"Forward" to the Great Escape

In this lesson, the students will read a primary source document from Documenting the American South and examine a painting by Jacob Lawrence to illustrate the conditions of the underground railroad before the US Civil War. The students will create a painting and a narrative related to the underground railroad.

A lesson plan for grades 11–12 Social Studies

By Jamie Lathan

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Learning outcomes

Students will examine primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection.

Students will read and analyze “The Autobiography of Henry Parker”.

Students will look at “Forward” by Jacob Lawrence and examine its meaning as it relates to the underground railroad.

Students will create a painting and a narrative about the underground railroad experience.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

90 minutes

Materials/resources

Access to computers with the internet
“Forward” painting by Jacob Lawrence
“Autobiography of Henry Parker”
Markers or color pencils
Poster paper
College-ruled paper and pencils

Technology resources

Access to computers with the internet

Pre-activities

Students should be familiar with the institution of slavery in the United States. They should also know how the enslaved Africans were able to resist the oppression of slavery.

Activities

I. Students should be taken to the Documenting the American South website (http://docsouth.unc.edu).

II. Students should examine the following primary source document from the website:

a. “Autobiography of Henry Parker”

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/parkerh/parkerh.html

b. In three or more sentences, the students should answer the following question: Explain the conditions of the underground railroad based on the experiences of Mr. Parker.

III. Students should also examine the following painting at this website:

“Forward” by Jacob Lawrence
http://www.ncmoa.org/collections/highlights/20thcentury/20th/1950-2000/034_lrg.shtml

IV. As the students look at the painting, have them write down what they believe to be going on in the painting. They should spend three minutes writing down their thoughts.

V. The students should then draw a picture of what they think happened before the painting and then draw picture of what they think happened after the painting. (This should be done on either construction paper or poster board paper)

VI. After drawing the pictures, have the students write a story similar to the “Autobiography of Henry Parker”. The story should detail the life of one of the people in the painting. It needs to be at least three paragraphs in length.

Assessment

Grade: Expectations:

Pass The students have drawn
two pictures similar to the “Forward”. The students have written a three paragraph narrative about the life of one of the people in the painting.

Fail The students did not
draw two pictures from “Forward”. The students only wrote one or two paragraphs on the narrative about the persons in the painting.

Supplemental information

None.

Related websites

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/4/93.04.08.x.html

This website has activities and lesson plans related to Jacob Lawrence and his paintings.

http://www.phillipscollection.org/lawrence/visualarts.html

This document has some resources on Jacob Lawrence.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/

This document provides resources on the underground railroad and its impact.

Comments

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