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Slavery and Civil Rights in America

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Contents

Key words 3

Key people 4

Slavery

What is Slavery 5

Justifying slavery 6

Slave Trade Triangle 7- 9

Accounts of slaves 10

Resistance to slavery 11

Slave song 12

Underground Railroad 13

Civil War 14

Civil Rights Movement

Jim Crow Laws 15

Short Story 16- 17

Death of Emmet till 18

Rosa Parks 19- 20

Tasks 21

Martin Luther 22– 23

Selma 24

Checklist 25

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Think- Pair- Share Slavery

On your own write Slavery in the middle of your page and finish the sentences given. Write down some of your own

ideas about slavery. Write as much as you know about slavery.

For example what does it mean to be a slave? Did slavery exist before Columbus found the ‘New World’ ? Where did

slaves come from?

Now share your ideas with the person beside you and write down anything that you didn’t have.

Share your ideas with the class and write down any new ideas

Slavery A slave is………………

Many slaves worked………

Slavery has existed ….

Slavers were……..

Draw this diagram in your copy.

Have it nice and big going across to pages.

Use a ruler.

As you are learning about slavery fill in any

new information you learn about.

You could also do your own research to

answer any of the questions.

You can also add to the questions or use the

same word to answer a different question.

Eg How were slavers transported?

How were slaves treated?

Who were the slaves?

Who bought slaves?

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Key Words and People

Draw the following into your copy. Make sure you leave space for the definitions.

Key Words Definition

Slavery Slave Trade Triangle

Indentured labour

Middle Passage

Slave Auction

Slave Resistance Underground Railroad

Plantation Slave Code

Slavery Emancipation

American Civil War Jim Crow Laws

Civil Rights Movement Montgomery Bus Boycott

Indigenous peoples

Slave traders

Plantation Owners Abraham Lincoln

William Harvey Carney Olaudah Equiano

Nat Turner

Emmet Till Rosa Parks

Martin Luther King Malcom X

Ku Klux Klan

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Introduction to slavery

The early plantations used a mix of labour:

European settlers, local indigenous peoples and

African slaves. This combination was rarely

successful in sugar: Europeans disliked the work

and the indigenous peoples refused to do it. Thus

sugar soon came to depend overwhelmingly on

forced African slave labour.

As sugar came to dominate the landscape, plantations became bigger, demand for sugar in

Europe increased, the plantations' demand for Africans grew and grew. Wherever a colony

produced increased volumes of sugar, there we find massive importations of enslaved

Africans. By 1600, perhaps 200,000 Africans had been shipped from West Africa as slaves. Fifty

years later, that figure had increased to 800,000.

In North America, the British turned to slavery for tobacco plantations clustered around

Virginia, which provided an easy maritime route to Europe and, increasingly, to the centre of

the tobacco trade in Glasgow. By 1750, some 145,000 enslaved Africans worked in the region.

Later, when the British began rice cultivation in the Carolinas, they again turned to the

plantation model and the number of slaves grew rapidly: by 1750, 40,000 had been trafficked

there.

1. From the above text pick three of the most important words . Why did you

pick these words? EG African- I picked the word African because many of the slaves

were taken from Africa.

2. Now rewrite three sentences and explain why you picked this sentence. EG

“Fifty years later, that figure had increased to 800,000”. This sentence is important

because it shows how the slave trade was increasing at a very fast rate.

3. Using the three words and your three sentences write a summary of what you

read. The summary should be half the length of the original text and in your own

words. You could start off with

The African trade started because…. or

It was clear the African trade was increasing rapidly because

4. Now research and try find more information about the three words you

picked. Write a paragraph on each word using the Point- Evidence- Explain.

5. Combine three and four- You now have an essay written. Would you make

any more changes? Complete a second draft of the essay.

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Why was slavery allowed to happen?

Below are reasons given why slavery was justified and allowed to happen. In your note book

divide the page into two parts. Beliefs and Economic reasons.

a) Write in the reasons below in your copy under the correct heading. Anything to do with

money is considered economic?

b) What do you think was more important that allowed slavery to happen? Beliefs or

economic reasons, explain your answer.

c) Put the reasons in order of importance number 1 being the most important and number

11 being the least important. Explain why you put them in this order.

1. Some people thought that slavery made the Africans happier.

2. Slavery was not against the law.

3. Slave Owners thought the slaves were not like humans, more like dogs or horses, and

that white people were superior (better) to them.

