2009-1010 Theme: Slavery in America & The Struggle For Freedom

This year’s Project:LUCID unit will focus on Slavery and The Struggle For Freedom. We’ll be building literacy and technology skills while we explore this very important aspect of American history.  Our field trips will focus on the issue of slavery in Connecticut.

2010-2011 Face-to-Face Visits

Field Trip # 1: The Yale University Art Gallery and The Bristish Museum of Art at Yale University, New Haven, CT "The Slave Trade & Exploring West AFrican Culture through Art." (February 2011)

Field Trip # 2: LRMS visit to Partner School at Highcrest School (March 2011)

Field Trip # 3: Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT  " Fortune's Story & Slavery in Waterbury" (April 2011)

Field Trip # 4: Highcrest School visit to partner school at LRMS. (April 2011)

Field Trip # 5: TBA (May 2011)

2009-2010 Face-to-Face Visits

Field Trip # 1: The Mark Twain/Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Hartford, CT, "Mark Twain's Memories of Slavery & Uncle Tom's Cabin" (October 2009)
Field Trip # 2: The Webb/Silas Deene House in Wethersfield, CT, "Slavery in Wethersfield" (November 2009)
Field Trip # 3: The Yale University Art Gallery and The British Museum of Art at Yale University, New Haven, CT " The Slave Trade & Exploring West African Culture Through Art"  (January 2010)
Field Trip # 4: The Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, CT ' Slavery in Connecticut  & The Amistad Incident" (March 2010)
Field Trip # 5: Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT  " Fortune's Story & Slavery in Waterbury" (April 2010)
Field Trip # 6 A Day with CT Author Patricia Reilly Giff At Lighthouse Park in New Haven (June 2, 2010)

Clay Poetry Plate

Title
Clay Poetry Plate
Grade

5-8

Subject Area(s)
Art, History, Writing

Overview
Students in grades 5-8 will see the connection that art makes to a society and a culture by exploring the art of Dave, an enslaved African American Potter from South Caroline who began making pottery before the Civil War, from around the early 1820’s to the mid-to-late 1860’s. Dave is famous for his ability to throw very large pots often up to 40 gallons or more in size and for the fact that he was able to read and write. We know that because his pots were often signed, ‘Dave’ and the pots often contained short poems that he wrote. The poetry and pottery created by Dave serve as excellent primary source artifacts as we decipher a great deal of information from the poetry about the life and conditions of a slave.
The best current estimate is that Dave was born around 1800. Much of the information that historians have been able to assemble on Dave has come from examining the records of the families that ran the principal pottery works in the region. Over time he was bought and sold by the Drake, Gibbs, Miles, and Landrum families. Dave, for example, was the property of Harry Drake until the latter’s death in 1832. After emancipation in the 1860s, Dave took the last name of Drake, perhaps in commemorative remembrance of the man who presumably taught him to be a potter.
We will use the several books on African American Art, along with the Leonard Todd’s book, ‘Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter, Dave’ along with an NPR podcast to explore the life of Dave. The students will complete an art unit, combining clay sculpture with a literacy component as they too learn to express themselves through the visual arts, just as Dave, the Potter, did back in the 19th century.


Essential Understanding

• How does society influence art?

Essential Questions

• In the world today we learn as much through visual images as we do through written word.

• How do a person’s views, beliefs, and opinions shape the way they view and make art?

• How do people express themselves through art?
Where do ideas come from?

CT Standards

CT Social Studies Curriculum Framework:
Content Standard 1- Content Knowledge: Knowledge of concepts and information from history and social studies is necessary to promote understanding of our nation and our world.

Content Standard 2- History/Social Studies Literacy: Competence in literacy inquiry and research skills is necessary to analyze, evaluate and present history and social studies information.

Content Standard 3-Application: Civic Competence in addressing historical issues and current problems requires the use of information,skills and empathic awareness


CT Art Curriculum Framework:

Content Standard 3- Content: Students will consider, select and applya range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.

Content Standard 4- History and Cultures: Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and culture.

Content Standard 5- Analysis, Interpretation and Evaluation: Students will reflect upon, describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate their own and others’ work.


Objectives
Students will create a clay vessel that will be inscribed with a couplet
reflective of a connection they have to their life, inspired by the work of a slave named Dave, the potter.


Materials
Clay, clay tools, glaze, underglaze, paint brushes, water, pencils, sketch paper, plate/draped cloth

Details of Activities


Day 1-Dave The Potter Podcast & Writing Assignment

1. 
Students will see a PowerPoint on the history and life of ‘‘Dave the Potter’, view some examples of his work and listen to a podcast written by a currant author on Dave’s life.
 


2. Writing Homework Assignment-A Poem on Freedom

We have just discovered how Dave the Potter used Art to express himself and share details of his life with poetry.  Please write a couplet, 2-3 lines, rhyming or not, that represent your thoughts on freedom. Because the rhyme comes so quickly in rhyming couplets, it tends to call attention to itself.


