Forge of Innovation: The Springfield Armory and the Genesis of American Industry National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop 2015
Title: The Fugitive Slave Act: No Turning Back! 1850 Grade Level: Grades 810 Subject Area Focus Social Studies/History Estimated Number of Classroom Days to Complete: 34
Submitted by: Fiona Creed Chevalier Pioneer Valley Regional School, PVRS District, MA; Todd Goodwin Applewild School Independent School, Fitchburg, MA; Gayle Shepardson Chatham HS, School District of the Chathams, NJ
Curricular Project Summary: Students will learn how the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (FSA) changed perspectives of Northerners and how it changed the work of the Underground Railroad (UGRR) and the ultimate destination of the fugitives themselves. Students will learn background knowledge and vocabulary about the Underground Railroad in the United States. They will learn about the FSA and read some documents addressing the Underground Rail road both before and after the FSA. Students will then write an editorial newspaper piece from a Northerner’s perspective about the capture of a freed slave in Massachusetts and may choose to write their piece from a list of various occupations and stations in life.
Desired Results/Objectives 1. Essential Questions/Historical Question(s): ● How did the Fugitive Slave Act change Northerners’ perspectives of the Underground Railroad and the presence of free andfugitive AfricanAmericans in the North? 2. Objectives: Students will know: ● What the Underground Railroad was and what the Fugitive Slave Act was. Students will understand: ● How the Fugitive Slave Law changed life for people in the North, perceptions of the Underground Railroad, and perceptions of slavery in general. ● How the Fugitive Slave Law contributed to the growing sectional tension between the North and the South. Students will be able to: ● Analyze primary sources to find out different perceptions of the Fugitive Slave Law. ● Produce an editorial piece of writing. 3. Curriculum Standards (National, State, Local): ● New Jersey Curriculum Standards: ○ 6.1.8.D.4b Describe efforts to reform education, women’s rights, slavery and other issues during the Antebellum period. ○ 6.1.8.D.4c Explain the growing resistance to slavery.
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○ 6.1.12.A.3i Explain the origins of the antislavery movement and the impact of particular events on the movement. ● MA CCR ○ Writing Standard 10.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and wellstructured event sequences. ● CCR 910. 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. 2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. ● MA History Standards USI.35 Describe how the different economies and cultures of the North and South contributed to the growing importance of sectional politics in the early 19th century. USI.36 Summarize the critical developments leading to the Civil War. D. the Compromise of 1850 4. Transfer Goal: ● Students will be able to analyze primary sources for rhetoric and write an opinion piece.
Assessment/Evidence Performance Tasks & Other Evidence of Performance: (PreAssessment, Formative Assessment, & Summative Assessment) PreAssessment: Brainstorm for vocabulary and key words associated with the Underground Railroad. Formative Assessment: 1. Exit ticket Day 1: Observe, Reflect, and Question Graphic Organizer 2. Fist of 5 activator Day Two: How much risk was involved in the UGRR? 3. Post video summary and historical figure identifications.
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Summative Assessment: Write an editorial with vocabulary learned and at least two consequences of Fugitive Slave Act described in the news article “Fugitive Slave” from the Boston Daily Courier, Dec 1, 1859. Editorial should be written from a Northern Perspective with a specific occupation or station in life.
Learning Plan Historical Problem/Question: How did the Fugitive Slave Act change Northerner's perspective of the Underground Railroad and presence of free/fugitive AfricanAmericans in the North? What were the consequences of the Fugitive Slave Act? Learning Activities:
What does the teacher do?
What does the student do?
Day 1:
Day 1:
1. Teacher will ask students what words they know about the Underground Railroad? Have list of categories on the board: Abolitionists North South Fugitives Slave hunters/catchers 2. Lead class in defining the words listed above. ● Add any vocabulary gaps. ● Address any misconceptions. 3. Lead guided reading of the July 18, 1845 anonymous letter about the Underground Railroad. 4. Circulate to help spur conversation.
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1. Write keywords on sticky notes and put them up on the board categories 2. Students will take notes of words and definitions 3. Students will highlight words they do not know and once the class has defined the word put the word up on the word wall. 4. In partners talk about why the article was written.
5. Hand out exit ticket.
5. Students should complete an exit ticket or discuss in partners and talk about their conclusions with the larger group. Observe: Why does the author think we need more underground workers? Reflection: Why do you think the article was written? Question: What question(s) do you have after reading this document? Day 2: Day 2: 1. Activator: Thinking back to the article from 1. Participate in Fist of Five and discuss Day 1, do a Fist of 5 (five fingers being highly reasons. risky and one finger being low) on how risky it was to participate in the Underground Railroad. Consider the risk for agents conducting people through it and for the fugitives “riding” on it”. Make sure to point out that the article was anonymous: Most folks in North didn’t care about slave issues. Review examples of risk and explain a few examples of Northerners not supporting free blacks, for example: ● CT law 1833 ● Prudence Crandall case 2. Risk changed: Provide an overview of 2. Take notes on provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act and Compromise of 1850. Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. 3. Post “Caution Colored People” Broadside. 3. Discuss the CAUTION broadside as a whole class. 4. Share an example of someone who had to 4. Contribute to discussion.