4. Some people thought God approved of slavery.

5. Slaves were used to work on plantations in America making cotton, sugar and coffee.

6. The plantation owners made lots of money because they didn’t have to pay the slaves

any wages.

7. Slaves could be sold for $1200 each, so people who brought them from Africa could

make lots of money.

8. The sugar trade in Britain was worth 20 million pounds a year.

9. Sugar and cotton traders made lots of money and became very rich.

10. Some people believed black’s people were not as clever as white people and needed

telling what to do, like children.

11. Some people believed blacks were lazy and without white people telling them what to

do, would sit around all day doing nothing.

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Slave Trade Triangle

Taken from http://abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_43.html

STAGE 1

Slave ships from Britain left ports like London, Liverpool

and Bristol for West Africa carrying goods such as cloth, guns,

ironware and drink that had been made in Britain.

Later, on the West African coast, these goods would be

traded for men, women and children who had been captured

by slave traders or bought from African chiefs.

STAGE 2

African dealers kidnapped people from villages

up to hundreds of miles inland. One of these

people was Quobna Ottabah Cugoano

who described in the autobiography how the

slavers attacked with pistols and threatened to

kill those who did not obey. They marched the captives to the coast where they would

be traded for goods.

On the African coast, European traders bought enslaved peoples from travelling African

dealers or nearby African chiefs. Families were

separated.

The traders held the enslaved Africans until

a ship appeared, and then sold them to a

European or African captain. It often took a long

time for a captain to fill his ship. He rarely filled

his ship in one spot. Instead he would spend

three to four months sailing along the coast,

looking for the fittest and cheapest slaves.

Stage 1

1. What were the goods that were carried to

Africa in Stage one and what were they

traded for ?

The goods that were carried to Africa were -……,

………’ these goods were traded for ……………..

Stage 2

1. Why did it take a long time for a captain to

fill his ship?

It took so long for a captain …..

2. Describe how slaves were treated in stage

two?

Slaves were treated like ……… because…….

This is important because………..

3. What do you think was the worst part for a

slave a this stage? Why?

The worst part of Stage 2 was………….. This was

the worst part because.

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Ships would sail up and down the coast filling their

holds with enslaved Africans. On the brutal ‘Middle

Passage', enslaved Africans were densely

packed onto ships that would carry them to the West

Indies.

There were many cases of violent resistance by

Africans against slave ships and their crews. These

included attacks from the shore by ‘free' Africans

against ships or longboats and many cases of shipboard revolt by slaves.

STAGE 3

In the West Indies enslaved Africans would be

sold to the highest bidder at slave auctions.

Once they had been bought, enslaved Africans

worked for nothing on plantations.

They belonged to the plantation owner, like any

other possession, and had no rights at all. The

enslaved Africans were often punished very

harshly.

Two thirds of the enslaved Africans, taken to the

Americas, ended up on sugar plantations. Sugar

was used to sweeten another crop harvested by

enslaved Africans in the West Indies - coffee.

With the money made from the sale of enslaved Africans, goods such as sugar, coffee

and tobacco were bought and carried back to Britain for

sale. The ships were loaded with produce from the

plantations for the voyage home.

Stage 3

1. What was the main plantation where

slaves worked?

Most slaves worked on………….. the slaves

worked here because….

2. How were slaves sold once they reached

the West Indies?

Once slaves arrived in America they

were…..

Pick and choose

1. Research the middle passage and

describe a journey of one person that was

transported?

2. Research a slave auction and describe

how slaves were bought and sold?

3. What do you think the worst aspect of

been a slave was? Why do you think this?

Use the sources to answer your question

and use your own sources as well.

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The slave trade triangle.

Draw a large triangle in your copy that shows the flow of

good from each country and label what each passage was

called.

Use pages 7&8 and the images on this page to help you

Slave Trade triangle

The best-known triangular trading system is the

transatlantic slave trade, that operated from the late 16th

to early 19th centuries, carrying slaves, cash crops, and

manufactured goods between West Africa, Caribbean or

American colonies and the European colonial powers,

with the northern colonies of British North America,

especially New England, sometimes taking over the role

of Europe.[1] The use of African slaves was fundamental

to growing colonial cash crops, which were exported to

Europe. European goods, in turn, were used to purchase

African slaves, which were then brought on the sea lane

west from Africa to the Americas, the so-called Middle

Passage.

Wikipedia

Write down what Britain, West Afica and

North America had and needed.