Day 2-Verses Made By Dave 

1. Pass out Handout Verses Made By Dave to class and lead a group discussion on what we can tell about Dave The Potter and his life as a slave.

2. Art Homework Assignment

Practice writing your couplet in a several different scripts.  You may choose one of these or create your own.

Day 3-Clay Slab Construction


1. Using slab-rolling machine, roll out one large slab (15x15) per student and place on a plate draped in cloth.

2. Press clay slab into the plate and cut edges to fit the size of the plate. Smooth edges of plate with a small wet sponge, ridding the clay of jagged edges or imperfections.

3. Details may be added to the dish for decorative elements (leaves, flowers, shapes).
4. Students may also press into the clay various patterns or textures, leaving space though for the couplet.

5. Clay slab must dry for one week and be bisque fired in a kiln.
6. Using underglazes and very small brushes students will paint their couplet onto the clay plate. Pencils may be used first to space the writing. Decorative elements or patterns may be painted on the plate.

7. Clear glaze is then sponged onto the entire plate (except the bottom) and plate is then fired for the 2nd time.


Suggested Assessment/Evaluation

Clay Poetry Plate Rubric

• Clay construction
• Under glaze application

1-Outstanding
2-Above Average
3-Average
4-Below Average

1=A
2=B
3=C
4=D

Name_______________________Overall Grade__________


Possible Extensions/Resources 
Introduce contemporary African American Artists such as Romare Bearden
 and “Roots Odyssey”

Resources

Project:LUCID Students Spend a Morning with Patricia Reilly Giff

The Project:LUCID students really enjoyed their last face to face today at Lighthouse Point in New Haven. Together with all the Project:LUCID classes from around the state, they listened to Connecticut author Patricia Relly Giff as she read from her various books and shared her insights on the writers craft.  Afterwards each student received a free copy of one of her books and many stood in line to have her autograph their copy.  It was a real treat to have her speak to all of us!

Slavery in America-Part III (Resistance & Freedom)

Slaves did manage to find ways to enrich their lives and keep connected to each other. One way was through music. Slaves often sang when they worked, or at church, which the white owners encouraged. These songs, called “spirituals,” became a vital part of American life. Music such as jazz and blues has its roots in slave spirituals. Some slaves managed to publish “slave narratives,” stories that taught people what the experience of a slave was like.  

Many slaves fought back or ran away to the Northern states where slavery was legal. Both black and white people opposed to slavery formed the “Underground Railroad,” which were secret routes of safe houses – particularly in Ohio -- that sheltered slaves and helped them reach the North. Some slave escaped to the Deep South into Florida and made lives for themselves in places like Pensacola, "The Negro Fort," and Fort Moses as well as living among the Seminole Indians of Florida.  You can see read more and see pictures from Miss Avery's and Mrs. Kopecki's NEH Landmarks in American History Grant here.

Here's a video Mrs. Kopecki and Ms. Avery made on "Fort Negro."

By the 1800’s, many white Americans viewed slavery as wrong. “Abolitionists” were people who worked to ban slavery. However, people in the South depended on slave workers. They knew that if they lost slave labor, they would lose most of their wealth.

Disagreement on the issue became heated. In 1861, the Civil War broke out. The North won, and slavery was made illegal in 1865. This was done in two steps – first President Abraham Lincoln created a statement freeing slaves called the “Emancipation Proclamation.” After that, the U.S. Constitution was changed. The 13th Amendment declared that from that time on, slavery would always be illegal in the United States. (Source: www.misterteacher.com)

                                                The Project Lucid students read fugitive slave stories from the book entitled, Escape From Slavery by Doreen Rappaport.  The students completed graphic organizers showing the sequence of events to the various stories and illustrated their favorite scene.  

They shared these responses through Videoconferencing.  Below are some of their illustrations and graphic organizers.

Danielle & Nate-"Free Like The Wind'

Josh & Devin-"Two Tickets For Mr. Johnson and Slave"

Brian and Mike-"Pretending"

Mallory-"A Shipment of Dry Goods"

Gage-"The River of Ice"

Task Essential Questions: a. What is freedom?  b. At what cost should freedom be achieved?

Twentieth-century artist Romare Bearden presents a stylized depiction of the odyssey of captives from Africa to the United States. The ship shows the low decks that were constructed on slaving vessels so that the maximum number of African captives could be transported. A black man's silhouette frames a view of the African continent, a U.S. flag, and seabirds thought to symbolize the souls of Africans returning to their homeland.

ROOTS
1977
Lithograph
Edition: 9/20
27 x 21"
This image was used as the cover of TV Guide
for the orignial broadcast of the Roots Series.

