TEACHINGTEACHING HARDHARD HISTORYHISTORY

AA FRAMEWORKFRAMEWORK FORFOR TEACHINGTEACHING AMERICANAMERICAN SLAVERYSLAVERY

Teaching Hard History A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY

TEACHING TOLERANCE

© 2018 SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. —james baldwin, “black english: a dishonest argument”

2 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY CONTENTS

Teaching Hard History 4 Key Concepts and Summary Objectives 6 Pre-Colonial and Colonial Era | to 1763 8 The Revolutionary Period and the Constitution | 1763–1787 12 Slavery in the Early Republic | 1787-1807 16 The Expansion of Slavery | 1807–1848 18 The Sectional Crisis and Civil War | 1848–1877 24 Framework | Appendix 32 Acknowledgments 40 Teaching Hard History A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY

Welcome to A Framework for Teaching for integrating American slavery across the American Slavery.* The team of historians entire span of pre-1877 American history. Each and social studies experts who worked on this era is designated with a section title and with project are passionate about its importance dates so teachers can skip to a particular time and pleased to share this document outlining period or consult the framework continuously the components of the framework and advice as they move through their courses. for how to use them. Our goal is to inspire a widespread com- 3 Each era also contains “Summary mitment to robust and effective teaching Objectives,” broad student learning outcomes about American slavery in K–12 classrooms. related to the era. There are 21 Summary This history is fundamental to understand- Objectives in this document; all are mapped ing our nation’s past and its present. Based to the Key Concepts. (See page 6.) on our research and a review of the materi- als currently available to educators, however, 4 Beneath each Summary Objective, the we’ve come to the conclusion that the topic framework includes two sections providing is being taught without adequate breadth or additional support for teaching that objective. depth. As a result, students are unable to draw Because the literature on American slavery is connections between historical events and the vast and we don’t expect all teachers to be con- concurrent struggles for racial equality or to tent experts, we’ve included a section titled contextualize how the world they inhabit was “What else should my students know?” This shaped by the institution of slavery and its section provides key content at a more granu- ideological progeny, white supremacy. lar level. (See page 32 for a list of all Summary A Framework for Teaching American Slavery Objectives and key content.) was created to fill this void. We have designed this resource for teachers with the hope that 5 The last section of each Summary Objective it can be used at every level of instruction to is called “How can I teach this?” This section influence the development of lessons, curric- provides information about critical resources ula and even textbooks. that can help educators plan lessons for each objective. Many of these resources, and scores 1 The framework begins with 10 “Key of other primary and secondary sources, are Concepts,” important ideas that students need available for download in the Teaching Hard to truly understand if they are to grasp the his- History Text Library. torical significance of slavery. The Key Concepts “American” is *used instead of also serve as tools educators can use to structure Available through the Teaching Tolerance “United States” because we will their teaching. website, tolerance.org, the Teaching Hard address colonial History Text Library provides educators with North American experience in 2 These ideas are expanded in the chrono- free access to a large collection of primary and those lands that will become the logical scope and sequence, which breaks the secondary sources they can use as they imple- United States. framework into five eras to provide a blueprint ment the framework in their curriculum and

4 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY 1

KEY CONCEPTS 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival Pre-Colonial and inthe Americas, was important to all of 2 the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. Colonial Era | to 1763 2. Slavery and the slave 3 trade were central to the development and growth of the economy SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 1 to enslave; some colonists fi nanced or other- across British North America and, later, the Students will recognize that slavery existed wise encouraged Native American allies to United States. around the world prior to the European settle- engage in wars with other Native Americans 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the ment of North America. for the purpose of acquiring Native Americans founding documents; MAPS TO KEY CONCEPT 1 to enslave. In South Carolina, English enslave- enslavers dominated 4 the federal government, ment of Native Americans was so pervasive and Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 What else should my students know? lucrative that it fi nanced the rise of American through 1860. 1.ABefore the 15th century, most enslaved rice plantations. 4. “Slavery was an people were not Africans. Even the plantation institution of power,” 5 designed to create system itself did not begin with African labor: How can I teach this? profit for the enslavers and break the will of Until the 1450s, European ugar planters in The BBC program Story of Africa and its accom- the enslaved and was the Mediterranean imported enslaved laborers panying website allow users to search for a relentless quest for profit abetted by from parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. information about slavery and the slave trade racism.* in Africa. t-t.site/story-africa 5. Enslaved people resisted the eŠ orts of 1.BSlavery was widespread in larger African their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in kingdoms (the Kongo and Asante, for exam- “Indian Slavery in the Americas” by Alan Gallay both revolutionary and ple). It was quite limited in smaller societies is a short essay on the Gilder Lehrman Institute and fundamentally changed the existing slave based on data including (but not limited to) ori- everyday ways. in regions like the Upper Guinea Coast. of American History website, available to K-12 trade in Africa. The demand for enslaved peo- gin, destination or date. t-t.site/slave-voyages 6. The experience of slavery varied depending teachers with a free account. It is accessible as ple in the European colonies of the Western on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of 1.CIn many African societies, people became a reading assignment for upper-level students Hemisphere greatly expanded the African slave “Stowage on the Slave Ship Brookes, 1788” slaveholding and gender. enslaved when they were captured during war. or can be used as teacher preparation. trade beyond its traditional wartime context. represents 18th-century guidelines for trans- 7. Slavery was the The status of enslaved people changed as they t-t.site/indian-slavery porting enslaved people during the Middle central cause of the Civil War. 2.D learned the customs and integrated into their Europeans believed that dark skin color Passage. Abolitionists used this image to con- 8. Slavery shaped the captors’ community. Slavery was not always (which they hyperbolically described as vey the horrifying conditions enslaved people fundamental beliefs of Americans about intergenerational; the children of enslaved SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 2 “black”), lack of Christianity and different suœ ered while being forcibly transported from race and whiteness, and white supremacy parents were not necessarily enslaved. Students will be able to describe the slave trade styles of dress were evidence that Africans were Africa to the Americas. was both a product and from Africa to the Americas. less civilized. legacy of slavery. 1.DSlavery was a part of some Native American MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10 Portuguese chronicler Gomes Eannes de 9. Enslaved and free people of African societies before European settlement. In some 2.EThe Middle Passage was the voyage of Azurara compiled accounts of the slave trade descent had a profound impact on American Native American societies, slavery could be What else should my students know? enslaved people from the west coast of Africa circa 1450. His description of the division of culture, producing socially alienating. But others had a built-in 2.AIn the 1400s, Portugal was the earliest par- to the Americas. Enslaved people endured trau- captives demonstrates the prejudices of the leaders and literary, artistic and folk fl exibility about slavery, so enslaved people ticipant in the transaltantic slave trade. It was matic conditions on slavers' ships, including Europeans and the horrors of the slave trade. traditions that continue could integrate into their societies and even followed by other European nations. cramped quarters, meager rations and phys- to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how become people of power and influence. ical and sexual assault. Excerpts from slaver John Newton’s journal to read and interpret 2.BWestern Hemispheric destinations of describe the terrors of the Middle Passage, the sources that tell the story of American 1.EEuropean colonists in North America captive Africans included South America, the How can I teach this? including disease, suicide attempts and sex- slavery, we gain insight into some of what bought, sold and enslaved Native Americans. Caribbean and North America. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database maps ual assault. He also discusses the ways enslaved enslaving and enslaved Some white colonists engaged in wars for the the destinations of ships of the Middle Passage people resisted their captors, including plans Americans aspired to, created, thought explicit purpose of acquiring Native Americans 2.CEuropean slave traders participated in and allows users to search slave trade voyages for violent rebellion. and desired.

8 TEACHING HARD HISTORY FRAMEWORK TEACHING TOLERANCE 9

their classrooms. The library is searchable additional teaching resources presented in Each chrono- logical era by topic, author or grade level, and each text A Framework for Teaching American Slavery includes a de- includes an introduction and reading questions accomplish these goals and—in doing so—sig- scription of how for students. nificantly raise the quality of our K–12 history to teach the rel- evant Summary instruction and of our national dialogue about Objectives. Any national effort to improve our teaching race, racism and racial reconciliation. The purple text about the American enslavement of Africans indicates links to external must make clear connections between slavery supporting and the major events of American history. It resources or to must provide nuanced primary and secondary texts found in the Teaching sources that educators and students can rely Hard History on to further meaningful inquiry and dialogue. Text Library. It must also acknowledge the causal connec- tion between American slavery and white supremacy, an ideology that disrupts inter- group relationships and undermines justice in our country even today. It is our hope that the Key Concepts, Summary Objectives and

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 5 Key Concepts and Summary Objectives

The Key Concepts are important ideas that students must truly understand if they are to grasp the historical significance of slavery. They also serve as tools educators can use to structure their teaching. Summary Objectives are broad student learning outcomes related to each chronological era in the frame- work. Each of the 21 Summary Objectives maps to at least one Key Concept.

KEY CONCEPTS

1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies.

2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and, later, the United States.

3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860.

4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.*

5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and everyday ways.

6. The experience of slavery varied depending on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of slaveholding and gender.

7. Slavery was the central cause of the Civil War.

8. Slavery shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness, and white supremacy was both a product and legacy of slavery.

9. Enslaved and free people of African descent had a profound impact on American culture, producing leaders and literary, artistic and folk traditions that continue to influence the nation.

10. By knowing how to read and interpret the sources that tell the story of American slavery, we gain insight into some of what enslaving and enslaved Americans aspired to, created, thought and desired.

Ira Berlin, “Foreword: The Short Course for Bringing Slavery into the Classroom in Ten Not-So-Easy Pieces” in Understanding and Teach- ing* American Slavery, ed. Bethany Jay and Cynthia Lyerly (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2016), xviii.

6 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY SUMMARY OBJECTIVES KEY CONCEPT PRE-COLONIAL AND COLONIAL ERA | TO 1763 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1. Students will recognize that slavery existed around the world prior to the European settlement of North America.

2. Students will be able to describe the slave trade from Africa to the Americas.

3. Students will be able to discuss the labor and culture of enslaved people during the colonial era.

4. Students will be able to demonstrate the impact of slavery on the economies of French, British and Spanish North America.

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD AND THE CONSTITUTION | 1763–1787 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5. Students will identify ways that slavery was a key component of the escalating conflicts between England and the North American colonies in the period from 1763 to 1776.

6. Students will describe the ways African Americans participated in the Revolutionary War in support of both sides.

7. Students will demonstrate the ways that the Constitution provided direct and indirect protection to slavery and imbued enslavers and slave states with increased political power.

SLAVERY IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC | 1787-1808 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8. Students will examine the way the Revolutionary War affected the institution of slavery in the new nation. Students will examine the ways that slavery shaped domestic and foreign policy in the early Republic.

9. Students will examine the rapid expansion of cotton slavery across the southern United States.

THE EXPANSION OF SLAVERY | 1808–1848 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10. Students will understand the contours of the domestic slave trade as part of the nation’s economic and geographic expansion. 11. Students will be able to describe the principal ways the labor of enslaved people was organized and controlled in the antebellum United States. 12. Students will understand the growth of the abolitionist movement in the 1830s and the slaveholding states' view of the movement as a physical, economic and political threat. 13. Students will understand that enslaved people resisted slavery in ways that ranged from violence to smaller, everyday means of asserting their humanity and opposing the wishes and interests of their enslavers. 14. Students will be able to discuss the culture of enslaved Americans and its impact on American culture in general. THE SECTIONAL CRISIS AND CIVIL WAR | 1848–1877 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 15. Students will examine the expansion of slavery as a key factor in the domestic and foreign policy decisions of the United States in the 19th century.

16. Students will discuss the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent decision that several slave states made to secede from the Union to ensure the preservation and expansion of slavery. 17. Students will examine the evolving Union policies concerning slavery and African-American military service and understand how free black and enslaved communities affected the Civil War.

18. Students will examine the ways that people who were enslaved claimed their freedom after the Civil War.

19. Students will examine the ways that the federal government’s policies affected the lives of formerly enslaved people.