You can draw the box to the right into your

copy or come up with another way that

shows what the countries had and wanted,.

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Source D

Life of a slave - Firsthand accounts

Any of my miserable countrymen chained two and two, some hand-

cuffed, and some with their hands tied behind … I was soon conducted

to a prison, for three days, where I heard the groans and cries of many

… When a vessel arrived to conduct us away to the ship, it was a most

horrible scene; there was nothing to be heard but the rattling of chains,

smacking of whips, and the groans and cries of our fellow-men. Some

would not stir from the ground, when they were lashed and beat in the

most horrible manner … When we were put into the ship, we saw

several black merchants coming on board, but we were all drove into

our holes and not suffered to speak to any of them. In this situation we

continued several days in sight of our native

land. Ottobah Cugoano a slave describing his Journey 1787

One woman name Rhodie runs off for long spell. The hounds won't

hunt her. She steals hot bread when they put it in the window to

cool, and lives on that. She told my mammy how to keep the

hounds from following you, is to take black pepper and put it in

your socks and run without you shoes. It makes the hounds

sneeze.- Walter Rimm a former slave describes a story 1930s

I was just about big enough to start playing with a broom to go about sweeping up and not

even half doing it right when Dr. Kilpatrick sold me. There was an old white man in Trinity and

his wife died and he didn't have chick or child or slave or nothin'. That old man bought me a

big doll and went off and left me all day, with the door open. I just sat on the floor and played

with that doll. I used to cry. He'd come home and give me

something to eat and then go to bed, and I slept on the

foot of the bed with him. I was scared all the time in the

dark. He never did close the door. -Mary Reynolds born

into slavery recalls the story in 1929

Resistance

Source B

Source C

Source A

Source E

For each source write the following

Source ___ is a primary or secondary source

because _____________________

This sources is a visual/ written source

because _______________________

This source is useful not useful

because____________________________

We learn that _______________________

from looking at this source

Source E Reward

Find your own primary source about slavery. Sticks it into your

copy and explain what type of source it is and why it is useful.

Or

Write a diary entry of a slave or slave owner describing a

typical day.

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Many planters regarded slave religion as a form of resistance: a vehicle through which slaves

could defy their masters' wishes. Towards the end of slavery in the Americas the enslaved

used religious meetings and their own encoded songs to provide secret messages of how to

run away via the Underground Railroad. It would take many years after Emancipation for

those codes to be shared and understood by the world.

In fact, slaves devised creative ways of resisting. The most open – and most dangerous – was

revolt. More common was the daily round of opposition that characterised plantation slavery

everywhere: foot-dragging, feigning ignorance, being uncooperative and 'artful'. When we add

together these various slave responses, a picture emerges of persistent non-compliance,

revealing that resistance was built into the social and human fabric of plantation life.

Yet the slaves were walking a delicate line and knew that too openly reluctance, too bold a

resistance, would merely provoke an angry punishment for themselves, their relatives or

community. Those on the plantation learned how far they could go and knew that, if they

overstepped the accepted bounds, they would face cruel punishment, the ultimate of which

was, of course, violence in one of its various forms.

On plantations as on the slave ships, violence was used by planters and their managers to

secure the obedience and the labour of their enslaved labour force.

Taken from http://www.understandingslavery.com

You must do any of the two tasks below.

What do you think was the most effective way that slaves could resist slavery? Why? Slaves could resist by This would be effective because….

List the peaceful and violent ways a slave could resist. EG foot dragging , open revolt

You are a slave planning a to resist slavery – create a poster on the ways you can resist.

Look at the slave song on the next page what is the meaning of the song.

Research what was the type of punishment that could happen to slaves if they resisted?

Write a slave song with hidden messages in the song. Using the sample provided as an example.

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"Follow the Drinking Gourd"

Follow the drinking gourd,

Follow the drinking gourd,

For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom

If you follow the drinking gourd.

When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,

Follow the drinking gourd.

For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom

If you follow the drinking gourd.

The riverbank will make a very good road.

The dead trees show you the way,

Left foot, peg foot traveling on,

Following the drinking gourd.

The river ends between two hills,

Follow the drinking gourd.

There’s another river on the other side,

Follow the drinking gourd.

Where the great big river meets the little river,

Follow the drinking gourd.

The old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom,

If you follow the drinking gourd.