One of the preeminent African American collage artists, Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte on September 2, 1914, lived in Pittsburgh and Harlem, and died in New York on March 12, 1988. He was a 1935 graduate of New York University and honored with many honorary degrees and awards, including the National Medal of Arts, awarded by President Ronald Reagan in 1987.

"Fortune's Story"-Slavery & The Pursuit of Freedom in Waterbury

In March the Project:LUCID students went to the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT  There the students hooked up with their Highcrest partners and learned about Slavery in Waterbury, CT.  As a pre-visit activity, they explored Fortune's Story on the Mattatuck Museum's website.  

As part of the tour, the students took a walk around the green, exploring the rich history of the area, with a focus on Fortune's family as well as the lives of the African Americans of Colonial Waterbury.

The group stopped at the Historic Grand Street Cemetery where Fortune and the other African Americans, both slave and free, were buried in the separate, "colored burial plot."

The burial ground was moved in the late 19th century to make way for the Silas Bronson public library and those that could moved their loved ones remains to the new Riverside cemetery nearby.  Those too poor to move their family members, including the towns slave community, remains interred on this spot.

Venture Smith-The Struggle For Freedom in Connecticut

The Life of Venture Smith
Life of a Connecticut Slave

Day I 

Read the summary of "Slavery in Connecticut" and review the timeline.  Have a class discussion of the African American experience in colonial Connecticut.

Day 2

1. Tale a moment to write down your definition of slavery.  As a class come to a consensus an list the elements or components of slavery on the board.

2. Make a T-Chart in your notebook titled "Slavery in Connecticut" on one side, leaving plenty of room between each element.

3. Read alone or with you teacher "A Narrative of The Life and Adventures of Venture Smith" and look for evidence of slavery as you as a class have defined it.  When you have found an event that corresponds to one of the listed elements of slavery, quote the Narrative, writing page number and corresponding line (s) on the right hand side of the T-Chart.

Day 3

Discussion Questions:
1. Did slavery exist in Connecticut in the colonial period?
2. What was the African American experience in colonial Connecticut?
3. How can primary source documents help us to better understand history?

Slave Ads and 

Slave Life in Connecticut

Day 4


Advertisements offering rewards for capturing runaway slaves was a common sight in Colonial Connecticut newspapers.  Through these ads we can learn a great deal about everyday life for these enslaved people.  

1. In groups of four, analyze one of these "Connecticut Slave Sale Ads" or "Runaway Slave Ads" published in Connecticut newspapers.  As you are reading, brainstorm any and all observations and questions you might have.  Have a recorder in the group write down you group's observations and questions.

2. Have a class discussion about what we can learn about the daily lives of Connecticut slaves.  How did they dress?  What sort of work did they do?

The Living Consequences: Connecticut Apologizes for Slavery
Resolution Expressing The Profound Regret of The General Assembly

Slavery in America-Part II (Life As A Slave)

Slavery in America-Part II

Life As a Slave

     
In America, Africans were sold and taken to new homes, where they would be forced to work, usually for more than twelve hours a day. Most slaves worked in the fields, picking tobacco or cotton. Slaves who did not work or tried to run away were beaten and sometimes even killed. Slaves were given simple shacks and clothes and food to eat, but this did not make up for what was taken away from them. By law, slaves were considered property that could be bought and sold. Families were often split up and never saw each other again. Slaves were forbidden to speak their native African languages or practice their native religions. Slave owners could kill a slave without punishment. Slaves were not allowed to own property, to gather for meetings, to marry whom they chose, or even to learn to read and write.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)

Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland and treated harshly in his young life. He taught himself to read and eventually escaped to the North. There, he published his narrative and became one of the country’s most important speakers against slavery. Here is an excerpt from his narrative where he recalls Slave Life.

"Here, too, the slaves of all the other farms received their monthly allowance of food, and their yearly clothing. The men and women slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars. The allowance of the slave children was given to their mothers, or the old women having the care of them. The children unable to work in the field had neither shoes, stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them; their clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts per year. When these failed them, they went naked until the next allowance-day. Children from seven to ten years old, of both sexes, almost naked, might be seen at all seasons of the year.

There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these. This, however, is not considered a very great privation. They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep; for when their day’s work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending, and cooking to do, and having few or none of the ordinary facilities for doing either of these, very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in preparing for the field the coming day; and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, — the cold, damp floor, — each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver’s horn.

At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field. There must be no halting; every one must be at his or her post; and woe betides them who hear not this morning summons to the field; for if they are not awakened by the sense of hearing, they are by the sense of feeling: no age nor sex finds any favor. Mr. Severe, the overseer, used to stand by the door of the quarter, armed with a large hickory stick and heavy cowskin, ready to whip any one who was so unfortunate as not to hear, or, from any other cause, was prevented from being ready to start for the field at the sound of the horn.

