Suggested Learning targets / Goal statements
Key: SWBAT = Students will be able to…
- SWBAT discuss and analyze the characteristics of narratives of enslaved Africans and African Caribbean and Indigenous peoples
- SWBAT discuss and analyze narratives of Caribbean slaves, slave traders, privateers, etc.
- SWBAT compare and contrast the narratives of slaves, slave traders, privateers, etc., involved in the Transatlantic slave trade and slavery in the United States
- SWBAT (Students will be able to discover and analyze data and facts about the Transatlantic slave trade and slave trade in the Caribbean.
- SWBAT discuss and analyze the impact of the Transatlantic slave trade
- SWBAT make connections between slavery in the United States and the Transatlantic slave trade
- SWBAT discover characteristics of Caribbean slavery
- SWBAT discover characteristics of slavery in the United States
- SWBAT compare and contrast the characteristics of the Transatlantic slave trade and slavery in the United States
- SWBAT discuss and analyze the impact of slavery on the economies of the Caribbean and the southern states where slavery was a practice
Introduction activities
Activity: Gallery Walk of Pictures, Music, Posters/ artifacts/Digital representations to discover information, take notes and log their questions. Suggested artifacts and items representing Haiti, Cuba, Caribbean Slavery, South Carolina, Louisiana, and other items related to the life of enslaved Africans in America.
1.As a group, students discuss their findings and any similarities.
2.Student response question(s)-Activity Description: Students will write responses to the following questions:
What is slavery?
Where did slavery start or originate?
Does slavery still exist today?
3.Share out/Pair share their answers and then adjust their opinions and answers at the end of the unit to reveal.
Activity: Myth/Lie/Truth –
Estimated time/Length of Activity – 45 minutes to 90 / 1-2 class periods
Activity Description: Teacher give students a list of brief statements and facts related to Slavery in the United States and the influences of the Caribbean. Student Task: Students will attempt to identify the statements as a myth, lie or truth.
Part two of Activity: Share out/ Class Discussion- As the class discusses their answers teachers should log responses on the white board or chart paper. Through this process students will begin to make connections and analyze commonalities. The teacher may need to guide students through/to “touching” the expected outcomes.
Additional Option to Part two/Class Discussion: Students keep their tally cards and discuss the results as they go through the lessons/unit
Choice of Activities that involve peer-to-peer interactions
- Whole-Class Discussion – led by teacher or assigned student leaders
- Group Discussions where students compare and discuss their answers
Activity: KWL chart/ Buzzer Beater – In 5 minutes list everything you know about slavery. (You can choose to gear it to slavery in the United States.)
Activity: Movies and More- Use Pirates of the Caribbean clips to introduce the human cargo and trade that occurred in the transatlantic. Show the depiction of life during the time period represented in the films versus what actually occurred during that time period.
Activity: Artifacts/Art -Archeological / Time Capsule Discovery – Teacher places 3-5 items, pictures, or artifacts in a container at several stations around the room. Students will work in small groups to log characteristics or things that they observe/notice.
- Artifact canisters can either be the same or different
- Alternative activity – Teacher creates 5-6 different Artifacts Cannisters. Groups will rotate with their observation logs (teacher created) making note of characteristics or things that they observe/notice.
- Note: During their rounds students should begin to form some common threads/comparisons.
Daily Activities / Suggested Activities
Activity – Create an interactive project based on research from the Fugitive Barbados Mapping Project
Activity - Create a chart/classroom wall mural or digital media format that shows the entry of Caribbean culture through the lives of their enslaved Africans in the United States. Students can work in groups, or this can be a whole class activity. Students will need organizers and check ins weekly to ensure expected outcomes.
Activity Latitude and Longitude – Marking the location of slave ship travel and or slave uprisings in the Caribbean and United States on a map.
Activity: Chart the Course – Students will chart the course and timeline of ships making a trip from Africa (West Africa) to the Caribbean and then from the Caribbean to the United States
Activity: Mapping/Charting the arrival and disembarkation and transfer of enslaved African/ Mulatto/ people
Activity: Diorama of a slave ship – Create a model (3-D model) representation of the slave ship. The slave ship should contain an accurate representation of the average to maximum number of allowed Africans human cargo in the representation.
- Special Note: The average legal allowance ships were able to hold during the Transatlantic slave trade could range anywhere from 400- 650. In turn, the physical representation of human beings may need to be done using toothpicks. Not only will students be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the modes of transportation of human cargo: stolen and kidnapped Africans. The stark reality of the cruelty of slavery and the inhumane conditions will also be a focal point of this activity
Activity: Compare and contrast the narratives of several enslaved Africans from the United States and the Caribbean. Students can perform monologues of sections of the narrative or create an online repository of narratives and or resources.
Activity: Tropes Compare and Contrast Activity – students will research and trace the beginnings of tropes of Caribbean and African American Blacks. The tropes can be looked at through the lens of those living in the United States and the lens of those looking through a Caribbean lens. ( Due to the sensitivity of what may be discussed regarding the tropes, teachers may wish to do this activity for older students. This activity can be used for students in grades 8 through 12.)
Activity: Family Tree – trace the movements of enslaved family members throughout the Caribbean to the United States or other parts of the world.
- Special Note: Enslaved Africans were transported from their places of enslavement in the Caribbean and forcefully relocated to other continents for failed attempts to revolt or run away.
Culminating / End-of-Unit Activities
Special note: These lessons can also be used as assessments or performance-based assessments during which students demonstrate their understanding, knowledge and connections and synthesis of the learning goals/ objectives.
Activity: Sounds and voices of the from the Caribbean to the United States
- How to start the project/assessment: By the end of this unit students should be familiar with the narratives presented in the unit. Students may also research and then choose a narrative from an individual involved in the Transatlantic slave trade—whether it be an enslaved African, transplanted Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean people, slave traders, privateers, etc.
- Students can pick a narrative or be assigned a narrative by the teacher (Lesson allows differentiation by giving students choices in their learning)
- Students use music tell the story of an event or of the person’s entire life based on that narrative.
- Students find songs to compile a soundtrack of the event or person’s life. The soundtrack list must include the name of the song/ the musical artist / group/ individual(s). The songs must align with the story being told.
- Special Note A rubric listing expectations for the soundtrack can be developed via whole class discussions with student. This activity is another way to encourage students to be responsible for their own learning. It also creates student “buy in.”
Activity: I am…My Story: A Journaling Experience in Narrative writing (Synthesis/Creation level in Bloom’s taxonomy)
- How to start the project/assessment: Students will decide to write/journal in the persona of a research character OR
- The individual should be involved in the Transatlantic slave trade—whether it be an enslaved African, transplanted Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean people, slave traders, privateers, etc.
- There is the possibility of finding folk heroes, someone working in government or living in the areas or regions where enslaved people lived and worked or were held captive.
- The individual must have a name / birthplace of origination / and a back story / back-ground story.
Activities related to Geography Skills:
- Compare and contrast the physical environments of the Caribbean and the southern region of the United States.
- Students will create dioramas or physical representations of the regions (depicting land, soil, climate, and crops etc.)