In
their Own Words: the Slave Narratives
In
this unit, students learn about slavery through
the actual words of former slaves. Using the slave
narratives from the Library of Congress, students
learn the structure of, and how to negotiate,
an LOC database. They learn to identify, use,
and evaluate primary sources. From the rambling,
dialect-written text, they find important details
and summarize the events of the narrator’s
life. The culminating project is a short PowerPoint
presentation that includes a title slide, a picture
of the slave, and a slide of summarizing text
that the student reads. If appropriate, students
also include a slide with direct quotations from
the narrator. The unit gives a human face and
voice to this period of our history and, to a
lesser extent, the 1930s when the narratives were
collected.
Subject
Area
Library, Social Studies, Language Arts, Technology
Grade Levels
5-8
Objectives
Students
identify primary sources, explain strengths and
weaknesses of personal accounts in history, negotiate
a Library of Congress database, analyze a document
and write a summary, and compare and contrast
the life of former slaves before and after emancipation.
Internet Used
The Internet is integral to this unit; the narratives
are from the Library of Congress website. One
of the objectives is to teach children how to
independently negotiate an LOC database. In addition,
the student study guide that accompanies the documentary
beginning this unit is viewed on laptops.
Materials Used
The unit requires a computer with Internet access
for at least every two children. PowerPoint is
used for the final product. Word or Publisher
is used to print out narratives. Also required
are some method for Internet demonstration and
whole-class viewing of the presentations, a copy
of HBO’s Unchained Memories:
Readings from the Slave Narratives
(DVD or VHS), and a method for viewing.
Standards Addressed
Social Studies students know the roots of American
culture, its development from different traditions,
and the ways many people from a variety of groups
and backgrounds played a role in creating it.
Students explore the lifestyles, beliefs, traditions,
rules and laws, and social/cultural needs and
wants of people during different periods in history.
They view historic events through the eyes of
participants, and access, evaluate, and use information
effectively and creatively. Students read, write,
listen, and speak for information and understanding,
and for critical analysis and evaluation; evaluate
information, ideas, opinions, and themes in texts
by identifying a central idea and supporting details,
and use technology to retrieve, process, and communicate
information.
Assessment
See Slave
Narrative List.
Students Involved
This unit was designed for four classes of approximately
28 fifth-grade students of mixed abilities, with
two of the classes having a small group of mainstreamed
students. A knowledge of PowerPoint is useful.
Teacher Tips
Before teaching the unit, teachers should acquaint
themselves with the selected narratives. Less
able students can then be assigned the most accessible
narratives. Encouraging students to read the narrative
aloud helps them to figure out the dialect. Some
students prefer to work alone, but most students
benefit from a partner. Before using Unchained
Narratives, students should know that it uses
both archival film clips and staged pieces of
film, and that the actors read the actual slave
narratives, but sometimes we see the actor talking
about the role. The interplay of past and present
is extremely effective but can confuse young students.
Two books complement this unit: Julius Lester’s
From Slave Ship to Freedom Road
and Virginia Hamilton’s The
People Could Fly. Other supplementary
resources include the links at the bottom of the
slave
narrative list. Three are for other databases
that have pictures. If students finish early,
they can search for relevant pictures. There is
also a link to slave narrative recordings that
could be used with aural learners.
Overall
Value
Using the documentary Unchained Memories:
Readings from the Slave Narratives,
coupled with their inherent interest in the subject,
keeps students engaged. As students learn to search
and move through the Born in Slavery database,
they are learning how to negotiate all of the
Library of Congress databases. Higher-level thinking
skills are taught as students evaluate primary
sources, analyze a document, work with dialect
and language patterns with which they are unfamiliar,
and generalize from specific examples to draw
conclusions about the whole.
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Anne
Bryant
Anne
Bryant has been a teacher librarian for
four years. She works for the Clarkstown
Central School district in New City, New
York.
Teaching
is a second career. She has a masters degree
in psychology and for the first half of
her professional life worked as a psychologist.
She was a stay-at-home mother until her
youngest daughter entered kindergarten.
She then began a Publication Center in her
daughters’ school which is now in
its eleventh year of operation. Her full-time
volunteer job eventually became a part-time
computer T.A. position. When her contemporaries
were planning retirement, she went back
to school for her masters in Library Science.
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abryant@ccsd.edu |
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