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The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad, a vast network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the

North and to Canada, was not run by any single organization or person. Rather, it consisted of

many individuals -- many white people but mostly black people -- who knew only of the local

efforts to aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. Still, it effectively moved hundreds of

slaves northward each year -- according to one estimate, the South lost 100,000 slaves

between 1810 and 1850.

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The Civil War

America was very different country while slavery existed.

The Northern part of America where slavery did not play a

large role in the economy as it did in the South. The North of

America was trying to outlaw slavery while the South who

were dependent on slaves fought against this. This question

nearly split America apart and resulted the two side fighting

against each other. The outbreak of the Civil War forever

changed the future of the American nation. The war began

as a struggle to preserve the Union, not a struggle to free the

slaves, but many in the North and South felt that the conflict

would ultimately decide both issues. Many slaves escaped

to the North in the early years of the war, and several Union generals established abolitionist

policies in the land Southern land that they conquered. Congress passed laws permitting the

seizure of slaves from the property of rebellious Southerners. On September 22, 1862,

following the dramatic Union victory at Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln presented the

Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Slavery was now outlawed in America.

Jim Crow Laws

Split your copy in two parts

The Southern View The Northern View

Explain why the South wanted to keep slavery going

and why the North were will to outlaw it.

Can you come up with any more reasons?

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What would you do in this situation if you were white and if you were black?

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/links/courses/thunder.pdf

Jim Crow was the name of the racial segregation system, which operated mostly in southern

and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of strict

antiblack laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were given the status of

second-class citizens. Jim Crow helped to make anti-black racism appear right. Many Christian

ministers taught that whites were the Chosen people, blacks were cursed to be servants, and

God supported racial

segregation.

This is

a story

Diagram and images

1. From the and text images what do

you think the Jim Crow laws were?

2. Draw a poster that shows one Jim

Crow law.

3. Look up the word segregation, what

does this word mean?

4. What do you think was the purpose

of the Jim Crow laws ?

5. In what ways were white people

treated different to black people?

6. Write out five Jim Crow Laws

7. Which laws do you think were the most

unfair? Explain why?

8. Identify and research some of the key

figures in the struggle against Jim Crow

law?

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written by an eleven year old Dorothy Scalzo, written in 1935. The

spelling errors have been left in place. It is exactly as it was written

over 70 years ago by a little girl in rural Indiana.

Johnny was finally happy. His mother had brought him all the way from

Iowa to live near his daddy. They were going to stay here as long as

Daddy had to. His daddy stayed at the army camp all day, but came home

every evening and played with him. In the daytime, he played with the

little boy who lived in the other part of the house. It had been sorta cold to

play outside at home, but down here in the south it was nice and warm. He

was going to like it here. He hoped his daddy would be here for a long

time!

The elderly lady climbed into the bus and took a front seat. Not Johnny.

After spending an impressive amount of time putting his nickle in the slot,

he rushed to the back as usual. Johnny always rode on the back seat. It

bounced so much better.

“No, no Johnny. You can't sit in the back seat. Come up here with me."

"But why, Mommy? There's lots of room."

"Johnny, come up here with me."

Johnny reluctantly moved back up toward the front of the bus, and sat with his mother.

"Why can't I? I always do it at home."

"It's different here, Johnny. I forgot to tell you. The white people sit in the front of the bus, and

the negroes sit in the back."

"Why?"

"It's a law they have to obey."

"Why is it a law, Mommy?"

"Oh, I don't know, Johnny. It's just the way they believe."

"Don't they like the colored people?"

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"Of course they like them, Johnny. They just let the negroes sit together, and the white people

together. It's the same way in the shows, restaurants, and everyplace."

"Isn't that silly, Mommy?"

"Look over here, Johnny. See those buildings? That's where they make the cigarettes like

Daddy smokes."

"Won't I ever get to sit on the back seat of the bus?"

"Oh, Johnny, I guess you can sit back there when there aren't any negroes on the bus."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know, Johnny."

"I wish Daddy could take us back home right away. I don't like it down here anymore."

1. Why was Johnny not allowed to sit at the back of the bus?

Johnny is not allowed to sit at the back of the bus because……….. “give a quote”

2. Why is Johnny confused?

Johnny is confused because ……………….”give a quote”

3. The mother is having difficulty explaining the laws of the city, why do think she

has this difficulty?

4. What do you think is the message of the story?

I think the message of this story is ……..

5. Write a diary entry of the mother that night.

6. Split your page in two and create a poster that shows how black and white people

were treated differently.