Mr. Severe was rightly named: he was a cruel man. I have seen him whip a woman, causing the blood to run half an hour at the time; and this, too, in the midst of her crying children, pleading for their mother’s release. He seemed to take pleasure in manifesting his fiendish barbarity. Added to his cruelty, he was a profane swearer. It was enough to chill the blood and stiffen the hair of an ordinary man to hear him talk. Scarce a sentence escaped him but that was commenced or concluded by some horrid oath. The field was the place to witness his cruelty and profanity. His presence made it both the field of blood and of blasphemy. From the rising till the going down of the sun, he was cursing, raving, cutting, and slashing among the slaves of the field, in the most frightful manner. His career was short. He died very soon after I went to Colonel Lloyd’s; and he died as he lived, uttering, with his dying groans, bitter curses and horrid oaths. His death was regarded by the slaves as the result of a merciful providence."

Discussion Questions: 

1. Describe the life of a slave in Maryland.  What did they eat?  How did they sleep? working conditions?

2. Who was Mr. Severe? What was the relationship like between the slaves and the overseer?

3. What would you have found most difficult if you were a slave?

To learn more about Frederick Douglass and his struggle for freedom click on this website: Young American Heroes.

The CT Historical Society: The Amistad & Slavery in Connecticut

Today the Project:LUCID students went to visit the Connecticut Historical Society and Museum.  The students participated in a hands-on activity that helped bring alive the experience of Slavery in Connecticut.  The students read slave advertisements and discussed what can be learned about the life of the runaway slaves written about in the advertisements.

Next the students learned about journey from Africa to America aboard a slave ships by discussing their reaction to excerpts from the narrative of Olaudah Equiano's.  They also participated in a hands-on simulation that allowed them to "experience" the cramped conditions on a slave ship.

The highlight of the day was the multimedia "Amistad" Exhibit.  There the Project:LUCID students experienced the story of Cinque and his fellow Africans who revolted against their Spanish captors aboard the slave ship "The Amistad" and fought to return home to their native Sierra Leone.  The story of Cinque and his fellow Africans struggle for freedom is a part of Connecticut history as the trial of the Africans takes place in New Haven and Hartford.  Ultimately, the Africans are found to be free men by the US Supreme Court and allowed to return to their homeland.

The group very much enjoyed the day and we look forward to our next face to face in April!

Slavery in America-Part I (The Middle Passage)

Review the Timeline of Slavery in America.

Early European settlers in America had a lot of work to do, but not many people to do it. To solve the problem, they brought slaves from Africa to do the work. Slavery was a cruel experience that has left lasting effects on American life.

Slavery began in the U.S. Colonies in the early 1600’s and lasted until 1865. By that time, the slave population was approximately 4 million people. 95% of slaves in America lived in the Southern states. European slave traders kidnapped people from Africa and shipped them to America. Slaves were chained so that they could not escape or fight back. They were sent by ship across the Atlantic Ocean. The terrible voyage, called the “Middle Passage,” lasted up to a month. As many as half of the slaves died along the way.

Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)

Olaudah Equiano was abducted at the young age of 11 from his Ibo village in West Africa (Benin) and enslaved, endured the terrible "middle passage" and was sold into slavery.  Thirty years later he was able to purchase his freedom and wrote his famous autobiography, "The Life of Olaudah Equiano."  His slave narrative was very influential in bringing about an end to slavery, especially in Great Britain.  He later became an abolitionist and spent the last part of his life traveling the world speaking out against the cruelty of slavery.

The excerpt below describes his voyage from Africa to the New World.

[1] "I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation (greeting) in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that with the loathsomeness of the stench (stink) and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything....two of the white men offered me eatables, and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet while the other flogged (whipped) me severely. I had never experienced anything of this kind before, and although, not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet nevertheless could I have got over the nettings I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water...

[2] The stench (stink) of the hold (below deck) while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined together it became absolutely pestilential (sickening). The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration (breathing)  from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died...The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low (I was getting very sick) here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck, and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters (chains). In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs...

[3] One day they had taken a number of fishes, and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on the deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity when they thought no one saw them of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings (whippings).

[4] One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea: immediately another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same if they had not been prevented by the ship’s crew, who were instantly alarmed...''


Discussion Questions: 
1. Describe what the middle passage was like.  Why was it often so deadly?


2. What would you have found most difficult about the middle passage?  

*History Tools: Sources, "Equaino Recalls the Middle Passage" 

The Yale Museum of American Art & The British Art Museum

The Project:LUCID students were off to Yale University in January to tour the British Museum of Art and The Yale University Art Gallery.  The focus of the tour was "The Slave Trade and Exploring West African Culture Through Art."  The students were very fortunate to have with us on this field trip, Mrs. Kopecki's and Miss Avery's Chinese guests, who were here in the state to learn about US educational practices.