Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources
Introduction
The
realities of slavery and Reconstruction hit home in poignant oral histories from the Library of Congress. In these activities, students research narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the U.S. -- both before and after emancipation. From varied stories, students sample the breadth of individual experiences, make generalizations about the effects
of slavery and Reconstruction on African Americans, and evaluate primary source documents.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the lesson, students
will be able to:
1. Interpret primary source oral history documents.
2.
Summarize narratives of former slaves.
3. Compare and contrast life during
slavery with life afterward.
4. Evaluate oral history sources-their strengths
and limitations.
Guiding
Questions:
What did individual slaves do before the Civil War and afterward?
Did emancipation change their lives? If so, how? What do oral histories teach
us about historical events? What questions do they raise? Are memories and personal
stories always factually correct?
Preparing to Teach This Lesson
In
preparation for this lesson, teachers will need to preview and select content
from the website Born
in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project 1936-1938,
located on the EDSITEment-reviewed resource American
Memory Project. They might also need to review information about African Americans
in the 19th century, primary source documents, oral histories, and these narratives
in particular. For the activities, educators should prepare handout materials
and instruct students in reading comprehension strategies-such as how to write
summaries with "story pyramids" or "two-column notes," described below. Finally,
students will need guidance in class discussions and in a journal reflection activity.
If students are studying slavery for the first
time, teachers might want to research background information on the experiences
of African Americans in the nineteenth century. The following EDSITEment-reviewed
websites provide relevant information:
The
content goals are (1) to see slavery and freedom from a real person's perspective,
and (2) to understand that individual experiences varied greatly. To find examples
of stories of former slaves, research texts at Born
in Slavery. This site archives 2,300 oral histories, which you can browse
by narrator, keyword, or state. It is important to discuss with students the different
words used to describe African Americans in these stories. Many use terms that
we now consider derogatory and insulting, and students will need to understand
and be sensitive to these differences. Use your judgment in choosing readings
appropriate for your students. Sample stories
for this grade range include the following: -
Silas
Abbott, Arkansas
- Betty
Abernathy, Missouri
- Bill
Austin, Florida
- Sarah
Ashley, Texas
- William
Baltimore, Arkansas
- Charley
Barber, South Carolina
- Millie
Barber, South Carolina
- Adah
Isabelle Suggs, Indiana
- Abe
Whitess, Alabama
- Mary
Jane Wilson, Virginia (pioneer teacher)
Choose several stories that suit the reading level and age of your students and
that represent people of different ages, genders, occupations, and geographic
locations. These accounts gain immediacy if you pair them with photographs of
the narrators. (Browse photographs by subject and name.) Unfortunately, there
are fewer portraits than interviews, so it might not be possible to use a photograph
in every case. You will probably want to print out the stories and pictures you
select, unless you can share them with the class directly from the computer via
projection. After students read the selections,
they will summarize and review the material. Third and fourth grade students could
use formats called "story pyramids" or "two-column notes," while some fourth and
fifth grade students could summarize a story with a paragraph instead. A story
pyramid begins with a main character's name at the top, two words describing the
character on the next line, three words that describe the setting on the next
line, four words that describe the important events below, and five words describing
the main idea at the pyramid's base. These words should be descriptive, but they
are not necessarily complete sentences. (You can print out the attached story
pyramid, provided in pdf format.) Story pyramids
focus on a character and his/her story -- like the source narratives themselves.
This strategy helps students identify key aspects of a reading, which is useful
because oral history tends to be loosely organized and rambling, like extemporaneous
dialogue. The brief, poetic quality of story pyramids also suits the unique characters
represented in the narratives. Alternatively, two-column notes ask students to
summarize details in a format that directly mirrors the before/after slavery objective.
In that case, the heading of the paper would be the narrator's name and the two
columns represent "What (name) did during slavery" and "What (name) did after
slavery." Both of these activities encourage active reading and emphasize comprehension.
Model these activities with a sample narrative before students tackle the assignments.
To prepare for the discussion on oral histories and primary sources, consult the
Library of Congress's learning page called "The
Historian's Sources." It will provide general information about the different
kinds of primary sources and give guidelines for analyzing their reliability.
For details about these narratives in particular, see the section "A
Note on the Language of the Narratives," which provides background on this
project, describes direction and training given to interviewers, and alerts you
to cultural stereotypes or biases that might be evident in dialects or other aspects
of the stories. Full-class discussion should reveal the power of oral histories
(their specificity and immediacy) and their limitations. Testimony could be true
or false, mistakenly remembered, tempered by time, changed by the interviewer,
and influenced by what (black) subject thinks (white) interviewer wants to hear.