20. Students will examine the ways that white Southerners attempted to define freedom for freedpeople.

21. Students will examine the impact of the Compromise of 1877 and the removal of federal troops from the former Confederacy.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 7 Pre-Colonial and Colonial Era | to 1763

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 1 to enslave; some colonists financed or other- Students will recognize that slavery existed wise encouraged Native American allies to around the world prior to the European settle- engage in wars with other Native Americans ment of North America. for the purpose of acquiring Native Americans MAPS TO KEY CONCEPT 1 to enslave. In South Carolina, English enslave- ment of Native Americans was so pervasive and What else should my students know? lucrative that it financed the rise of American 1.A Before the 15th century, most enslaved rice plantations. people were not Africans. Even the plantation system itself did not begin with African labor: How can I teach this? Until the 1450s, European sugar planters in The BBC program Story of Africa and its accom- the Mediterranean imported enslaved laborers panying website allow users to search for from parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. information about slavery and the slave trade in Africa. t-t.site/story-africa 1.B Slavery was widespread in larger African kingdoms (the Kongo and Asante, for exam- “Indian Slavery in the Americas” by Alan Gallay ple). It was quite limited in smaller societies is a short essay on the Gilder Lehrman Institute in regions like the Upper Guinea Coast. of American History website, available to K-12 teachers with a free account. It is accessible as 1.C In many African societies, people were a reading assignment for upper-level students enslaved when they were captured during war. or can be used as teacher preparation. The status of enslaved people changed as they t-t.site/indian-slavery learned the customs and integrated into their captors’ community. Slavery was not always intergenerational; the children of enslaved SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 2 parents were not necessarily enslaved. Students will be able to describe the slave trade from Africa to the Americas. 1.D Slavery was a part of some Native American MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10 societies before European settlement. In some Native American societies, slavery could be What else should my students know? socially alienating. But others had a built-in 2.A In the 1400s, Portugal was the earliest par- flexibility about slavery, so enslaved people ticipant in the transatlantic slave trade. It was could integrate into their societies and even followed by other European nations. become people of power and influence. 2.B Western Hemispheric destinations of 1.E European colonists in North America captive Africans included South America, the bought, sold and enslaved Native Americans. Caribbean and North America. Some white colonists engaged in wars for the explicit purpose of acquiring Native Americans 2.C European slavers participated in and

8 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY KEY CONCEPTS 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and, later, the United States. 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860. 4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.* 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and fundamentally changed the existing slave based on data including (but not limited to) ori- everyday ways. trade in Africa. The demand for enslaved peo- gin, destination or date. t-t.site/slave-voyages 6. The experience of slavery varied depending ple in the European colonies of the Western on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of Hemisphere greatly expanded the African slave “Stowage on the Slave Ship Brookes, 1788” slaveholding and gender. trade beyond its traditional wartime context. represents 18th-century guidelines for trans- 7. Slavery was the porting enslaved people during the Middle central cause of the Civil War. 2.D Europeans believed that dark skin color Passage. Abolitionists used this image to con- 8. Slavery shaped the (which they hyperbolically described as vey the horrifying conditions enslaved people fundamental beliefs of Americans about “black”), lack of Christianity and different suffered while being forcibly transported from race and whiteness, and white supremacy styles of dress were evidence that Africans were Africa to the Americas. was both a product and less civilized. legacy of slavery. Portuguese chronicler Gomes Eannes de 9. Enslaved and free people of African 2.E The Middle Passage was the voyage of Azurara compiled accounts of the slave trade descent had a profound impact on American enslaved people from the west coast of Africa circa 1450. His description of the division of culture, producing to the Americas. Enslaved people endured trau- captives demonstrates the prejudices of the leaders and literary, artistic and folk matic conditions on slavers’ ships, including Europeans and the horrors of the slave trade. traditions that continue cramped quarters, meager rations and phys- to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how ical and sexual assault. Excerpts from slaver John Newton’s journal to read and interpret describe the terrors of the Middle Passage, the sources that tell the story of American How can I teach this? including disease, suicide attempts and sex- slavery, we gain insight into some of what The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database maps ual assault. He also discusses the ways enslaved enslaving and enslaved the destinations of ships of the Middle Passage people resisted their captors, including plans Americans aspired to, created, thought and allows users to search slave trade voyages for violent rebellion. and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 9 3.B In British North America, chattel slavery was initially poorly defined, and some enslaved Africans became free. In the 17th century, British colonists relied on enslaved Africans and Native Americans as well as indentured servants for labor.

3.C Enslaved workers performed heavy labor on tobacco plantations in the Chesapeake and rice plantations in the southern colonies. Though there were some larger plantations in the North, the majority of enslaved labor- ers there worked on small farms, as household labor and in other industries in urban areas.

3.D Enslaved people across the colonies main- tained aspects of their African cultures and resisted their enslavement at every turn.

How can I teach this? The 1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties was the first British North American colonial statute to guarantee the legality of enslaving Africans and Native Americans.

For more on the colonial enslavement of Native “Stowage on Americans, see Margaret Ellen Newell’s essay the Slave Ship SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 3 “The Changing Nature of Indian Slavery in New Brookes, 1788” Students will be able to discuss the labor and England, 1670-1720,” available through the web- represents culture of enslaved people during the colo- site of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. 18th-century guidelines for nial era. t-t.site/changing-indian-slavery transporting MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 & 10 enslaved people “Slave for sale” and “Runaway slave” adver- during the What else should my students know? tisements from colonial British America are Middle Passage. Abolitionists 3.A There is a significant difference between widely available and illustrate both the types used this image chattel slavery and indentured servitude. of work that enslaved people often performed to convey the Chattel slavery is associated with people of and their continued, sometimes violent, resis- horrifying African descent. It is defined as a system of slav- tance to enslavement. conditions enslaved people ery in which individuals become the personal suffered while property of another and can be bought, sold Colonial laws in Virginia between 1640 and 1705 being forcibly or traded as such. In chattel slavery, enslaved show increasingly specific definitions of who transported status is passed down to children. Indentured could be enslaved and increasingly restrictive from Africa to the Americas. servants were Europeans who sold their labor measures to control enslaved people. The shifts (or had their labor sold by others) for a certain in these laws demonstrate some key changes in number of years to pay a debt, usually the cost the system of slavery during the 17th century. of passage to the Americas. Indentured ser- vitude was not a lifelong status and was not In 1739, a group of enslaved people in South

inherited by children. Carolina participated in the Stono Rebellion, COLLECTION DIVISION, PRINTED EPHEMERA COLLECTIONS AND SPECIAL BOOK RARE OF CONGRESS, LIBRARY

10 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY the largest rebellion against slavery in the England were also involved. Northern mer- KEY CONCEPTS British mainland colonies. The National chants shipped foodstuffs, lumber and other 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans Humanities Center has compiled a useful over- necessities in exchange for rice, sugar and prior to their arrival in the Americas, was view of the rebellion. The site also includes two molasses produced by enslaved people. important to all of accounts of the rebellion—one provided at the the colonial powers and existed in all of time by a white official and another recorded in 4.D In Catholic colonies like Spanish Florida the European North 1937 by a descendant of the rebellion’s enslaved and French Louisiana, the Catholic Church and American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave leader. t-t.site/stono-rebellion the law sometimes offered pathways to freedom trade were central to the development and or limited protection to the enslaved. growth of the economy Bacon’s Rebellion (fought in Virginia in 1676) across British North America and, later, the provides a key event to discuss the transition How can I teach this? United States. from a mixed labor force to a total reliance The Watson Institute for International and 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the on enslaved black people. During Bacon’s Public Affairs at Brown University has devel- founding documents; Rebellion, enslaved and free black people oped a curriculum and resources on its site A enslavers dominated the federal government, united with poor white people to oppose Native Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 Americans and, later, the colony’s elite. This in New England. t-t.site/forgotten-history through 1860. event led to more clearly defined slave codes 4. “Slavery was an and a greater reliance on black slavery over The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database maps institution of power,” designed to create indentured servitude. the destinations of the ships of the Middle profit for the enslavers and break the will of Passage and allows users to search voyages the enslaved and was The African Burial Ground in New York City, based on data including (but not limited to) ori- a relentless quest for profit abetted by a colonial cemetery, was recently unearthed gin, destination or date. t-t.site/slave-voyages racism.* by a construction project. The bodies interred 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of there showed evidence of African burial tradi- The Triangular Trade is one way to discuss their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in tions such as the burying of ritual objects with northern colonies’ complicity in slavery and the both revolutionary and the deceased. slave trade. Fish and foodstuffs from northern everyday ways. colonies were traded to the West Indies to feed 6. The experience of slavery varied depending the enslaved population. In return, northern on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 4 merchants brought home sugar and molasses slaveholding and gender. Students will be able to demonstrate the impact produced by the enslaved population. That 7. Slavery was the of slavery on the economies of French, British sugar and molasses were distilled into rum central cause of the Civil War. and Spanish North America. in northern distilleries. Northern enslavers 8. Slavery shaped the MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 & 10 and traders sent some of that rum to West fundamental beliefs of Americans about Africa, where it was exchanged for enslaved race and whiteness, and white supremacy What else should my students know? Africans. Those enslaved Africans were sold to was both a product and 4.A Enslaved labor produced the major agri- the West Indies and mainland British North legacy of slavery. cultural exports of the colonial era including America. The Crispus Attucks Museum has a 9. Enslaved and free people of African tobacco, rice and indigo. useful graphic depicting the Triangular Trade. descent had a profound impact on American t-t.site/triangular-trade culture, producing 4.B England’s West Indian sugar colonies leaders and literary, artistic and folk produced more than three times as much rev- When studying the culture of slavery in traditions that continue enue as the southern colonies and more than Catholic colonies, the Code Noir (the set of to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how five times as much revenue as the economies French laws regulating slavery in Louisiana to read and interpret of the northern colonies. before the Louisiana Purchase) is a use- the sources that tell the story of American ful resource. slavery, we gain insight into some of what 4.C Participation in slavery and the slave enslaving and enslaved trade was not limited to southern colonies; Americans aspired to, created, thought the English in the Middle Colonies and New and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 11 The Revolutionary Period and the Constitution | 1763–1787

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 5 Several documents demonstrate the ways Students will identify ways that slavery was that enslaved colonists argued for their rights, a key component of the escalating conflicts including: “Slaves’ Petition for Freedom to between England and the North American col- the Massachusetts Legislature, 1777”; “Peter onies in the period from 1763 to 1776. Bestes and Other Slaves Petition for Freedom, MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 & 10 1773”; “Petition to End Slavery in Connecticut, 1788”; “1779 Freedom Petition to the New What else should my students know? Hampshire State Legislature” and Phillis 5.A The Revenue Act (Sugar Act) of 1763 was Wheatley’s 1774 letter to Samson Occum. an attempt to raise money from the North American colonies by regulating trade with the West Indies. It bolstered the economies of SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 6 the British West Indies at the expense of mer- Students will describe the ways African chants on the North American continent. Americans participated in the Revolutionary War in support of both sides. 5.B The Declaration of Independence addressed MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 5, 9 & 10 slavery in several ways, including Jefferson’s indictment of the crown’s initiation of the What else should my students know? slave trade (deleted from the final draft) and 6.A Black soldiers participated in the early the charge that the king had “excited domes- Revolutionary battles of Lexington, Concord tic insurrection among us.” and Bunker Hill.

5.C Colonists used the metaphor of slavery to 6.B Washington decided to raise a black reg- protest British laws and policies. iment in 1777-1778 to replenish the dwindling Continental Army. Five thousand black men 5.D Free and enslaved people of color used the fought in the Continental Army, and many more language of the Revolution to argue for their served at sea. own rights. 6.C The British actively recruited free and How can I teach this? enslaved black men. Though the British prom- For colonists using the metaphor of slavery, see ised freedom in return for service, black Loyalists the 1764 tract by James Otis, “The Rights of the faced an uncertain future as the British retreated British Colonies Asserted and Proved.” at the end of the war. Many were re-enslaved t-t.site/colony-rights when captured by the Patriots, and 3,000-4,000

12 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY KEY CONCEPTS 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and, later, the United States. 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860. 4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.* 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and everyday ways. 6. The experience of slavery varied depending on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of black Loyalists were evacuated to uncertain fates risk their lives by fighting for the Loyalists.t-t. slaveholding and gender. in Nova Scotia, Jamaica and Britain. site/dunmore-proclamation 7. Slavery was the central cause of the Civil War. How can I teach this? The Black Brigade of Loyalists, the Ethiopian 8. Slavery shaped the Prince Hall, a free man who had been enslaved Regiment and the Black Pioneers were famous fundamental beliefs of Americans about in Boston, is believed to have fought at Bunker groups of Loyalist soldiers. Boston King and race and whiteness, and white supremacy Hill. An active Freemason, he also authored Colonel Tye were two famous black Loyalists. was both a product and the 1777 “Slaves’ Petition for Freedom to the legacy of slavery. Massachusetts Legislature.” The Book of Negroes documents the service of 9. Enslaved and free people of African 3,000 black Loyalist soldiers evacuated by the descent had a profound impact on American Though painted after the fact, John Trumbull’s British to Nova Scotia. culture, producing The Death of General Warren at the Battle of leaders and literary, artistic and folk Bunker’s Hill, June 17, 1775 (ca. 1815) and Among the primary documents available traditions that continue Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the through the website of the PBS series Africans to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how Delaware (ca. 1851) both include images of in America is a British pass issued to a black to read and interpret African-American soldiers. Loyalist in 1783 ensuring transport to Nova the sources that tell the story of American Scotia. t-t.site/british-pass slavery, we gain insight into some of what “A Proclamation of the Earl of Dunmore” (the enslaving and enslaved Royal Governor of Virginia) offered freedom The website of Colonial Williamsburg details Americans aspired to, created, thought to any men enslaved by Patriots who agreed to the story of Harry Washington, a laborer and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 13 During the Boston Massacre, British soldiers killed five protesters. Crispus Attucks, a black sailor who had formerly been enslaved, was the first man killed.