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enforce a law (FSA) they didn’t believe in or someone who saw the injustice of the FSA (e.g. Judge Loring of Boston in the Anthony Burns case) 5. Hand out the article “To the Citizens of Northampton”. ● Provide vocab/definition sheet with tough words or dictionary for differentiation. ● Hand out SC3 graphic organizer (Appendix A).
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5. Analyze document according to SC3 (Appendix A) with partner and graphic organizer. ● Use vocabulary sheet to help read the document: ○ Chattellism ○ Asylum ○ Providence ○ Fugitives ○ Industry ○ Sobriety ○ Consternation ○ Irrespective ○ Deem ○ Soiled ○ Perpetrate ● After partners have worked, as a class review: ○ What are the negatives of being “conveyed back” (include at least three). ○ What are the signers asking of their community? ○ Where do you think this appeared? ○ What can you infer about where it appeared? ○ What question do you have after reading this document? Or what surprises you most about the document?
Day 3:
Day 3:
Introduce and show video: Whispers of Angels: A Story of the Underground Railroad.
Students should prepare to write a brief summary of the movie. Look for the following historical figures and what they did: ● William Still ● Thomas Garrett ● Henry “Box” Brown ● William and Ellen Craft
Day 4:
Day 4:
1. Frame article by explaining that in the article the author is remembering and writing about events from his past. Distribute the Thanksgiving Reminiscences article. 2. Use gradual release for examining the article. 3. Exit ticket: Students should sign up for which perspective/role they will take on in order to write their editorial, a topic of the FSA that they might include, and a potential vocabulary term that they might include. For example: a. Role Judge in Springfield b. FSA talking points Judge will get paid more to return fugitive to the South.
1. Students ask clarifying questions. 2. Examine Thanksgiving Reminiscences according to SC3 article for the risk in participating in underground railroad and fill out graphic organizer. This is done by each student alone, and will be collected for assessment. 3. Fill out exit ticket.
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c. Vocabulary deem 4. Homework Assessment/Next day (after SC3 organizer is returned): Write an editorial (either pro or con FSA) with vocabulary learned and at least two consequences of the Fugitive Slave Act. In your editorial respond to the specific case outlined in the “Fugitive Slave” Boston Daily Courier, Dec 1 1859 article (included at end of the Thanksgiving Reminiscences article). Use notes and graphic organizers from this unit to aid in writing the editorial.
4. Student will complete a one page editorial.
Materials and Sources Used Primary sources: 1. Carpenter, Charles C. "“A Thanksgiving Reminiscence. How Some Fugitive Slaves in Springfield Were Helped on to Freedom,”." Springfield Republican [Springfield] 30 Nov. 1899: n. pag. GenealogyBank. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. Annotation: An editorial article. The author is recounting the events of fugitive slaves who came to his area 40 years prior and how he and the community reacted. 2. Caution Colored people of Boston. Broadside. Boston 1851. LOC http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/h?ammem/rbpebib:@field (NUMBER+@band(rbpe+06002200)) Annotation: Poster showing civil disobedience in Boston, as the poster author is advising fugitives to evade the law. 3. "To The Citizens of Northampton." Editorial. Northampton Courier 15 Oct. 1850: n. page. Print. Annotation: A newspaper article reacting to the recent adoption of the Fugitive Slave Act written by free and fugitive African Americans, inviting citizens of Northampton, Massachusets to a meeting to discuss the Fugitive Slave Act.
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Secondary source: Baker, Sharon Kelly, dir. "Whispers of Angels: A Story of the Underground Railroad." Whispers of Angels. WITN Delaware Public Television. 22, Wilmington, DE, 2002. YouTube. Web. 30 July 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=10&v=vmEl202iBJM> Annotation: Whispers of Angels tells the story of the critical Eastern Line of the Underground Railroad and its role in the 19th century antislavery movement in America. Dramatic narrative scenes, underscored with specially recorded period music, and interviews with top scholars explore themes of courage and racial cooperation in the years leading up to the Civil War. What other curricular materials do you plan to use to support this project? Graphic organizers, word walls, sticky notes.
Reflection What suggestions do you have for other teachers who might use this lesson? ● As a challenge activity for differentiated instruction, students could examine the Fugitive Slave Act itself. http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=009/llsl009.db&recNum=48 9 ● Multiweek extension of lesson: Trial of the Secret Six (financial backers of John Brown) role play created by Steve Pacheco: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/brown/secret_six.pdf ● To do the role play you need to get a few books referenced in the role play instructions, including: ○ Renehan, Edward J. Jr. The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired With John Brown. South Carolina: The University of South Carolina Press, 1997. ● Study the Anthony Burns case. The Judge’s ruling in the the Burns case could be a great comparison to contemporary judges in the South who are refusing to follow US supreme court decision to make same sex marriage legal in the US.
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● There is a nice summary of Judge Loring’s participation in the Anthony Burns case and the fallout for him: http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/1593 ● To shorten this entire lesson into one class period, the three text based primary sources could be read in small groups in jigsaw fashion and the teacher could facilitate analysis of the three to emphasize the main issues addressed.
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Appendix A:
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Appendix A (continued):
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