Activities
1 Describe the Federal Writers' Project and define oral history for the class. What
was the goal of the Federal Writers' Project? How are oral histories gathered
and documented? How are they similar to and different from textbooks? How are
they similar to and different from fictional stories?
Information about the origin, history, evolution, purposes, and activities of
the Federal Writers' Project is available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource
Born in Slavery: Slave
Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project 1936-1938 , at the Introduction
to the WPA Slave Narratives, in the sections on The
WPA and Americans' Life Histories. Contextual
information about slavery may have already been established with earlier lessons.
If not, then ask students to describe what they already know about nineteenth-century
African-American life. What did blacks in the South do before and after they gained
freedom? Responses could be organized in the form of a Venn diagram. One circle
represents examples of slave activities before emancipation, and the other circle
represents things former slaves did after the Civil War. The intersection would
include activities or lifestyles that were similar in both periods. (See attached
Venn diagram file for sample.) Keep the student answers
(whether in list or Venn diagram form) posted throughout the activity for future
reference.
2 Explain that students will learn about African Americans'
experiences before and after the Civil War using oral histories. Point out that
they will need to read carefully because they will later summarize the material.
If you have not used story pyramids or two-column notes before, explain and model
them for students using a sample slave narrative. Third
graders might need to read stories aloud as a class, or the teacher might need
to read them aloud to them. In that case, you might want to cover at least two
or three stories, or excerpts from a few stories, so students understand the variety
of individual experiences. Fourth or fifth graders
can probably work independently in pairs or small groups with a narrative of their
choice. Within small groups, assign roles such as recorder, reader, and discussion
leader to coordinate the activity.
3 Students
then read a slave narrative from the Federal Writers' Project. Whether working
as a class or in small groups, they should help each other read the selection
and interpret dialect if there is any. Afterward, students discuss what is most
important in the story they read. Each group (or the full class) then writes a
story pyramid to summarize the historical person and his or her story. Alternately,
students can complete a worksheet based on two-column notes. During or after the
reading, each group lists important details that occurred during slavery (left-hand
column) and after slavery (right-hand column).
Some fourth or fifth grade classes might need a different summary activity, such
as writing their own paragraph to summarize the story. Teachers should provide
a couple of guiding questions to help students organize their ideas and compose
their paragraphs. (See questions in step 4.)
4 If students work in groups, each one then takes turns sharing
information with the class. What is the name of their narrator? In what year and
place was he or she interviewed? Where did the person live? Ask students to point
to the area on a classroom map or on the online map of the U.S. available at the
EDSITEment-reviewed resource National
Geographic Society Xpeditions. The groups should present their story pyramid
or two-column notes. What did their subject do before and after emancipation?
If they have a portrait of their narrator, they should display or circulate it.
While students share their findings, the teacher or a group member can write out
the summary on the board. If the class works
together as a whole, the teacher should lead the students in making a story pyramid
or two-column notes for each reading. Remember to ask students where the subject
lives and have students find that area on a map. Emphasize that these are experiences
of people who lived and worked in the South. There were other African Americans
in the North who were free and had different experiences during that time period.
5 After all groups have shared their research (or after the
whole class has studied at least two stories), hold a full class discussion. How
has the reading changed students' understanding of slavery? Discuss different
perspectives of ex-slaves. What details intrigued or surprised them? What did
these individuals do during slavery and afterward? Did life change significantly
for African Americans during Reconstruction? (Some lives changed a lot, while
others stayed the same. Some former slaves learned to read, some became teachers
or railroad workers. Others continued to work on farms as poor sharecroppers.
Some voted for the first time and earned their first real wages during Reconstruction.)
Refer to student summaries and the stories studied in class.
How much time had passed between slavery and interviews? (more than 60 years)
How might this time lag affect their stories? How old are the subjects when interviewed?
Does age affect memories? Who interviewed the people and documented their stories?
Is it significant that interviewers were white, while the subjects were black?
If so, why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of oral histories? Go
back to the answers posted in your warm-up discussion (in step 1). What new information
have students learned about oral histories and primary sources? Were any of their
previous ideas inaccurate? Did they enjoy learning about real people through individual
stories? If so, why?
6 Ask
each student to reflect on the material they covered in the lesson. Which story
stands out in their minds most? Why? Have each person document his or her answers
in a learning log entry. If they need a jumpstart, they can begin entries with
a statement such as "When I think back on the story of (name of ex-slave), I will
remember_____________________________." Suggest a word count or page length appropriate
for your class.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
Standards Alignment
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