enslaved by George Washington who fought 7.A Articles 1, 4 and 5 of the Constitution offer for the British and was evacuated from New direct protection of slavery. York City over Washington’s protests. t-t.site/harry-washington • Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 – The three-fifths clause counted three-fifths of the The essay “African Americans in the enslaved population to determine a state’s rep- Revolutionary War” by Michael Lee Lanning resentation in Congress. The clause also stated (available to K-12 teachers with a free account that three-fifths of the enslaved population through the website of the Gilder Lehrman would be counted if a direct tax were levied on Institute of American History) offers an over- the states according to population, though most view of African-American service on both sides delegates assumed this would never happen. of the war. t-t.site/revolutionary-war • Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 4 – This section repeated the tax section of the three- SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 7 fifths clause. It reiterated that if a head tax were Students will demonstrate the ways that the ever levied, enslaved persons would be taxed at Constitution provided direct and indirect pro- three-fifths the rate of white people. tection to slavery and imbued enslavers and slave states with increased political power. • Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 9 – The slave MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 7 & 10 trade clause prohibited Congress from banning the international slave trade before 1808. It did

What else should my students know? not require Congress to ban the trade at that IMAGES COLLECTOR/GETTY PICTURES/PRINT ANN RONAN BY PHOTO

14 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY time. This clause exempted the slave trade from 7.C The Constitution created a federal gov- KEY CONCEPTS the Congressional power to regulate interstate ernment without the power to interfere in 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans commerce. the domestic institutions of the states. This prior to their arrival in the Americas, was ensured that the federal government could important to all of • Article 4, Section 2, Paragraph 3 – The not emancipate enslaved people in particu- the colonial powers and existed in all of fugitive slave clause required that people who lar states. the European North escaped enslavement be returned to their American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave enslavers even if they had fled to another state. How can I teach this? trade were central to the development and Enslavers populated the Supreme Court growth of the economy • Article 5 – This article prohibited any and the presidency between 1787 and 1860. across British North America and, later, the amendment of the slave trade or head tax Students could research presidents and justices United States. clauses before 1808. to determine the role that slavery played in the 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the lives of some of the most powerful Americans. founding documents; 7.B Articles 1, 2, 4 and 5 also offer indirect pro- enslavers dominated the federal government, tection of slavery. The speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 July?” by Frederick Douglass draws specific and through 1860. • Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 15 – This repeated attention to the hypocrisy of a “land 4. “Slavery was an section empowered the use of the militia to of liberty” that preserves and defends slavery. institution of power,” designed to create suppress rebellions, including rebellions by t-t.site/slave-july-fourth profit for the enslavers and break the will of enslaved people. the enslaved and was The U.S. Constitution includes many connec- a relentless quest for profit abetted by • Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 5 – This tions to slavery, enslaved people and enslavers. racism.* section prohibited taxes on exports. This Students could study the text of the document 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of prevented Congress from indirectly tax- itself to search for these connections. their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in ing slavery by taxing products produced by both revolutionary and enslaved laborers. The Electoral College has affected elections everyday ways. since its founding. Students could research 6. The experience of slavery varied depending • Article 2, Section 1, Paragraph 2 – This sec- election results to explore this impact. on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of tion included the three-fifths clause as part of slaveholding and gender. the Electoral College, giving white people in 7. Slavery was the slave states a disproportionate influence in the central cause of the Civil War. election of the president. 8. Slavery shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about • Article 4, Section 3, Paragraph 1 – This race and whiteness, and white supremacy section established a process to admit new was both a product and states—both slave and free—to the Union. legacy of slavery. 9. Enslaved and free people of African • Article 4, Section 4 – This section guaran- descent had a profound impact on American teed that the U.S. government would protect culture, producing states from “domestic Violence,” including leaders and literary, artistic and folk rebellions by enslaved people. traditions that continue to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how • Article 5 – This section required three- to read and interpret fourths of the states to ratify any amendment the sources that tell the story of American to the Constitution. This gave slave states a veto slavery, we gain insight into some of what over any constitutional changes so long as they enslaving and enslaved were not greatly outnumbered by free states. Americans aspired to, created, thought and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 15 Slavery in the Early Republic | 1787-1808

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 8 Northern racism after emancipation is visible Students will examine the way the in examples of the racist laws that emerged Revolutionary War affected the institution of to limit the freedoms of African Americans. slavery in the new nation. Students will exam- The resource bank of the PBS series Africans ine the ways that slavery shaped domestic and in America provides an overview in the foreign policy in the early Republic. essay “Race-based Legislation in the North.” MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 t-t.site/race-legislation

What else should my students know? The Prudence Crandall School for Negro Girls 8.A In most northern states, a combination of in Connecticut offers more evidence of the gradual emancipation laws, court decisions and racism that persisted in the North even after other laws prohibiting slavery began the pro- emancipation. The school became the target cess of eliminating slavery after the Revolution. of mob violence when Crandall began educat- Plans for emancipation were accompanied ing young black women in the 1830s. by racial prejudice in northern states; across the country freedpeople were faced with lim- The legislation that emancipated enslaved peo- ited opportunities. ple in northern states may also be examined. In Pennsylvania (1780), Connecticut (1784), 8.B In the Chesapeake, the egalitarian rheto- Rhode Island (1784) and New York (1799), these ric of the Revolution had a mixed impact. For laws required children born to enslaved moth- white Virginians, the law had a fairly limited ers to serve their mothers’ enslavers until they impact on slavery despite the decline of the reached the age of majority (between the ages tobacco industry. Portions of the free black of 18 and 25). and enslaved populations used the ideas of the American and Haitian Revolutions as inspira- Two Virginia laws, from 1782 and 1806, provide tion for Gabriel’s Rebellion, a planned uprising evidence of a varied response to emancipation. by enslaved people that was to take place in Initially, Virginians seemed enthusiastic about Richmond in 1800. allowing individuals to manumit enslaved peo- ple. The 1782 “Act to Authorize the Manumission 8.C The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) of Slaves” allowed enslavers to grant freedom to inspired enslaved Americans and frightened those they enslaved without legislative approval. their enslavers. The United States, where enslav- However, after the plan for Gabriel’s Rebellion ers were disproportionately represented in all was discovered, white Virginians became wary branches of government, refused to recognize of a large free black population. In 1806, the state Haiti’s independence from France until 1862. legislature amended its emancipation policy to require that, once they were emancipated, freed- How can I teach this? people would have to be deported from Virginia.

16 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY KEY CONCEPTS 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and, later, the United States. 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860. 4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.* 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of Accounts of Gabriel’s Rebellion, planned for 50 pounds of cotton in a single day. Before its their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in Richmond, Virginia, in 1800, show the ways free invention, a single enslaved laborer could clean both revolutionary and and enslaved black people used Revolutionary an average of only one pound of cotton each day. everyday ways. rhetoric to plan acts of resistance to slavery. 6. The experience of slavery varied depending Multiple accounts note that Gabriel Prosser, How can I teach this? on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of the leader of Gabriel’s Rebellion, planned to cre- The University of Oregon’s website Mapping slaveholding and gender. ate a flag with the motto “Death Or Liberty”—a History provides a useful model compar- 7. Slavery was the reference to Patrick Henry’s famous 1775 ing the growth of cotton production and the central cause of the Civil War. speech. One 1804 document points out that expansion of slavery between 1790 and 1860. 8. Slavery shaped the a conspirator in Gabriel’s Rebellion report- t-t.site/cotton-slavery-growth fundamental beliefs of Americans about edly likened himself to George Washington. race and whiteness, and white supremacy t-t.site/rebel-statement The online resources for the PBS series was both a product and Africans in America include a letter from Henry legacy of slavery. Tayloe to his brother. He proposes selling the 9. Enslaved and free people of African SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 9 people his brother enslaved in Virginia for a descent had a profound impact on American Students will examine the rapid expansion profit in Alabama. Although it was not written culture, producing of cotton slavery across the southern United until 1835, the letter allows for a discussion of leaders and literary, artistic and folk States. the decline of the Virginia tobacco economy traditions that continue to influence the nation. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 6 & 10 and the profitability of trading enslaved per- 10. By knowing how sons from the Upper South to the Deep South. to read and interpret What else should my students know? This practice of transporting enslaved people the sources that tell the story of American 9.A Eli Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cot- from the Upper South to the cotton-produc- slavery, we gain insight into some of what ton gin had a dramatic effect on the profitability ing states of the Deep South was ongoing enslaving and enslaved of short-staple cotton. The cotton gin allowed from the early Republic until the Civil War. Americans aspired to, created, thought two enslaved laborers to remove the seeds from t-t.site/henry-tayloe-letter and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 17 The Expansion of Slavery | 1808–1848

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 10 10.E Complex economic structures emerged Students will understand the contours of the to support the domestic slave trade, including domestic slave trade as part of the nation’s eco- insurance companies that insured enslaved nomic and geographic expansion. people as property, traders and auction houses MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 10 that served as middle-men and clearinghouses, and banks that provided credit for the purchase What else should my students know? of enslaved laborers or allowed the capital rep- 10.A In 1808, Congress ended legal participation resented in the bodies of enslaved people to be in the international slave trade, but the domestic used as collateral for loans. slave trade expanded to fill the need for enslaved workers. A total of 1.2 million men and women How can I teach this? from parts of the Upper South were forcibly moved The papers of Z.B. Oakes, an enslaver in Charleston, to the Deep South and the Black Belt during the South Carolina, are available through the Boston first half of the 19th century. So many enslaved peo- Public Library. (Correspondence can be accessed ple were forced to make this journey that it came to through the Digital Commonwealth online col- be known as “The Second Middle Passage.” lections by searching “Oakes,” along with the date and sender of the letter.) The frank language of the 10.B Enslaved families, many of which had gen- documents underscores the commodification of erationally deep ties in the Upper South, were enslaved people, the inhumanity of the slave trade torn asunder and traumatized by this massive and the trauma that those affected by the domes- forced migration. tic slave trade experienced.

10.C As part of the domestic slave trade, market • In a February 26, 1855, letter from F. values were assigned to enslaved people. Men in Sumter, the enslaver writes to ask Oakes for their mid-20s were the most expensive because information about an enslaved woman named of their physical strength; young enslaved women Clarissa, including whether she has miscarried, were most valuable before puberty because of the has children or is “breeding.” assumption that they would have children who would be the property of their enslaver. • In a letter from Jesse King dated February 1, 1855, King inquires about the cost of several 10.D The domestic slave trade reinforced enslaved people. racial stereotypes by linking skin tone to labor. Though exceptions existed, enslaved people • A letter by E.A. Edwards, dated April 14, with darker skin were often assigned to heavy 1857, accompanies a trunk sent to Tom, an fieldwork, while enslaved people with lighter enslaved man who was recently sold. It includes skin were used for skilled labor or domes- a note presumably dictated by Fatima, Tom’s tic work. wife, discussing her distress at his sale.

