Recommended Children's and Pedagogy Literature: Slavery

I recommend the below books for use when teaching about slavery in the United States between 1700 and 1900 to students in intermediate-level grades. In some cases, I also include Google Lit Trips developed by teachers in the Teaching American History Grant program.

• Most Loved in All the World by Tonya Cherie Hegamin
• Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson
• Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
• A Voice of Her Own: A Story of Phyllis Wheatly, Slave Poet by Katherine Lasky
• Alec's Primer by Mildred Pitts Walter
• Daily Life on a Southern Plantation by Paul Erickson
• Discovery Kids: Underground Railroad
• Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine
• If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America by Anna Kamma [Lit Trip by Laura Conway, Cathleen Mullen, and Rachel Robertson]
• If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad Ellen Levine
• Meet Addie: American Girl (Book One) by Connie Porter
• Night Boat to Freedom by Margot Thiels Raven [Lit Trip by Jill Hardin]
• Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud
• Priscilla and the Hollyhocks by Ann Broyles [Lit Trip by Jessica Graham]
• Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson [See this Lit Trip by Megan Leider and a companion lesson plan by Cynthia Weeden]
• Time For Kids Biographies: Harriet Tubman A Woman of Courage by the Editors of Time for Kids with Renee Skelton
• Underground Railroad Interactive Adventure by Allison Lassiuer
• Freedom River by Doreen Rappaport
• Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
• Underground Railroad for Kids: From Slavery to Freedom with 21 Activities by Mary Kay Carson
• Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
• Mukambu of Ndongo by Patricia Procopi [Lit Trip by Andrea May and Jordan Savitt]
• Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to Slavery and Emancipation: A Three-Dimensional Interactive Book with Photographs and Documents from the Black Holocaust Exhibit by Velma Maia Thomas
• Up the Learning Tree by Marcia K. Vaughan
• January's Sparrow by Patricia Pollaco (Note: This book contains graphic pictures and explicit text)
• Graphic Library: Graphic History
• Brave Escape of Ellen and William Craft by Donald Lemke
• Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad by Michael Martin [Lit Trip by Melissa Rea and Shelita Oliver]
• Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion by Michael Burgan
• John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry by Jason Glaser
• Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin by Jessica Gunderson

Lecture: Michael Green — "Slavery and the Constitution"

Click here for Dr. Michael S. Green's podcast titled "Slavery and the Constitution."

Session I Class Slides

Click here for the class slides for session I. The session focused on Habits of the Mind and Vital Themes of History Education.

Online Resources for Teaching about Slavery

The following resources offer resources and suggestions for teaching about slavery in America.

• Slave Voices: This American Memory (Library of Congress) collection including recordings between 1932 and 1975 includes hours of actual voices in audio format taken from former Southern slaves. It includes 23 interviewees born between 1823 and 1860.
• Our Story: Slave Life and the Underground Railroad: This site, prepared by the Smithsonian's Museum of American History, offers a brief introduction to the topic. It is interspersed with primary source links as well as links to children's literature selections and some children's books reader's guides (e.g., Follow the Drinking Gourd, Freedom on the Menu).
• Harriet Tubman Biography: Developed by Kate Clifford Larsen, this site includes information about the Underground Railroad, a timeline, list of escapees, and maps.
• Slavery and the Making of America: This site includes a rich collection of links to primary sources relating to slavery topics.
  
• The Underground Railroad Simulation: This National Geographic simulation guides students along the Underground Railroad through text, song, graphics (including locational photographs and primary source images), and student decision-making.
• Slave Narratives: This interactive site from the Museum of the African Diaspora leads readers (and listeners) through biographies of several slaves including Mary Prince, Tempe Herndon Durham, and others. For each, there is a timeline, biography, and transcript (in audio and textual format).
• Reader's Theater: This reader's theater script follows the Underground Railroad as guided by Harriet Tubman.

Aaron: A Case Study

The Geography of Slavery in Virginia offers a fabulous case study relating to the plight of one slave's life. Through primary sources, students of history can follow Aaron's story to learn his story.

Slavery Simulations

The following units/lesson plans simulate experiences relating to the issue of slavery in the United States.

• Riding the Underground Railroad: This simulation involves having students simulate escaping the South until they are either captured or they reach their destination. Students play roles of abolitionist, Quaker, conductor, slave, and slave hunter and the slaves try to navigate through multiple states while interrupted by those of the other roles.
• The Park: This StoryPath unit, created by Dr. Margrit McGuire, introduces students to community collaboration while having them face issues of conflict and prejudice in communities.
• A Nation Divided: This StoryPath, also developed by Dr. Margrit McGuire, focuses on the Civil War era.
  

Google Lit Trips Assignment

For this Teaching American History Grant module, each participating teacher will either create or collaborate on the creation of at least five annotated placemarks in a Google Lit Trip relating to one of the grant provided children's books about slavery. Thank you to Jerome Burg, the creator of Google Lit Trips, for the resources and assistance he provided to make this assignment possible.

Assignment Description and Grading Rubric
TAH Resources for Creating Google Lit Trips (including HTML Code Recommendations)

Module Syllabus

Click here for the module syllabus.

Module Description

This module will enhance teacher knowledge and context relating to the history of slavery in the United States. The content focus will be on the institution in relation to American culture, society and government, and its impact on African Americans and the country as a whole. Required readings include texts that provide both a historical summary and analysis of slavery. In module sessions, teachers will receive additional documents, as well as participate in lectures and discussions highlighting key components of how slavery affected America and its people, and how the American people dealt with slavery.

The pedagogical focus of the module will provide a broad perspective of historical content by integrating all core social studies disciplines. Teachers will focus on using children’s literature and technology tools to understand American slavery from geographic, economic, and civic perspectives. Teachers will learn to use: a.) children’s literature as teaching tools, b.) historically-centered technology methods for ensuring student comprehension of historical content, and c.) integrated social studies disciplines as a means for gaining a broad perspective of American history. Throughout the process, teachers will ensure heavy student engagement with primary source historical material while stressing research, creativity, interactivity, and cooperative student-led learning opportunities.

Combining the historical and pedagogical pieces of this module, teacher participants will utilize children’s books and technology tools by producing Google Lit Trips. Using accurate historical information about African-American slavery, teachers will be prepared to use Google Lit Trips to provide greater content understanding for their students as well as a project-based platform for examining meaningful events of American history.

Upon completion of the Slavery/The Disciplines of Social Studies module and all required assignments, teacher participants will have met both history and content pedagogy objectives as outlined below.

The historical content objectives for this module include:
· Teachers will identify ways slavery affected African American culture and society, and ways African American culture and society affected slavery;
· Teachers will describe how slavery became part of American culture, and how Americans responded to it;
· Teachers will identify ways slavery shaped and reshaped how Americans conceive of their government and the role that governmental decisions play in their lives; and,
· Teachers will list ways that slavery affected the country’s evolution.

The content pedagogy objectives for this module include:
· Teachers will view history pedagogy as an opportunity to combine multiple social studies disciplines to create a cohesive understanding of specific historical eras;
· Teachers will integrate children’s literature into their instruction about Black American slavery;
· Teachers will utilize technology as an instructional tool for delivering theme-specific historical content;
· Teachers will develop technology-generated artifacts for teaching and learning about given historical topics; and,
· Teachers will be prepared to have students use multimedia technology during history lessons.