7. Create a comic strip of the story you just read you can use dialogue and pictures.

8. Write a short story of a person who was affected by the Jim Crow Laws. This

person could be black, white a child or an adult.

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Answer one question from each column.

Create a poster that shows what Rosa Parks did.

Create a Six picture comic book strip that shows the story of Rosa Parks.

Write a letter to Rosa Parks saying why you admire her.

How was Rosa Parks treated? How would this make her feel? Rosa Parks was treated…….

Spilt your copy in two. List the actions that some white people took to stop the Boycott from working. Eg Beaten up. List the actions that black people took to make sure the Boycott was successful. Eg Car pooling

Draw a Venn diagram In your copy and compare what Emmet Till and Rosa Parks had in common and how they were different.

Why was Rosa Parks successful and Emmet Till not successful? Rosa Parks was successful because……… Give evidence and quotes Emmett Till was unsuccessful because…… Quotes

Create a timeline of the civil Rights movement with pictures and descriptions of the key events.

Write a paragraph on Emmet Till and Rosa Parks Explaining the actions their actions and the impact.

Write a paragraph on the role of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement.

Write an essay on how the actions of Rosa Parks led to the end of segregation in the South.

“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” ― Rosa Parks To what extent is this statement still relevant today? Write an essay arguing your side.

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• Born 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

• He was a preacher (someone who is like a vicar).

• Black People did not have the same rights as white people in America at the time. They were not allowed to go in some shops or sit in certain places on the bus. This was called segregation.

• Martin Luther King wanted this to change and believed that Non-Violence was the only way to get people to support Black people in America.

• In 1955, after a woman called Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, Martin organised a bus boycott. Thousands of black people refused to travel on buses until the law changed. The boycott lasted

• King was arrested and his house was fire-bombed because he was involved in the Bus Boycott.

• Other people were also picked on and made to feel scared for being part of it.

• This started the Civil Rights movement.

• Because he inspired people lots of black students all over Southern America got involved in non-violent campaigns. Most famously they did Sit-ins. Within six months these sit-ins had ended restaurant and lunch-counter segregation in twenty-six southern cities. Student sit-ins were also successful against segregation in public parks, swimming pools, theatres, churches, libraries, museums and beaches.

• After many protest marches and speeches laws began to change.

• Martin was assassinated in 1968 at the age of 39, leaving his wife and four children. His wife Coretta continued to support Black Civil rights.

Martin Luther King Fact File

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Create a Facebook page on Martin Luther King. Can use this template to help you

Make a time line of the important events of Martin Luther King.

http://www.classtools.net/FB/home-page- You could also

create a real page on Fakebook.

Write an interview with Martin Luther King about his main

achievements

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As we watch the movie Selma – Answer the following questions

1. Find a person who was active in or opposed the Selma Movement before 1965.

Name: _________________________________________

When did that person start his or her activity and what did they do?

2. Find a person who was a victim of or responsible for physical violence.

Name: _________________________________________

What happened or what was their role?

3. Find a person who attempted to register to vote or assisted others in the process.

Name: _________________________________________

What happened? Why did the person risk so much for the right for themselves or others to

vote?

4. Find a person who has spent time in jail for their actions or beliefs.

Name: _________________________________________

What happened? Why was the person willing to go to jail for the right to vote?

5. Find a person who was in the Civil Rights Movement before they came to Selma.

Name: _________________________________________

What did they do?

6. Find a person who was under 25 when they were active in the Movement in Selma.

Name: _________________________________________

What motivated them to join the movement?

7. Find a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and/or Southern

Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC):

Name: _________________________________________

What can that person tell you about the organization based on their involvement?

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TOPIC I CAN … Tick

Here

What is

Slavery?

Define slavery and freedom

Describe how slavery developed

Explain how the slave trade triangle worked

The Middle

Passage

Describe the long journey that the slaves had

from Africa to America

Describe what happened to slaves once they

arrived in America

Resisting

Slavery

Describe what life was like on the plantations

Explain how people resisted slavery and the

punishments used against them

Explain and describe how many people

escaped slavery by reaching the North

Define new terms and recall the reasons why

the US entered a civil war

New

Beginnings

after Slavery

Consider what life was like for black people’s

after the Civil War and the declaration of

freedom and the Jim Crow laws

Describe what the Ku Klux Klan was

Civil Rights

movement

Understand how the death of Emmet Till and

Rosa Parks started the Civil Rights Movement

Consider whether racism still exists today