18 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY KEY CONCEPTS 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and, later, the United States. 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860. 4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.* 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and Portions of the book Twelve Years a Slave, by enslaved to grow their own food or earn money everyday ways. Solomon Northup, describe the domestic slave in their “free time.” 6. The experience of slavery varied depending trade. Students might read Northup’s account on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of of a slave auction and the separation of Eliza 11.B Gang labor was used on cotton planta- slaveholding and gender. from her two children. t-t.site/slave-auction tions. Enslaved people would be in the field by 7. Slavery was the sunrise and would work with only short breaks central cause of the Civil War. until sunset. 8. Slavery shaped the SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 11 fundamental beliefs of Americans about Students will be able to describe the principal 11.C Most enslaved people worked under the race and whiteness, and white supremacy ways the labor of enslaved people was organized supervision of an overseer or a driver. Overseers was both a product and and controlled in the antebellum United States. were often impoverished white Southerners. legacy of slavery. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 5, 6 & 10 Drivers were usually enslaved men who were 9. Enslaved and free people of African entrusted (at least temporarily) with supervi- descent had a profound impact on American What else should my students know? sory powers. culture, producing 11.A The task system was used widely on rice leaders and literary, artistic and folk plantations. It ranked enslaved people by 11.D A number of enslaved women and, some- traditions that continue their ability to perform labor and required times, men were assigned domestic duties. to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how them to do an amount of work that corre- Labor within a household necessitated close to read and interpret sponded to their ranking. Once the task was and continued proximity to enslavers. the sources that tell the story of American finished, an enslaved laborer was done for the slavery, we gain insight into some of what day. Enslavers who used the task system often 11.E On large slaveholdings, a number of enslaving and enslaved provided fewer rations, expecting those they enslaved men and women often had special Americans aspired to, created, thought and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 19 skills and worked, for example, as blacksmiths, of inalienable rights and challenging white cooks or carpenters. American colonists to live up to their liber- ty-loving rhetoric. (See Summary Objective 6.) How can I teach this? Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave 12.C African-American opposition to the includes descriptions of his life on cotton and American Colonization Society, promoted sugar plantations. In Chapter 16, Northup is by those who wanted to remove African made a driver. He describes the delicate bal- Americans and particularly free black people ance he had to strike to keep both the white from the United States, signaled a new, central- and enslaved populations as happy as possible. ized movement to promote abolition. In 1829, David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the World rallied free African Americans to the Douglass provides an account of his child- abolitionist cause and urged enslaved African hood in enslavement. In chapter 1, he offers a Americans to rise up in rebellion. description of Mr. Plummer, the drunk, mali- cious overseer at the plantation where he was 12.D William Lloyd Garrison and his black first enslaved. allies launched the radical abolitionist move- ment in 1831 using the ideas of all of these In her Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, predecessors. Garrison began promoting Harriet Jacobs describes her work in a white immediate abolition as an alternative to grad- household, where she is subjected to the sexual ual emancipation or colonization. He started advances of her enslaver and the ire of his wife. publishing the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator in 1831 and founded the American In his January 19, 1854, letter to slaver Z.B. Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. Oakes, A.J. McElveen describes an enslaved man named Isaac who works as a carriage driver, 12.E White women and free black Northerners painter, violinist and cook, among other things. were among the largest groups represented in northern abolitionist societies. Even so, schol- ars estimate that abolitionists never accounted SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 12 for more than one percent of the population. Students will understand the growth of the abolitionist movement in the 1830s and the 12.F Fugitives also played a vital role in the slaveholding states’ view of the movement as abolitionist movement and were some of its a physical, economic and political threat. most effective speakers. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 3, 5, 7, 9 & 10 12.G Southern lawmakers and cultural lead- What else should my students know? ers reacted to the growth of northern abolition 12.A Opposition to slavery in North America with an increased commitment to defending dates to slavery’s beginnings there. Enslaved slavery as a positive good and with political men and women were constantly seeking ways actions to prevent the spread of the abolition- to use the religious and civil values espoused ist message in the South. by enslavers to argue for their own freedom. They were joined by some white Quakers in the How can I teach this? mid-18th century. Angelina and Sarah Grimké were sisters from South Carolina who became prominent advo- 12.B During the Revolution, many enslaved cates of abolition and women’s rights. Their people actively sought their freedom by escap- writings are readily available. ing to the British or by adopting the language

20 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY all abolitionist peti- KEY CONCEPTS tions relating to slavery 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans without hearing them. prior to their arrival in the Americas, was Speeches on the subject important to all of by John Quincy Adams the colonial powers and existed in all of are also useful. the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave In 1835, the American trade were central to the development and Anti-Slavery Society growth of the economy began a direct mail cam- across British North America and, later, the paign in the South. Local United States. postmasters refused 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the to deliver the mail and founding documents; mobs in Charleston, enslavers dominated the federal government, South Carolina, burned Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 the anti-slavery materi- through 1860. als along with effigies of 4. “Slavery was an abolitionists. Following institution of power,” Sisters Sarah (left) and Angelina (right) Grimké rejected designed to create their South Carolina plantation roots and became staunch this campaign, various slave states passed profit for the enslavers supporters of the abolitionist movement after converting laws that made it illegal to deliver abolition- and break the will of to Quakerism. The outspoken sisters also advocated for the enslaved and was ist materials. The blog of the Postal Museum a relentless quest the expansion of women's rights. for profit abetted by includes a short article detailing this event: racism.* “America’s First Direct Mail Campaign.” 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of Sarah Parker Remond and her brother Charles t-t.site/first-direct-mail their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in Lenox Remond were members of a prominent both revolutionary and free black family from Salem, Massachusetts. David Walker’s 1829 Appeal to the Colored everyday ways. Both became popular anti-slavery lecturers. Citizens of the World described the condi- 6. The experience of slavery varied depending tions of African-American people in slavery on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman and called on them to rise up against their slaveholding and gender. are among the most well known of the many enslavers. Walker’s Appeal was smug- 7. Slavery was the formerly enslaved people who became abo- gled into the South using underground central cause of the Civil War. litionists. Narrative of the Life of Frederick networks and subterfuge. Enslavers severely 8. Slavery shaped the Douglass is among several fugitive slave punished anyone caught reading or dis- fundamental beliefs of Americans about narratives available through the web- tributing it. For an overview of the Appeal race and whiteness, and white supremacy site Documenting the American South. (including excerpts) and its distribution, see was both a product and t-t.site/american-south the site of The David Walker Memorial Project. legacy of slavery. t-t.site/walker-appeal 9. Enslaved and free people of African Copies of The Liberator are widely available descent had a profound impact on American online. t-t.site/the-liberator Free and fugitive black Northerners participated culture, producing in “Colored Conventions” to pursue educational, leaders and literary, artistic and folk Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 book, Uncle labor and legal goals. Before the war, the dele- traditions that continue Tom’s Cabin, was an effective way to educate gates to these conventions discussed, among to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how Northerners on the horrors of slavery, even other topics, colonization and immediate abo- to read and interpret though it perpetuated many racist stereotypes. lition. t-t.site/colored-conventions the sources that tell the story of American slavery, we gain insight into some of what To understand the southern reaction to After the growth of abolitionist societies, enslaving and enslaved abolition, see the 1836 Gag Rule, which auto- Southerners produced a number of forceful Americans aspired to, created, thought

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LIBRARY matically “tabled” (postponed) action on defenses of slavery grounded in specific ideas and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 21 about religion and science. For examples, see read and write and further restricted the move- John C. Calhoun’s “Slavery as a Positive Good” ments and liberties of free African Americans. from 1837, James Henry Hammond’s “Letter to an English Abolitionist, 1845” or Hammond’s 13.E Learning how to read and write were acts 1858 speech, “Cotton Is King.” of rebellion and resistance.

Southerners also produced defenses of slavery 13.F Everyday acts of resistance—such as work- grounded in the comparisons between enslaved ing slowly, breaking tools, feigning illness, men and women and the northern working feigning ignorance to avoid work and running class. See, for example, the poem “The Hireling away for short periods—were common. and the Slave” by William Grayson. t-t.site/hireling-slave 13.G Religion—which stressed the self-esteem, dignity and humanity of enslaved people— proved a means of resistance. Prioritizing SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 13 family—which meant viewing members as moth- Students will understand that enslaved people ers, fathers, sons and daughters rather than as resisted slavery in ways that ranged from vio- commodities or workers—was another “every- lence to smaller, everyday means of asserting day” form of resistance. their humanity and opposing the wishes and interests of their enslavers. 13.H Enslaved people who successfully escaped MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 & 10 were known as “fugitive slaves.” Escape was common enough that: 1. there was an elabo- What else should my students know? rate system of patrols to catch people escaping 13.A Violent rebellions by enslaved people were from slavery; 2. enslavers depended on newspa- rare in continental North America. Unlike in the pers to advertise their “fugitive slaves”; 3. some British Caribbean, where violent uprisings were white men made a living catching fugitives; and more common, enslaved people in British North 4. because fugitives could cross state lines, the America and the United States were outnum- debate over fugitive slave laws began before the bered by white people. Moreover, substantial founding of the United States and continued militias in the United States were ready to put until the Civil War ended. down armed rebellions. How can I teach this? 13.B Despite the rarity of violent rebellion, William Henry Singleton’s Recollections of My evidence suggests that enslavers were often Slavery Days provides many examples of every- anxious that enslaved people would find ways to day resistance. The National Endowment for harm them. Enslaved women, for example, who the Humanities’ EDSITEment website includes were frequently the cooks in their enslavers’ a useful lesson: Recollections of My Slavery Days households, were often feared to use poison. With Emphasis on Resistance. t-t.site/slavery-days 13.C Nat Turner’s 1831 rebellion in Southampton, Virginia, was the deadliest rebel- Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave has lion by enslaved people in the United States. many examples of resistance, from prayer to violence. t-t.site/slave-auction 13.D After Nat Turner’s Rebellion, enslaved and free black people were prohibited from holding In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet or attending religious assemblies without white Jacobs details her harrowing efforts to avoid supervision. Many southern states also tight- being sexually harassed and assaulted by her ened laws against teaching enslaved people to enslaver, including explicitly resisting his

22 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY advances, escaping and spending years in hiding. 14.F African language patterns have contin- KEY CONCEPTS ued through slavery and into modern culture. 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans “Runaway slave” or “fugitive slave” advertise- prior to their arrival in the Americas, was ments are incredibly rich sources for showing How can I teach this? important to all of everyday and extraordinary acts of resistance. Numerous spirituals illustrate the relationship the colonial powers and existed in all of between Christian allusions and imagery and the the European North The “WPA Slave Narratives” (which should be desire for freedom from enslavement. The songs American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave introduced carefully and contextualized for “Hold the Wind” and “We’ll Soon Be Free” are trade were central to the development and students) offer many rich examples of every- two useful examples. growth of the economy day resistance. t-t.site/slave-narratives across British North America and, later, the The Library of Congress has multiple online col- United States. The poetry of George Moses Horton is a win- lections that include the music of enslaved people, 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the dow into one enslaved man’s struggle with the including recordings of freedpeople singing and founding documents; ways slavery chained his creativity and genius. playing music they learned while enslaved. enslavers dominated the federal government, Many of Horton’s poems, particularly “George t-t.site/african-american-song Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 Moses Horton, Myself” illustrate the ways Horton through 1860. refused to see himself as his enslaver saw him. “Run, Mary, Run” was a popular spiritual that 4. “Slavery was an incorporated African traditions of drumming institution of power,” designed to create and syncopation with a message of freedom. profit for the enslavers and break the will of SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 14 the enslaved and was Students will be able to discuss the culture of The “Br’er Rabbit” folktales provide examples a relentless quest for profit abetted by enslaved Americans and its impact on American of stories that originated among the enslaved racism.* culture in general. population as a way to teach survival skills to 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 5, 6, 9 & 10 enslaved children. their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and What else should my students know? Historian Michael Twitty has written several everyday ways. 14.A Religion functioned as a form of resistance accessible articles on slavery and the culinary 6. The experience of slavery varied depending for the enslaved (see Summary Objective 13). history of the American South. on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of t-t.site/afroculinaria slaveholding and gender. 14.B Enslaved people developed Afro-Christian 7. Slavery was the traditions that blended African forms of spiri- Barbecue grew out of the culture of enslaved peo- central cause of the Civil War. tuality with evangelical Christianity. ple as a way to use smoke and sauces with African 8. Slavery shaped the spices to flavor the less desirable cuts of pork that fundamental beliefs of Americans about 14.C Enslaved people used the Christian mes- enslavers gave as rations. race and whiteness, and white supremacy sage of God’s love and the promise of a spiritual was both a product and paradise to express their own desire for free- The Gullah/Geechee communities of South legacy of slavery. dom in this world and the next. They also called Carolina still have members who speak the 9. Enslaved and free people of African on this idea to resist enslavers’ use of religion traditional Gullah language. descent had a profound impact on American as a justification for slavery. culture, producing The “WPA Slave Narratives” contain many testi- leaders and literary, artistic and folk 14.D Folk stories and trickster tales were monies about how enslavers and white preachers traditions that continue common ways to teach survival skills to tried to reduce the Christian message to “Don’t to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how enslaved children. lie, and don’t steal.” Some narratives also con- to read and interpret tain enslaved Christians’ clear repudiation of the sources that tell the story of American 14.E African foodways influenced diets in this version of Christianity. slavery, we gain insight into some of what slavery and continue to have an impact on enslaving and enslaved American cuisine. Americans aspired to, created, thought and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 23 The Sectional Crisis and Civil War | 1848–1877

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 15 traveling to a free state did not render an Students will examine the expansion of slavery enslaved person free (this was the key issue at as a key factor in the domestic and foreign policy hand). decisions of the United States in the 19th century. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 & 10 2. Black people were not citizens of the United States. Because Scott was black, Taney’s argu- What else should my students know? ment said, he was not a citizen. Because he was 15.A Slavery was key in the debates over enter- not a citizen, he had no right to sue. ing the Mexican War and admitting Missouri, Texas and California to the Union. 3. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. According to Taney, the 15.B The need to maintain a balance of slave Missouri Compromise restricted slavery in states and free states in the Senate was cen- the territories, which Congress did not have tral to southern lawmakers’ domestic policy. the power to do.

15.C Slavery was crucial to U.S. foreign policy. How can I teach this? In his editorial “War With Mexico,” Frederick 15.D The Kansas-Nebraska Act and its poten- Douglass discusses the war as a mechanism to tial effect on the expansion of slavery was a key expand slavery. event in the sectional crisis. After the Kansas- Nebraska Act was passed, both Northerners Henry David Thoreau’s On the Duty of Civil and Southerners rushed to populate Kansas. Disobedience discusses his protest against the The violence of “Bleeding Kansas” resulted. Mexican War. t-t.site/thoreau-disobedience

15.E In 1857, Chief Justice Taney wrote the The “Compromise of 1850” was a series of majority decision for the Supreme Court in the laws intended to appeal equally to free and Dred Scott case. Southern enslavers applauded slave states. The compromise strengthened the decision, which they saw as recognizing the Fugitive Slave Act, exacerbating sectional enslaved people as their property. Northerners tensions. New provisions included the appoint- were outraged. Taney’s decision established ment of “commissioners” to search for fugitives several key precedents related to slavery. The in the North; the requirement that individuals three most important were: and organizations in free states assist the com- missioners searching for people who escaped 1. There was nowhere in the United States slavery; the acceptance of spurious evidence to enslaved people could go to be free. The court convict accused fugitives; and a compensation ruled that the status of enslaved people was structure which paid the commissioners $10 determined by the laws in their home state; if they returned an accused fugitive to slavery

24 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY KEY CONCEPTS 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and, later, the United States. 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860. 4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.* 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and but only $5 if they found that the accused was SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 16 everyday ways. legally free. Primary sources surrounding the Students will discuss the 1860 election of 6. The experience of slavery varied depending 1854 trial of Anthony Burns, an enslaved man Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent deci- on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of who escaped Virginia only to be arrested in sion that several slave states made to secede slaveholding and gender. Boston, offer examples of a range of responses from the Union to ensure the preservation and 7. Slavery was the to the Fugitive Slave Act. t-t.site/burns-trial expansion of slavery. central cause of the Civil War. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 3, 4, 7 & 10 8. Slavery shaped the To understand the violence that character- fundamental beliefs of Americans about ized “Bleeding Kansas,” students can look What else should my students know? race and whiteness, 16.A and white supremacy at the 1856 sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, by Lincoln disliked slavery but believed was both a product and pro-slavery forces and at John Brown’s murder that the Constitution protected the institu- legacy of slavery. of several pro-slavery voters at Pottowatomie tion where it existed. He ran on the Republican 9. Enslaved and free people of African Creek a few days later. platform of non-expansion of slavery into descent had a profound impact on American the territories. culture, producing To understand the impact of the slavery debate leaders and literary, artistic and folk on American political institutions, students 16.B The first seven states to secede from traditions that continue can examine the caning of Charles Sumner, a the Union were South Carolina, Mississippi, to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how senator from Massachusetts. Preston Brooks, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and to read and interpret a congressman from South Carolina, repeatedly Texas. In their declarations to the world the sources that tell the story of American struck Sumner with a cane after the senator explaining why they seceded, slavery and the slavery, we gain insight into some of what made a fiery speech denouncing slavery and the political conflict over slavery were the cen- enslaving and enslaved Kansas-Nebraska Act. tral factors. Americans aspired to, created, thought t-t.site/barbarism-slavery and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 25 16.C The Confederate States of America was Justify the Secession of South Carolina from established in February 1861 (but never rec- the Federal Union, December 1860” provides ognized by any other government or nation). a useful example. Its constitution legalized and protected slav- ery everywhere in the new nation. In his famous 1861 “Cornerstone” speech, Alexander Stephens argued that slavery was How can I teach this? central to the project of the Confederate States In Lincoln’s “First Inaugural Address,” he of America. reiterated, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery where it exists” and asked “dissatisfied SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 17 fellow countrymen” to rethink their decision Students will examine the evolving Union poli- to destroy the government. cies concerning slavery and African-American military service and understand how free black In Lincoln’s December 22, 1860, letter to Alexander and enslaved communities affected the Civil H. Stephens, the future Confederate vice president, War. he stated that slavery was safe where it existed MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 & 10 and outlined the differences between enslavers and Republicans, namely, “You think slavery is What else should my students know? right and ought to be extended; while we think it 17.A Union policy relating to slavery evolved is wrong and ought to be restricted.” over time. Initially, northern prejudice and Union soldiers the need to appease border states where slav- in Company E of the Fourth States that left the Union created documents ery was legal within the Union made Lincoln Colored explaining why they did so. These documents reluctant to make ending slavery an objective Infantry at cite Lincoln’s hostility to slavery as the key rea- of the war. As increasing numbers of enslaved Fort Lincoln, Washington, son for secession. South Carolina’s “Declaration people risked their lives to escape slavery and D.C., in 1865. of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and join the Union lines, the military accepted them as contraband property, a clas- sification that negated any legal claims of ownership by enslavers and set important precedents for more gen- eral emancipation.

17.B While the experience of black soldiers was never free from prejudice, the Union’s position on black military service did evolve over time. Initially, Union military offi- cials were reluctant to accept African-American men who wanted to serve. It was largely through the persistence of the African-American commu- nity that this policy changed. Eventually, the 180,000 black

soldiers who served,­ including IMAGES WILLIAM MORRIS SMITH./GETTY BY PHOTOGRAPH

26 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY the 98,500 formerly enslaved men,­ provided a A widely republished 1861 letter from black KEY CONCEPTS crucial service to the Union Army. Ohioan William A. Jones to the Secretary of 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans War discusses the formation and preparation prior to their arrival in the Americas, was 17.C In the South, enslaved men, women and of a black regiment that was waiting for the important to all of children left plantations in large numbers. opportunity to fight. t-t.site/jones-letter the colonial powers and existed in all of Their departures removed laborers from the the European North fields, affecting the Confederacy’s ability to sup- In 1862, John Boston, a fugitive from Maryland, American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave ply its army and feed its civilians. It also had a writes to tell his wife that he has enlisted in a trade were central to the development and dramatic impact on Confederate morale as the Brooklyn regiment. t-t.site/boston-letter growth of the economy civilian population at home felt betrayed by the across British North America and, later, the departure of those they had enslaved. An 1863 letter “to the Commander of a United States. Louisiana Black Brigade” describes the ser- 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the 17.D Many enslaved people who remained on vice of African-American soldiers during founding documents; southern plantations and farms colluded with the Battle of Port Hudson and offers first- enslavers dominated the federal government, Union forces to hinder the Confederate mili- hand accounts of the bravery of these troops. Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 tary by providing valuable information on troop t-t.site/strunke-letter through 1860. numbers and positions. Trying to control this 4. “Slavery was an espionage network required the Confederacy The First and Second Confiscation Acts offer institution of power,” designed to create to divert military forces away from the front- opportunities to examine evolving Union pol- profit for the enslavers and break the will of line battles with the Union. icy. The First Confiscation Act (1861) allowed the enslaved and was the Union Army to “confiscate” enslaved people a relentless quest for profit abetted by 17.E The Emancipation Proclamation was the as property, legally negating enslavers’ claims racism.* culmination of evolving Union policy. Lincoln’s to ownership. However, the law did not clarify 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of proclamation freed enslaved people in areas of if, once “confiscated,” these formerly enslaved their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in seceded states not under Union control. The people were free. The Second Confiscation Act both revolutionary and Emancipation Proclamation was the result of (1862) freed everyone enslaved by a member of everyday ways. several factors: Lincoln’s opposition to slavery, the Confederate military or government. 6. The experience of slavery varied depending the changing sentiment in the North about the on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of necessity of ending slavery as a way to end the The Militia Act of July, 1862 allowed African- slaveholding and gender. war, the valor of the African-American soldiers American men to serve in the army. 7. Slavery was the who fought for freedom, and the self-emanci- central cause of the Civil War. pation of hundreds of thousands of enslaved In his September 1861 editorial, “Fighting 8. Slavery shaped the Southerners who had already fled to Union lines. Rebels With Only One Hand,” Frederick fundamental beliefs of Americans about Douglass makes a persuasive argument for race and whiteness, and white supremacy How can I teach this? black service in the Union army. was both a product and The archives of the Freedmen and Southern legacy of slavery. Society Project website house a number of let- For one example of the impact of black 9. Enslaved and free people of African ters that can serve as primary documents for service, see accounts of Harriet Tubman’s descent had a profound impact on American student interpretation. Combahee River expedition. Tubman, along culture, producing with a regiment of African-American Union leaders and literary, artistic and folk On the need to maintain the loyalty of the bor- soldiers, led a raid to disrupt Confederate traditions that continue der states where slavery was legal, see an 1861 supply lines and free hundreds of enslaved to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how letter from a Missouri Unionist to the com- people. In the end, Tubman’s mission freed to read and interpret mander of the Department of the West and 700 enslaved people. She gave an account of the sources that tell the story of American the commander’s reply. In the letter, Thomas the Combahee River raid to Sarah Bradford, slavery, we gain insight into some of what T. Gantt asks whether the federal government who published it in Scenes in the Life of enslaving and enslaved will interfere with slavery. t-t.site/gantt-letter Harriet Tubman. t-t.site/life-harriet-tubman Americans aspired to, created, thought and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 27 One last resource is the widely available diary of Mary Chesnut. An elite white woman living in South Carolina, Chesnut provided accounts of enslaved people’s rebellions during the war. Students should be aware that Chesnut’s pre- sentation of these events is intensely biased and includes racist ideas and language. Significant dates in the diary include:

• October 7, 1861. In this passage, Chesnut talks about the murder of Mrs. Witherspoon by the people she enslaved.

• July 13, 1862. Chesnut recounts a story of enslaved laborers in South Carolina attempt- ing to inform a Union solider of the location of a Confederate camp.

• January 9, 1864. Chesnut records the escape of two enslaved people from the household of C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis. She notes the surprise of Davis’ wife, Varina, at their leaving.

In 1878, African- Letters to and from President Lincoln may also American representatives prove useful. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 18 in the South Students will examine the ways that people who Carolina • On the unequal pay of black soldiers, see were enslaved claimed their freedom after the Legislature the letter from 54th MA Corporal James Henry outnumbered Civil War. white legislators. Gooding to the president. Gooding asks Lincoln MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 7, 8, 9 & 10 to intervene to ensure that he and his fellow soldiers are fairly paid. Black soldiers were What else should my students know? paid $10 per month while white soldiers were 18.A Congress officially ended slavery through paid $13. the passage of the 13th Amendment.

• Lincoln stresses how critical black service 18.B Freedpeople sought to exercise their free- is to the Union in an 1864 letter to Isaac M. dom in several ways, including: 1. relocating Schermerhorn. He writes that “[a]ny different (leaving the plantations where they had been policy in regard to the colored man, deprives us enslaved); 2. pursuing education (in the numer- of his help, and this is more than we can bear. ous schools set up after the war); 3. living as We can not spare the hundred and forty or fifty families; and 4. participating in politics. thousand now serving us as soldiers, seaman, and laborers. This is not a question of sentiment 18.C Black voters became influential in or taste, but one of physical force which may be southern elections during Congressional measured and estimated as horse-power and Reconstruction. Between 1865 and 1877, black Steam-power are measured and estimated. men served in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Keep it and you can save the Union. Throw it Representatives and in state capitols. More than

away, and the Union goes with it.” 600 black men also served in state legislatures. ALAMY

28 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY How can I teach this? • The first African American to serve in the KEY CONCEPTS Charlotte Forten’s article “Life on the Sea Senate was Hiram Revels of Mississippi. This 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans Islands,” published in The Atlantic Monthly group portrait, “The First Colored Senator and prior to their arrival in the Americas, was in 1864, describes her work teaching formerly Representatives,” was published by Currier and important to all of enslaved students. George Mason University’s Ives in 1872. t-t.site/senator-representatives the colonial powers and existed in all of website History Matters provides an informa- the European North tive excerpt. American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave t-t.site/forten-article SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 19 trade were central to the development and Students will examine the ways that the federal growth of the economy In pursuing the freedom to live as families, government’s policies affected the lives of for- across British North America and, later, the many freedpeople searched for family members merly enslaved people. United States. who had been sold during slavery. The Historic MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 8, 9 & 10 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the New Orleans Collection has archived more than founding documents; a thousand “Lost Friends” advertisements from What else should my students know? enslavers dominated the federal government, the Southwestern Christian Advocate. 19.A The U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 t-t.site/lost-friends and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau) through 1860. was a large bureaucracy created after the Civil 4. “Slavery was an In December 1865, 2,500 black residents of War to help people who had been enslaved. It institution of power,” designed to create Washington, D.C., signed a letter to Congress provided services including legal aid, food, profit for the enslavers and break the will of outlining their loyalty to the Union and con- housing and education. The Freedmen’s Bureau the enslaved and was tributions to the community, followed by a also tried to reunite separated families and a relentless quest for profit abetted by request for the right to vote. The letter is avail- oversaw the attempts to settle freedpeople on racism.* able on the site of The Freedmen & Southern confiscated or abandoned Confederate lands. 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of Society Project. t-t.site/black-residents-letter their enslavers to reduce 19.B them to commodities in Access to land was one of the main both revolutionary and The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full issues to affect the lives of those who had everyday ways. Citizenship, from the Library of Congress, pro- been enslaved. During the war, the Union 6. The experience of slavery varied depending vides a variety of sources (both images and text) Army relocated freedpeople onto confiscated on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of to explore the activities of freedpeople in the Confederate land. However, most of those slaveholding and gender. South. t-t.site/african-american-odyssey resettled were kicked off their farms in 1866, 7. Slavery was the For example: when President Andrew Johnson ordered the central cause of the Civil War. land returned to the former enslavers. 8. Slavery shaped the • The account book from Hampton fundamental beliefs of Americans about Plantation in South Carolina shows formerly 19.C By passing the 14th and 15th Amendments race and whiteness, and white supremacy enslaved people being paid for their work. during Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction, was both a product and t-t.site/hampton-plantation the federal government made a commitment to legacy of slavery. protect the legal and political rights of African 9. Enslaved and free people of African • The November 16, 1867, cover of Harper’s Americans. Federal troops enforced the civil descent had a profound impact on American Weekly was a drawing by Alfred R. Waud and political rights of African Americans in the culture, producing titled “The First Vote.” It showed African- South during Congressional Reconstruction. leaders and literary, artistic and folk American voters casting their first ballots. t-t. traditions that continue site/first-vote How can I teach this? to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how A wealth of primary documents is available to read and interpret • In 1878, African-American representatives through the website of The Freedmen and the sources that tell the story of American in the South Carolina Legislature outnumbered Southern Society Project. t-t.site/freedmen-ssp slavery, we gain insight into some of what white legislators. A photograph of the legisla- enslaving and enslaved ture is archived at the Library of Congress. William Tecumseh Sherman’s Special Field Americans aspired to, created, thought t-t.site/radical-members Order No. 15 (1865) confiscated 400,000 acres and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 29 deeply in debt after the war, meant that this system did not work. Instead, tenant farming and sharecropping became the predominant labor systems.

20.B In general, both tenant farmers and sharecroppers lived on another person’s land and used the proceeds from their farming to pay rent for their home and land and to settle other debts. Whatever money was left belonged to the tenant or was split among the sharecrop- pers. Freedpeople preferred tenant farming because there was less supervision by landown- ers. Unfortunately, the reality for most tenant farmers and sharecroppers was an endless cycle of debt and poverty. This was partly due to the bad economy, but it was also a result of unfair In this 1862 of land from enslavers in South Carolina, labor contracts signed with landowners. photograph, Georgia and Florida and distributed it to peo- taken in Fair Oaks, Virginia, ple who had been enslaved. The land was 20.C The Ku Klux Klan emerged as a terrorist Captain George returned during Presidential Reconstruction, organization committed to violent repercus- Armstrong when Andrew Johnson restored most former sions for African Americans and their white Custer (right) of the Fifth Confederates’ political rights and property. allies who sought education, political power Cavalry or economic success for the black population. sits with a The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 gave indi- Confederate prisoner, vidual grants of 80 acres of publicly owned land 20.D Black Codes were sets of laws passed Lieutenant to settlers who resided there for five years. No by former Confederates who regained power James B. one who supported the Confederacy could file under Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction. Washington, and a child a claim before 1867. However, the land was of These laws codified certain rights such as own- Washington poor quality and few freedpeople had the money ing property or legally marrying, but they also enslaved. necessary to move or to buy farming supplies. guaranteed harsher punishments for peo- ple of color accused of the same crimes as white people. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 20 Students will examine the ways that white How can I teach this? Southerners attempted to define freedom for To understand sharecropping and tenant farm- freedpeople. ing, examine a sharecropper contract. These MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 5, 8 & 10 documents are widely available online. One example is available to K–12 teachers with a What else should my students know? free account through the website of The Gilder 20.A White Southerners largely wanted to Lehrman Institute. return to the pre-war plantation economy. t-t.site/sharecropper-contract Initially, southern landowners hoped to hire freedpeople to work under conditions that were Letters archived by the The Freedmen and nearly identical to those under slavery. A com- Southern Society Project provide contempo- bination of factors, including the unwillingness rary protests of racial violence and unfair laws. of freedpeople to work under slavery condi-

tions and the fact that most white farmers were • In a January 25, 1866, letter to the Freedmen’s IMAGES INTERIM ARCHIVES/GETTY BY PHOTO

30 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY Bureau, M. Howard, a freedman in Mississippi, preference given to former enslavers. Licensure KEY CONCEPTS protests labor contracts and Black Codes. laws required African Americans to get a special 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans t-t.site/howard-protest license to do anything other than farm. prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of • In a December 16, 1865, letter to the the colonial powers and existed in all of Freedmen’s Bureau, black soldier Calvin Holly SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 21 the European North writes to protest the violence directed at freed- Students will examine the impact of the American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave people in Mississippi. t-t.site/holly-letter Compromise of 1877 and the removal of fed- trade were central to the development and eral troops from the former Confederacy. growth of the economy The Colfax Massacre is an understudied act MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 8, & 10 across British North America and, later, the of violence that occurred after a contested United States. Louisiana gubernatorial election in 1873. What else should my students know? 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the One hundred and fifty black men were mur- 21.A The Compromise of 1877 emerged from founding documents; dered by southern Democrats who saw them the contested presidential election of 1876. enslavers dominated the federal government, as a threat to Democratic power. Several of the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was given the Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 perpetrators of the massacre were prosecuted presidency in exchange for the formal end of through 1860. under the Enforcement Act (Civil Rights Act Reconstruction, including the removal of the 4. “Slavery was an of 1870). This law was passed to protect the last federal troops from the South. institution of power,” designed to create rights of African Americans, who were regularly profit for the enslavers and break the will of threatened by violent groups like the Ku Klux 21.B After the end of Reconstruction, the Ku the enslaved and was Klan. The Colfax convictions were appealed Klux Klan and local and state governments a relentless quest for profit abetted by all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled attacked African-American political participa- racism.* in United States v. Cruikshank (1876) that tion, leading to the return of white Democratic 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of the protections of the 14th Amendment pro- rule in the former Confederacy. their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in tected people only from the actions of state both revolutionary and governments—not from the actions of individ- 21.C White Democratic governments across everyday ways. uals. This meant that the federal government the South used Jim Crow legal codes to 6. The experience of slavery varied depending could not use the Enforcement Act to target enforce new ways of controlling black labor on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. and black bodies. slaveholding and gender. 7. Slavery was the Students might examine documents that How can I teach this? central cause of the Civil War. threatened African-American rights. This Debt peonage and convict leasing emerged as 8. Slavery shaped the broadside, published by a “Committee” (likely legal ways to extract labor from a free black fundamental beliefs of Americans about the name for a local band of white vigilan- population. The PBS documentary Slavery By race and whiteness, and white supremacy tes) and seized by the Freedman’s Bureau in Another Name covers this period well. was both a product and Tennessee, outlined rules for freedpeople and legacy of slavery. promised penalties for any infractions. States imposed literacy tests and the grandfa- 9. Enslaved and free people of African ther clause, which were designed to disqualify descent had a profound impact on American Key examples of Black Code legislation African Americans from voting. Literacy tests culture, producing included laws that exploited or regulated the were unfairly administered to the black popu- leaders and literary, artistic and folk labor of black bodies. Vagrancy laws (par- lation. The grandfather clause, which obviously traditions that continue ticularly in Mississippi and South Carolina) targeted African Americans, provided exemp- to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how allowed magistrates to arrest any black man tions from these tests and from poll taxes to read and interpret who appeared unemployed and hire him out only for voters—or­ descendants of voters up the sources that tell the story of American to a white planter. Apprenticeship laws meant to grandchildren—who had voted prior to 1867. slavery, we gain insight into some of what that if courts ruled that parents were unable enslaving and enslaved to adequately care for children under 18, those Americans aspired to, created, thought children could be apprenticed out as labor, with and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 31 Framework | Appendix

PRE-COLONIAL AND COLONIAL ERA | TO 1763

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 1 2.B Western Hemispheric destinations of captive Students will recognize that slavery existed around Africans included South America, the Caribbean and the world prior to the European settlement of North North America. America. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPT 1 2.C European slavers participated in and fundamen- 1.A Before the 15th century, most enslaved people tally changed the existing slave trade in Africa. The were not Africans. Even the plantation system itself did demand for enslaved people in the European colonies of not begin with African labor: Until the 1450s, European the Western Hemisphere greatly expanded the African sugar planters in the Mediterranean imported enslaved slave trade beyond its traditional wartime context. laborers from parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 2.D Europeans believed that dark skin color (which 1.B Slavery was widespread in larger African king- they hyperbolically described as “black”), lack of doms (the Kongo and Asante, for example). Slavery Christianity and different styles of dress were evidence was quite limited in smaller societies in regions like that Africans were less civilized. the Upper Guinea Coast. 2.E The Middle Passage was the voyage of enslaved 1.C In many African societies, people were enslaved people from the west coast of Africa to the Americas. when they were captured during war. The status of Enslaved people endured traumatic conditions on sla- enslaved people changed as they learned the cus- vers' ships, including cramped quarters, meager rations toms and integrated into their captors’ community. and physical and sexual assault. Slavery was not always intergenerational; the chil- dren of enslaved parents were not necessarily enslaved. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 3 Students will be able to discuss the labor and culture 1.D Slavery was a part of some Native American of enslaved people during the colonial era. societies before European settlement. In some Native MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 & 10 American societies, slavery could be socially alienat- 3.A There is a significant difference between chat- ing. But others had a built-in flexibility about slavery, tel slavery and indentured servitude. Chattel slavery is so enslaved people could integrate into their societ- associated with people of African descent. It is defined ies and even become people of power and influence. as a system of slavery in which people become the per- sonal property of another and can be bought, sold or 1.E European colonists in North America bought, sold traded as such. In chattel slavery, enslaved status is and enslaved Native Americans. Some white colonists passed down to children. Indentured servants were engaged in wars for the explicit purpose of acquiring Native Europeans who sold their labor (or had their labor sold Americans to enslave; some colonists financed or otherwise by others) for a certain number of years to pay a debt, encouraged Native American allies to engage in wars with usually the cost of passage to the Americas. Indentured other Native Americans for the purpose of acquiring Native servitude was not a lifelong status and was not inher- Americans to enslave. In South Carolina, English enslave- ited by children. ment of Native Americans was so pervasive and lucrative that it financed the rise of American rice plantations. 3.B In British North America, chattel slavery was ini- tially poorly defined and some Africans became free. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 2 In the 17th century, British colonists relied on enslaved Students will be able to describe the slave trade from Africans and Native Americans as well as indentured Africa to the Americas. servants for labor. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 & 10 2.A In the 1400s, Portugal was the earliest partici- 3.C Enslaved workers performed heavy labor on pant in the transatlantic slave trade. It was followed tobacco plantations in the Chesapeake and rice planta- by other European nations. tions in the southern colonies. Though there were some

