss their understandings.
  4. Individual students will respond in writing to the following prompt: It is said that Northerners have amnesia when it comes to slavery in New England. Consider what you have learned today and reflect on the primary source documents you have seen. Then write about: Why do you think New Englanders are in denial about their slavery history?
  5. Follow up activity: Note the population figures for people of color on page 4, and the comment related to the Massachusetts, Rhodes Island and Connecticut on page 23, of the primary source document “Negro Slavery in Massachusetts”. Make a conjecture as to why the population of people of color was greatest in these three New England states. Kick off lesson to the slave trade in Boston, Newport and New Haven. Use African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts.