http://www.howhist.com/fraser/project.htm#slavery-newest

 

 

"Northerners know nothing at all about Slavery. They think it is perpetual bondage only. They have no conception of the depth of degradation involved in the word, SLAVERY; if they had, they would never cease their efforts until so horrible a system was overthrown." 

Goals of Project:

•To give students an opportunity to view authentic documents, photographs, and narratives from an era in United States history when slavery was legal

•To encourage students to make their own judgements about the causes and effects of slavery on its victims and perpetrators

•To provide a historical background for the discussion of Kindred, a novel of historical fiction

 

Directions:

Over the course of two days, you will be exploring a website that focuses on Harriet Jacobs, a slave who wrote her own memoirs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl which chronicles her life in the South in the years preceding the Civil War. You will be viewing photographs from the era as well as reading narratives written by slaves, in order to get a sense of what it was like to live under the conditions of that period in U.S. history.

 

1. Begin at the website homepage at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hjhome.htm

Read,"PREFACE BY AUTHOR"

Question: a. What was the author's purpose in writing her memoirs?

2. In the  Table of Contents  at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hjtable.htm

choose one chapter from her book on this list .

Read it, summarize the chapter's events.

Also, answer: What aspects of her life do you believe would have most shocked the audience of the era (1800s)?

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3. Look at the ** IMAGES OF SLAVE LIFE IN HARRIET JACOBS' TIME

at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hj-imag2.htm

                                           Choose one of the areas of slave life and view its photos. Describe three or more of the pictures:

•What are the photos of? Describe in detail what you see.

•What does each imply about conditions of slaves in this period?

 

 

 

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4. Choose one of the slave narratives we have not yet read at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/index.html  

Read the narrative, then answer:

•What was the general occupation of this particular slave?

•What did you find out about the life of a slave that interested or surprised you?

•Why did the writer of the interview preserve the original speech and dialect of the narrator? What effect did it have on you as you read?

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5. Look at one of the photographed documents of this era, either the poster offering a reward for a runaway slave at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hjfugitv.htm or a slave auction sale bill at  http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hjsalebl.htm

    Describe the contents and your reaction to it.

6. View the site which shows evidence of ways abolitionists tried to argue against slavery.

    

Explain three arguments or approaches they used to convince others that slavery was wrong. 

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END THOUGHTS: WRITE AN EXTENDED PARAGRAPH OF 500 - 100 WORDS (typed, double-spaced):

Discuss the process you have just gone through of viewing authentic documents, pictures, and narratives to get a sense of an institution such as slavery. Using specific references to what you've read and seen, compare this way of exploring an era in U.S. History to reading a textbook on slavery. Include quotations and examples whenever possible.

CLICK ON THIS CHECKLIST, PRINT IT OUT, AND ATTACH IT TO YOUR ESSAY.