32 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY larger plantations in the North, the majority of enslaved 4.B England’s West Indian sugar colonies produced laborers there worked on small farms, as household more than three times as much revenue as the south- KEY CONCEPTS labor and in other industries in urban areas. ern colonies and more than five times as much revenue 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans as the economies of the northern colonies. prior to their arrival in the Americas, was 3.D Enslaved people across the colonies maintained important to all of aspects of their African cultures and resisted their 4.C Participation in slavery and the slave trade was the colonial powers and existed in all of enslavement at every turn. not limited to southern colonies; the English in the the European North Middle Colonies and New England were also involved. American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 4 Northern merchants shipped foodstuffs, lumber and trade were central to other necessities in exchange for rice, sugar and molas- the development and Students will be able to demonstrate the impact growth of the economy of slavery on the economies of French, British and ses produced by enslaved people. across British North America and, later, the Spanish North America. United States. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 & 10 4.D In Catholic colonies like Spanish Florida and 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the 4.A Enslaved labor produced the major agricultural French Louisiana, the Catholic Church and the law founding documents; exports of the colonial era including tobacco, rice and sometimes offered pathways to freedom or limited enslavers dominated the federal government, indigo. protection to the enslaved. Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860. 4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD AND THE CONSTITUTION | 1763–1787 designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 5 6.A Black soldiers participated in the early Revolutionary the enslaved and was Students will identify ways that slavery was a key battles of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. a relentless quest for profit abetted by component of the escalating conflicts between racism.* England and the North American colonies in the 6.B Washington decided to raise a black regiment in 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of period from 1763 to 1776. 1777-1778 to replenish the dwindling Continental Army. their enslavers to reduce MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 & 10 Five thousand black men fought in the Continental them to commodities in both revolutionary and 5.A The Revenue Act (Sugar Act) of 1763 was an Army, and many more served at sea. everyday ways. attempt to raise money from the North American colo- 6. The experience of slavery varied depending nies by regulating trade with the West Indies. It bolstered 6.C The British actively recruited free and enslaved on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of the economies of the British West Indies at the expense black men. Though the British promised freedom in slaveholding and gender. of the merchants on the North American continent. return for service, black Loyalists faced an uncertain 7. Slavery was the future as the British retreated at the end of the war. central cause of the Civil War. 5.B The Declaration of Independence addressed slav- Many were re-enslaved when captured by the Patriots, 8. Slavery shaped the ery in several ways, including Jefferson’s indictment of and 3,000-4,000 black Loyalists were evacuated to fundamental beliefs of Americans about the crown’s initiation of the slave trade (deleted from uncertain fates in Nova Scotia, Jamaica and Britain. race and whiteness, the final draft) and the charge that the king had “excited and white supremacy was both a product and domestic insurrection among us.” SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 7 legacy of slavery. Students will demonstrate the ways that the 9. Enslaved and free people of African 5.C Colonists used the metaphor of slavery to protest Constitution provided direct and indirect protection descent had a profound impact on American British laws and policies. to slavery and imbued enslavers and slave states with culture, producing increased political power. leaders and literary, artistic and folk 5.D Free and enslaved people of color used the lan- MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 7 & 10 traditions that continue to influence the nation. guage of the Revolution to argue for their own rights. 7.A Articles 1, 4 and 5 of the Constitution offer direct 10. By knowing how protection of slavery. to read and interpret SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 6 the sources that tell the story of American Students will describe the ways African Americans • Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 – The three-fifths slavery, we gain insight into some of what participated in the Revolutionary War in support of clause counted three-fifths of the enslaved popula- enslaving and enslaved both sides. tion to determine a state’s representation in Congress. Americans aspired to, created, thought MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 5, 9 & 10 The clause also stated that three-fifths of the enslaved and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 33 population would be counted if a direct tax were levied • Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 5 – This section pro- on the states according to population, though most del- hibited taxes on exports. This prevented Congress from egates assumed this would never happen. indirectly taxing slavery by taxing products produced by enslaved laborers. • Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 4 – This section repeated the tax section of the three-fifths clause. It • Article 2, Section 1, Paragraph 2 – This section reiterated that if a head tax were ever levied, enslaved included the three-fifths clause as part of the Electoral persons would be taxed at three-fifths the rate of white College, giving white people in slave states a dispro- people. portionate influence in the election of the president.

• Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 9 – The slave trade • Article 4, Section 3, Paragraph 1 – This section clause prohibited Congress from banning the inter- established a process to admit new states—both slave national slave trade before 1808. It did not require and free—to the Union. Congress to ban the trade at that time. This clause exempted the slave trade from the Congressional power • Article 4, Section 4 – This section guaranteed that to regulate interstate commerce. the U.S. government would protect states from “domes- tic Violence,” including rebellions by enslaved people. • Article 4, Section 2, Paragraph 3 – The fugitive slave clause required that people who escaped enslavement • Article 5 – This section required three-fourths of be returned to their enslavers even if they had fled to the states to ratify any amendment to the Constitution. another state. This gave slave states a veto over any constitutional changes so long as they were not greatly outnumbered • Article 5 – This article prohibited any amendment of by free states. the slave trade or head tax clauses before 1808. 7.C The Constitution created a federal government 7.B Articles 1, 2, 4 and 5 also offer indirect protec- without the power to interfere in the domestic insti- tion of slavery. tutions of the states. This ensured that the federal government could not emancipate enslaved people in • Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 15 – This section particular states. empowered the use of the militia to suppress rebel- lions, including rebellions by enslaved people.

SLAVERY IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC | 1787-1808

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 8 8.B In the Chesapeake, the egalitarian rhetoric of the Students will examine the way the Revolutionary War Revolution had a mixed impact. For white Virginians, affected the institution of slavery in the new nation. the law had a fairly limited impact on slavery despite Students will examine the ways that slavery shaped the decline of the tobacco industry. Portions of the free domestic and foreign policy in the early Republic. black and enslaved population, used the ideas of the MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 American and Haitian Revolutions as inspiration for 8.A In most northern states, a combination of grad- Gabriel’s Rebellion, a planned uprising by enslaved peo- ual emancipation laws, court decisions and other laws ple that was to take place in Richmond in 1800. prohibiting slavery began the process of eliminating slavery after the Revolution. Plans for emancipation 8.C The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) inspired were accompanied by racial prejudice in northern enslaved Americans and frightened their enslavers. states; across the country freedpeople were faced with The United States, where slaveholders were dispro- limited opportunities. portionately represented in all branches of government,

34 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY refused to recognize Haiti's independence from France 9.A Eli Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cotton gin had until 1862. a dramatic effect on the profitability of short-staple KEY CONCEPTS cotton. The cotton gin allowed two enslaved laborers to 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 9 remove the seeds from 50 pounds of cotton in a single prior to their arrival in the Americas, was Students will examine the rapid expansion of cotton day. Before its invention, a single enslaved laborer could important to all of slavery across the southern United States. clean an average of only one pound of cotton each day. the colonial powers and existed in all of MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 6 & 10 the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy THE EXPANSION OF SLAVERY 1808–1848 across British North America and, later, the United States. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 10 and clearinghouses, and banks that provided credit for 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the Students will understand the contours of the domes- the purchase of enslaved laborers or allowed the cap- founding documents; tic slave trade as part of the nation’s economic and ital represented in the bodies of enslaved people to be enslavers dominated the federal government, geographic expansion. used as collateral for loans. Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 10 through 1860. 10.A In 1808, Congress ended legal participation in SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 11 4. “Slavery was an the international slave trade, but the domestic slave Students will be able to describe the principal ways institution of power,” designed to create trade expanded to fill the need for enslaved workers. the labor of enslaved people was organized and con- profit for the enslavers and break the will of A total of 1.2 million men and women from parts of the trolled in the antebellum United States. the enslaved and was Upper South were forcibly moved to the Deep South MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 5, 6 & 10 a relentless quest for profit abetted by and the Black Belt during the first half of the 19th cen- 11.A The task system was used widely on rice plan- racism.* tury. So many enslaved people were forced to make this tations. It ranked enslaved people by their ability to 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of journey that it has come to be known as “The Second perform labor and required them to do an amount of their enslavers to reduce Middle Passage.” work that corresponded to their ranking. Once the task them to commodities in both revolutionary and was finished, an enslaved laborer was done for the day. everyday ways. 10.B Enslaved families, many of which had generation- Enslavers who used the task system often provided 6. The experience of slavery varied depending ally deep ties in the Upper South, were torn asunder and fewer rations, expecting those they enslaved to grow on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of traumatized by this massive forced migration. their own food or earn money in their “free time.” slaveholding and gender. 7. Slavery was the 10.C As part of the domestic slave trade, market val- 11.B Gang labor was used on cotton plantations. central cause of the Civil War. ues were assigned to enslaved people. Men in their Enslaved people would be in the field by sunrise and 8. Slavery shaped the mid-20s were the most expensive because of their would work with only short breaks until sunset. fundamental beliefs of Americans about physical strength; young enslaved women were most race and whiteness, valuable before puberty because of the assumption that 11.C Most enslaved people worked under the super- and white supremacy was both a product and they would have children who would be the property vision of an overseer or a driver. Overseers were often legacy of slavery. of their enslaver. impoverished white Southerners. Drivers were usually 9. Enslaved and free people of African enslaved men who were entrusted (at least temporar- descent had a profound impact on American 10.D The domestic slave trade reinforced racial stereo- ily) with supervisory powers. culture, producing types by linking skin tone to labor. Though exceptions leaders and literary, artistic and folk existed, enslaved people with darker skin were often 11.D A number of enslaved women and, sometimes, traditions that continue assigned to heavy fieldwork, while enslaved people with men were assigned domestic duties. Labor within a to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how lighter skin were used for skilled labor or domestic work. household necessitated close and continued proxim- to read and interpret ity to enslavers. the sources that tell the story of American 10.E Complex economic structures emerged to sup- slavery, we gain insight into some of what port the domestic slave trade, including insurance 11.E On large slaveholdings, a number of enslaved enslaving and enslaved companies that insured enslaved people as property, men and women often had special skills and worked, Americans aspired to, created, thought traders and auction houses that served as middle-men for example, as blacksmiths, cooks or carpenters. and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 35 SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 12 commitment to defending slavery as a positive good Students will understand the growth of the aboli- and with political actions to prevent the spread of the tionist movement in the 1830s and the slaveholding abolitionist message in the South. states' view of the movement as a physical, economic and political threat. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 13 MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 3, 5, 7, 9 & 10 Students will understand that enslaved people 12.A Opposition to slavery in North America dates to resisted slavery in ways that ranged from violence slavery's beginnings there. Enslaved men and women to smaller, everyday means of asserting their human- were constantly seeking ways to use the religious and ity and opposing the wishes and interests of their civil values espoused by enslavers to argue for their own enslavers. freedom. They were joined by some white Quakers in MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 & 10 the mid-18th century. 13.A Violent rebellions by enslaved people were rare in continental North America. Unlike in the British 12.B During the Revolution, many enslaved people Caribbean, where violent uprisings were more com- actively sought their freedom by escaping to the British mon, enslaved people in British North America and or adopting the language of inalienable rights and chal- the United States were outnumbered by white people. lenging white American colonists to live up to their Moreover, substantial militias in the United States were liberty-loving rhetoric. (See Summary Objective 6.) ready to put down armed rebellions.

12.C African-American opposition to the American 13.B Despite the rarity of violent rebellion, evi- Colonization Society, promoted by those who wanted dence suggests that enslavers were often anxious to remove African Americans and particularly free black that enslaved people would find ways to harm them. people from the United States, signaled a new, central- Enslaved women, for example, who were frequently ized movement to promote abolition. In 1829, David cooks in their enslavers' households, were often feared Walker's Appeal to the Colored citizens of the World ral- to use poison. lied free African Americans to the abolitionist cause and urged enslaved African Americans to rise up in rebellion. 13.C Nat Turner’s 1831 rebellion in Southampton, Virginia, was the deadliest rebellion by enslaved peo- 12.D William Lloyd Garrison and his black allies ple in the United States. launched the radical abolitionist movement in 1831 using the ideas of all of these predecessors. Garrison 13.D After Nat Turner’s Rebellion, enslaved and free began promoting immediate abolition as an alterna- blacks were prohibited from holding or attending reli- tive to gradual emancipation or colonization. He started gious assemblies without white supervision. Many publishing the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator in southern states also tightened laws against teaching 1831 and founded the American Anti-Slavery Society enslaved people to read and write and further restricted in 1833. the movements and liberties of free African Americans.

