Slavery and Childhood

This lesson is designed to extend student understanding of the experiences of slaves living in the American, antebellum south. The chosen samples and excerpts from the Documenting the American South collection reflect the childhood of two enslaved people born in America, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglas, and two people born in Africa, Oloudah Equiano and Omar Bin Said. Two knew what it was like to be free before being captured and placed into servitude, and longed to be free again; two were born into slavery and like the two native born Africans had aspirations of freedom. Students are invited to compare their childhood memories with the lives of these children in an effort to make history more human.

A lesson plan for grades 11–12 Social Studies

By Meghan Mcglinn

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Related pages

• Religion and slavery in the American South: Comparing perspectives: In this lesson plan, students consult a variety of primary sources from the Documenting the American South Collection to uncover the varied impacts of religion in the lives of slaves in the American South. They are encouraged to seek out multiple, and sometimes contradictory, perspectives of this history.
• The Middle Passage According to Olaudah Equiano: Olaudah Equiano is perhaps one of the most well-known abolitionist writers and former slaves to live in America. His narrative has been digitized as a part of the Documenting the American South North American Slave Narratives collection. His vivid retelling of his trip onboard a slave ship bound for the New World illustrates the horrific and dehumanizing experience.
• Managing a plantation: Slaves: List of slaves on the Cameron plantation in Orange County, North Carolina, 1844. Includes historical commentary.

Related topics

• Learn more about African Americans, antebellum, children, slavery, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

1. Students will learn how to identify a primary source from a secondary source.
2. Students will learn how to analyze a primary source from their own lives and the life of an historical character.
3. Students will better understand the effects of the institution of slavery on its victims, especially children.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 day

Materials/resources

• 2 copies of the primary source analysis handout per student
• Electronic or text copies of primary sources from Documenting the American South (See websites below).

Technology resources

Internet connection

Pre-activities

Assign students to bring in 3 artifacts from their own childhood. These could include photographs, letters, favorite toys, parent recollections (written), newspaper clippings in which they appeared, prizes, certificates. etc.

Activities

1. Tell students to keep their objects hidden. Briefly describe the difference between a primary source and a secondary source. Have students complete an Analyzing Primary Sources form.
2. Next, partner students up. Have partners read each other’s handout describing the primary source. Ask partners to guess the objects; allow for time for sharing and discussion of primary sources from childhood.
3. Have students write a brief journal entry on their childhood in which they incorporate their primary sources.
4. Handout copies or provide access to electronic copies of excerpts from the following narratives:
   • Douglass. Chapters I and II (to page 20)
   • Equiano. Volume One, page 5, pages 13–14; Volume One, Chapter Two, pages 45–50
   • Jacobs. Pages 11–12 (to end of line 1); page 14 beginning “Such were the unusually fortunate” to page 15 ending with ”born to be a chattel.”
   • Said. Page 792 beginning “I cannot write my life” to page 793 ending with “Fayd-il.”
   • You may also want to use excerpts from Jacobs (beginning on page 195 “The Flight”) and Douglass (Second Part, Chapter One beginning on page 196 “Escape From Slavery”) to compare and contrast how each planned their escape.
5. Assign students to read one of the four documents and to complete a primary source analysis form.
6. Allow students assigned to the same document compare their analysis and to make changes or additions.
7. As a whole class engage in a discussion about aspects of the students’ childhood and those of slave children.

Assessment

Student completion of primary source analysis forms.

Assign students to address the following questions in a response paper:

1. Tell how each description of childhood experiences were alike and tell how each differed.
2. What factors led to the different childhood experiences?
3. What emotional factors weighed upon enslaved children as they realized their social status?
4. Why and how do you think young people conformed to the expectations of their imposed servitude?
5. How did the experiences in the slave narratives differ from your personal recollections of your early childhood years?

Supplemental information

Related websites

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

The Life of Oloudah Equiano

Autobiography of Omar Bin Said

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