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African-American Communities in the North Before the Civil War
Introduction
Fully one-third of Patriot soldiers at the Battle of
Bunker Hill were African Americans. Census data also reveal that there were
slaves and free Blacks living in the North in 1790 and after. What do we know
about African-American communities in the North in the years after the American
Revolution?
In this lesson, students will tour and/or read about
some important free African-American communities thriving in the North before
the Civil War.
Note: This lesson may be taught either as a stand-alone
lesson or as a prequel to the complementary EDSITEment lesson After
the American Revolution: Free African Americans in the North.
Guiding Questions:
What was life like in three free African-American communities between the American Revolution and the Civil War? What generalizations can be made about life in the North for African Americans?
Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:
- Name and locate on a map the African-American communities studied.
- Describe some important elements of everyday life in one or more communities.
Preparing
to Teach this Lesson
- Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
- Download the blackline master for this lesson, available here as a PDF file. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
- Students will research three communities. They can work in three groups with each group studying one community, or in six groups with each community covered by two groups. If four groups suits best, assign two groups to Philadelphia, as there are many resources available for that community.
- For background on African Americans between the American Revolution and
the Civil War, read the essay Risen
from Our Blood and Tears from Humanities magazine, published
by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Part
I and Part
II of “Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period” on the EDSITEment-reviewed
resource American Memory. For more detail,
as well as a discussion of manumission—the most common route to emancipation—read
Free Blacks
in the United States on Africana.com,
a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Internet
Public Library. For background on Philadelphia, read Margaret
Washington on Philadelphia on the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Africans
in America.
- For further reading for younger readers and teachers, consult the Recommended Reading List provided here as a PDF file.
Suggested
Activities
1. A Map Only Tells Part of the Story
2. Three Free African-American Communities
3. Sharing the Information
1. A Map Only Tells Part of the
Story
Share with the class a map showing the free and slave
states, such as the Reynold's
Map on the Library of Congress's America's
Library, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed resource American
Memory (a larger version of the Reynolds
Map, which can be viewed in detail online, is available on American
Memory). What information about the United States does the map illustrate?
How many slaves would students guess were living in New Jersey in 1850? How
many free African Americans would students guess were living in North Carolina
or Virginia compared to Massachusetts or Pennsylvania? The real answers, according
to the census data, can be quite surprising.
On the home page of the Historical
Census Browser, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website American
Studies at the University of Virginia, click on "1850." Then, under "Free
Colored Population," choose "Total Free Colored Population," and under "Slave
Population," choose "Total Number of Slaves." Click on "Browse 1850 Data" to
make a comparison for every state. Share the census data with students or have
them work at computers themselves. Ask students how many slaves lived in New
Jersey (237). Did any other northern states have slaves in 1850? (No.) In which
states (northern and southern) were many free African Americans living?
If possible, allow students to use the Historical Census
Browser on their own to research similar data for 1790 and a variety of later
years. (NOTE: The census was not consistent in the categories of data collected
from year to year.) Or, share some of the following surprising data with the
class:
- Number of slaves: There were 694,207 slaves in the U.S. In New York, there were 21,193 slaves. In Kentucky, a so-called border state (and one that later refused to ratify the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution), there were 12,430.
- Number of free, colored, slave-holding families in the northern states: The census counted slave-holding African Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Data were not available for the other states in the North.
- Number of free, colored, non-slave-holding families in the northern states: There were 4,276 free, colored, non-slave-holding families counted in the U.S. (NOTE: Data were not available from every state.). There were 545 free, non-slave-holding colored households in Pennsylvania. In North Carolina, there were 652.
Discuss the data. What did students notice? What was
surprising? (For example, in 1790, only three states had no slaves; in many
states, free African Americans owned slaves.) As students look at data from
various years, they can research changes in the free and enslaved populations
of African Americans. The population of free African Americans in the North
grew steadily.
If desired, students can also view the interactive Map:
The Growing New Nation on the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Africans
in America. It dramatizes some of the important information about African-American
populations in the young nation. An overview is offered in the text on the page.
If time permits, organize student groups for the next
activity.
2. Three Free African-American
Communities
Students will work in three to six groups to learn about
three African-American communities (see Preparing to Teach
This Lesson, above, for suggestions on how to best divide your class).
If you have not already done so, this is a good time
to provide an overview of the U.S. population after the American Revolution
by sharing the interactive map and text on the page Map:
The Growing New Nation on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Africans
in America and/or in the brief essay Diversity,
available on the PBS website Liberty,
a link from Africans in America.
If desired, consult the Historical
Census Browser, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed resource American
Studies at the University of Virginia, for statistics about the three communities—Boston,
Philadelphia, and Lancaster County, Pa. (NOTE: The Census Browser offers the
option of locating statistics by county. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County,
which includes other nearby communities. Philadelphia is a county as well as
a city.). For example, in 1830, 2,490 free African Americans lived in rural
Lancaster County, third only to Philadelphia (15,604) and nearby Chester County.
Help the class locate these communities on a map. In addition to the maps already
cited, useful maps are available on the EDSITEment partner website National
Geographic Xpeditions and the Perry-Castaneda
Library Map Collection, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed resource LANIC.
Student groups will use the EDSITEment-reviewed resources listed below to research the three communities. As they conduct their research, students should fill in the appropriate column on the chart “Three African-American Communities” on page 1 of the PDF file (see Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions). Each group should also make one very neat master copy of the chart.
Boston
Philadelphia
Lancaster County, Pa.
3. Sharing the Information
As each group shares its information, students should complete the chart "Three African-American Communities" on page 1 of the PDF file (see Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions). Once each group's findings are shared, encourage class discussion. What similarities did students notice about the experiences of free African Americans in the three communities? What differences? What did students find surprising about the information?
Assessing the Lesson
Rearrange the students into 10 groups, each responsible for one area in the first column on the chart "Three African-American Communities" on page 1 of the PDF file (see Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions). Each group is responsible for writing no more than two sentences the members believe make a correct generalization summarizing the information in that area (for example, "The Church was the center of life in the free African-American communities," or "Free African Americans commonly faced racism and violence in their communities."). Post the statements. Ask students to locate one image, document, or incident that typifies the generalization and post it under the statement. Another option would be to challenge student groups to create skits that dramatize a historical incident emblematic of each generalization or community.
Extending
the Lesson
- Washington, D.C., as the capital of the nation and as a district carved
from slaveholding territory, makes a compelling study for students interested
in further researching the lives of African Americans. Here are two places
to start:
- The EDSITEment-reviewed website The
Valley of the Shadow has extensive resources comparing two nearby communities,
Franklin County, Pa., and Augusta County, Va.-one free and one slave. In the
section The
Eve of War, students who want to dig deeply can find a wealth of material
on free and enslaved African Americans.
Selected
EDSITEment Websites
Standards Alignment
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