12.E White women and free black Northerners were 13.E Learning how to read and write were acts of rebel- among the largest groups represented in northern lion and resistance. abolitionist societies. Even so, scholars estimate that abolitionists never accounted for more than one per- 13.F Everyday acts of resistance—such as work- cent of the population. ing slowly, breaking tools, feigning illness, feigning ignorance to avoid work and running away for short 12.F Fugitives also played a vital role in the aboli- periods—were common. tionist movement and were some of its most effective speakers. 13.G Religion—which stressed the self-esteem, dig- nity and humanity of enslaved people—proved a means 12.G Southern lawmakers and cultural leaders reacted of resistance. Prioritizing family—which meant view- to the growth of northern abolition with an increased ing members as mothers, fathers, sons and daughters

36 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY rather than as commodities or workers—was another 14.B Enslaved people developed Afro-Christian tra- “everyday” form of resistance. ditions that blended African forms of spirituality with KEY CONCEPTS evangelical Christianity. 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans 13.H Enslaved people who successfully escaped were prior to their arrival in the Americas, was known as “fugitive slaves.” Escape was common enough 14.C Enslaved people used the Christian message of important to all of that: 1. there was an elaborate system of patrols to catch God’s love and the promise of a spiritual paradise to the colonial powers and existed in all of people escaping from slavery; 2. enslavers depended express their own desire for freedom in this world and the European North on newspapers to advertise their “fugitive slaves”; 3. the next. They also called on this idea to resist enslav- American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave some white men made a living catching fugitives; and ers’ use of religion as a justification for slavery. trade were central to 4. because fugitives could cross state lines, the debate the development and growth of the economy over fugitive slave laws began before the founding of the 14.D Folk stories and trickster tales were common across British North America and, later, the United States and continued until the Civil War ended. ways to teach survival skills to enslaved children. United States. 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 14 14.E African foodways influenced diets in slavery and founding documents; Students will be able to discuss the culture of continue to have an impact on American cuisine. enslavers dominated the federal government, enslaved Americans and its impact on American Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 culture in general. 14.F African language patterns have continued through 1860. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 5, 6, 9 & 10 through slavery and into modern culture. 4. “Slavery was an 14.A Religion functioned as a form of resistance for institution of power,” designed to create the enslaved (See Summary Objective 13). profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.* THE SECTIONAL CRISIS AND CIVIL WAR | 1848–1877 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce Southern enslavers applauded the decision, which they them to commodities in SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 15 both revolutionary and Students will examine the expansion of slavery as a key saw as recognizing enslaved people as their property. everyday ways. factor in the domestic and foreign policy decisions of Northerners were outraged. Taney’s decision estab- 6. The experience of slavery varied depending the United States in the 19th century. lished several key precedents related to slavery. The on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 & 10 three most important were: slaveholding and gender. 15.A Slavery was key in the debates over entering 7. Slavery was the the Mexican War and admitting Missouri, Texas and 1. There was nowhere in the United States enslaved central cause of the Civil War. California to the Union. people could go to be free. The court ruled that the sta- 8. Slavery shaped the tus of enslaved people was determined by the laws in fundamental beliefs of Americans about 15.B The need to maintain a balance of slave states their home state; traveling to a free state did not ren- race and whiteness, and free states in the Senate was central to southern der an enslaved person free (this was the key issue and white supremacy was both a product and lawmakers’ domestic policy. at hand). legacy of slavery. 9. Enslaved and free people of African 15.C Slavery was crucial to U.S. foreign policy. 2. Black people were not citizens of the United States. descent had a profound impact on American Because Scott was black, Taney’s argument said, he culture, producing 15.D The Kansas-Nebraska Act and its potential was not a citizen. Because he was not a citizen, he had leaders and literary, artistic and folk effect on the expansion of slavery was a key event in no right to sue. traditions that continue the sectional crisis. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how passed, both Northerners and Southerners rushed to 3. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconsti- to read and interpret populate Kansas. The violence of “Bleeding Kansas” tutional. According to Taney, the Missiour Compromise the sources that tell the story of American resulted. restricted slavery in the territories, which Congress did slavery, we gain insight into some of what not have the power to do. enslaving and enslaved 15.E In 1857, Chief Justice Taney wrote the majority Americans aspired to, created, thought decision for the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 37 SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 16 17.C In the South, enslaved men, women and Students will discuss the 1860 election of Abraham children left plantations in large numbers. Their depar- Lincoln and the subsequent decision that several tures removed laborers from the field, affecting the slave states made to secede from the Union to ensure Confederacy’s ability to supply its army and feed its the preservation and expansion of slavery. civilians. It also had a dramatic impact on Confederate MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 3, 4, 7 & 10 morale as the civilian population at home felt betrayed 16.A Lincoln disliked slavery but believed that the by the departure of those they had enslaved. Constitution protected the institution where it existed. He ran on the Republican platform of non-expansion of 17.D Many enslaved people who remained on south- slavery into the territories. ern plantations and farms colluded with Union forces to hinder the Confederate military by providing valu- 16.B The first seven states to secede from the Union able information on troop numbers and positions. were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Trying to control this espionage network required the Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. In their declarations to Confederacy to divert military forces away from the the world explaining why they seceded, slavery and the front-line battles with the Union. political conflict over slavery were the central factors. 17.E The Emancipation Proclamation was the culmi- 16.C The Confederate States of America was estab- nation of evolving Union policy. Lincoln’s proclamation lished in February 1861 (but never recognized by any freed enslaved people in areas of seceded states not other government or nation). Its constitution legalized under Union control. The Emancipation Proclamation and protected slavery everywhere in the new nation. was the result of several factors: Lincoln’s opposition to slavery, the changing sentiment in the North about SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 17 the necessity of ending slavery as a way to end the war, Students will examine the evolving Union policies the valor of the African-American soldiers who fought concerning slavery and African-American military for freedom, and the self-emancipation of hundreds of service and understand how free black and enslaved thousands of southern enslaved Southerners who had communities affected the Civil War. already fled to Union lines. MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 & 10 17.A Union policy relating to slavery evolved over time. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 18 Initially, northern prejudice and the need to appease Students will examine the ways that people who were border states where slavery was legal within the Union enslaved claimed their freedom after the Civil War. made Lincoln reluctant to make ending slavery an MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 7, 8, 9 & 10 objective of the war. As increasing numbers of enslaved 18.A Congress officially ended slavery through the people risked their lives to escape slavery and join the passage of the 13th Amendment. Union lines, the military accepted them as contraband property, a classification that negated any legal claims 18.B Freedpeople sought to exercise their freedom of ownership by enslavers and set important prece- in several ways, including: 1. relocating (leaving the dents for more general emancipation. plantations where they had been enslaved; 2. pursu- ing education (in the numerous schools set up after the 17.B While the experience of black soldiers was never war); 3. living as families; and 4. participating in politics. free from prejudice, the Union’s position on black mili- tary service did evolve over time. Initially, Union military 18.C Black voters became influential in southern elec- officials were reluctant to accept African-American men tions during Congressional Reconstruction. Between who wanted to serve. It was largely through the per- 1865 and 1877, black men served in the U.S. Senate, sistence of the African-American community that this the U.S. House of Representatives and in state capitols. policy changed. Eventually, the 180,000 black soldiers More than 600 black men served in state legislatures. who served, including the 98,500 formerly enslaved men, provided a crucial service to the Union Army.

38 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 19 and land and to settle other debts. Whatever money Students will examine the ways that the federal was left belonged to the tenant or was split among the KEY CONCEPTS government’s policies affected the lives of formerly sharecroppers. Freedpeople preferred tenant farming 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans enslaved people. because there was less supervision by the landowners. prior to their arrival in the Americas, was MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 8, 9 & 10 Unfortunately, the reality for most tenant farmers and important to all of 19.A The U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and sharecroppers was an endless cycle of debt and pov- the colonial powers and existed in all of Abandoned Lands (the Freedman’s Bureau) was a erty. This was partly due to the bad economy, but it the European North large bureaucracy created after the Civil War to help was also a result of unfair labor contracts signed with American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave people who had been enslaved. It provided services landowners. trade were central to including legal aid, food, housing and education. The the development and growth of the economy Freedman’s Bureau also tried to reunite separated fam- 20.C The Ku Klux Klan emerged as a terrorist orga- across British North America and, later, the ilies and oversaw the attempts to settle freedpeople on nization committed to violent repercussions for United States. confiscated or abandoned Confederate lands. African-Americans and their white allies who sought 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the education, political power or economic success for the founding documents; 19.B Access to land was one of the main issues to black population. enslavers dominated the federal government, affect the lives of those who had been enslaved. During Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 the war, the Union Army relocated freedpeople onto 20.D Black Codes were sets of laws passed by for- through 1860. confiscated Confederate land. However, most of those mer Confederates who regained power under Johnson’s 4. “Slavery was an resettled were kicked off their farms in 1866, when Presidential Reconstruction. These laws codified cer- institution of power,” designed to create President Andrew Johnson ordered the land returned tain rights such as owning property or legally marrying, profit for the enslavers and break the will of to the former enslavers. but they also guaranteed harsher punishments for peo- the enslaved and was ple of color accused of the same crimes as white people. a relentless quest for profit abetted by 19.C By passing the 14th and 15th Amendments racism.* during Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction, the SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 21 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of federal government made a commitment to protect Students will examine the impact of the Compromise their enslavers to reduce the legal and political rights of African Americans. them to commodities in of 1877 and the removal of federal troops from the both revolutionary and Federal troops enforced the civil and political rights of former Confederacy. everyday ways. African Americans in the South during Congressional MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 8, & 10 6. The experience of slavery varied depending Reconstruction. 21.A The Compromise of 1877 emerged from the on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of contested presidential election of 1876. Republican slaveholding and gender. SUMMARY OBJECTIVE 20 Rutherford B. Hayes was given the presidency in 7. Slavery was the Students will examine the ways that white exchange for the formal end of Reconstruction, includ- central cause of the Civil War. ing the removal of the last federal troops from the Southerners attempted to define freedom for 8. Slavery shaped the freedpeople. South. fundamental beliefs of Americans about MAPS TO KEY CONCEPTS 2, 4, 5, 8 & 10 race and whiteness, 20.A White Southerners largely wanted to return 21.B After the end of Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy was both a product and to the pre-war plantation economy. Initially, south- and local and state governments attacked African- legacy of slavery. ern landowners hoped to hire freedpeople to work American political participation, leading to the return 9. Enslaved and free people of African under conditions that were nearly identical to those of white Democratic rule in the former Confederacy. descent had a profound impact on American under slavery. A combination of factors, including the culture, producing unwillingness of freedpeople to work under slavery con- 21.C White Democratic governments across the South leaders and literary, artistic and folk ditions and the fact that most of the white farmers were used Jim Crow legal codes to enforce new ways of con- traditions that continue deeply in debt after the war, meant that this system did trolling black labor and black bodies. to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how not work. Instead, tenant farming and sharecropping to read and interpret became the predominant labor systems. the sources that tell the story of American slavery, we gain insight into some of what 20.B In general, both tenant farmers and share- enslaving and enslaved croppers lived on another person’s land and used the Americans aspired to, created, thought proceeds from their farming to pay rent for their home and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY 39 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Teaching Hard History: A Framework for Teaching American Slavery was written by Kate Shuster, Bethany Jay and Cynthia Lynn Lyerly and designed by Russell Estes. Maureen Costello advised the content development process. Monita Bell, Julia Delacroix and Adrienne van der Valk provided editorial support. Special thanks to all the members of the Teaching Hard History advisory board for con- tributing their time and talents to this project.

Special thanks to the University of Wisconsin Press and to all the scholars who contributed to the book Understanding and Teaching American Slavery. Your work provided the foundation upon which this project was built.

Cover and section illustrations by TAYLOR CALLERY

TEACHING TOLERANCE DIRECTOR Maureen Costello DEPUTY DIRECTOR Adrienne van der Valk SENIOR EDITOR Monita K. Bell SENIOR WRITER Cory Collins ASSOCIATE EDITOR Julia Delacroix NEW MEDIA ASSOCIATE Colin Campbell MANAGER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING Hoyt J. Phillips III TEACHING AND LEARNING SPECIALISTS Jarah Botello, Lauryn Mascareñaz PROGRAM ASSOCIATE Gabriel Smith GRANTS AND SCHOOL PROGRAMS MANAGER Jey Ehrenhalt MARKETING COORDINATOR Lindsey Shelton TECHNICAL LEAD D. Scott McDaniel PROGRAM COORDINATOR Steffany Moyer ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Michelle Brunke

DESIGN DIRECTOR Russell Estes DEPUTY DESIGN DIRECTOR Valerie Downes SENIOR DESIGNERS Michelle Leland, Scott Phillips DESIGNERS Shannon Anderson, Cierra Brinson, Sunny Paulk, Kristina Turner DESIGN ASSOCIATE Angela Greer

40 TEACHING TOLERANCE // TEACHING HARD HISTORY // A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN SLAVERY KEY CONCEPTS 1. Slavery, which was practiced by Europeans prior to their arrival in the Americas, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. 2. Slavery and the slave trade were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and, later, the United States. 3. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, Supreme Court and Senate from 1787 through 1860. 4. “Slavery was an institution of power,” designed to create profit for the enslavers and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism.* 5. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and everyday ways. 6. The experience of slavery varied depending on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of slaveholding and gender. 7. Slavery was the central cause of the Civil War. 8. Slavery shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness, and white supremacy was both a product and legacy of slavery. 9. Enslaved and free people of African descent had a profound impact on American culture, producing leaders and literary, artistic and folk traditions that continue to influence the nation. 10. By knowing how to read and interpret the sources that tell the story of American slavery, we gain insight into some of what enslaving and enslaved Americans aspired to, created, thought and desired.

TOLERANCE.ORG/HARDHISTORY III