The Middle Passage

Name: Kelly Laxgang Date: 11.8.2011 Grade Level/Subject: 7th Grade/Social Science American History Prerequisite Knowledge: At the opening of this lesson, students will have been introduced to the idea that colonists brought African slaves to America to work on their fields Approximate Time: 50-60 minutes Student Objectives/Student Outcomes: Students will be able to describe the conditions and issue that slaves faced as they were taken to America during the colonial period. Students will be able to explain the methods that enslaved the Africans prior to them being brought over to America. Content Standards: 16.A.3b Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources. 16.C.3b (US) Explain relationships among the American economy and slavery, immigration, industrialization, labor and urbanization, 1700-present. 16.D.3 (W) Identify the origins and analyze consequences of events that have shaped world social history including famines, migrations, plagues, slave trading. 18.C.3b Explain how diverse groups have contributed to U.S. social systems over time. Materials/Resources/Technology: Pen/Pencils Notebook Paper SmartBoard/Primary Source Copies Slave Ship Video Implementation: Time Opening of Lesson: 4 minutes Procedure:

Students will begin the class period by writing in their warm-up folders, as they do every day. The prompt (What conditions do you think the enslaved Africans experienced as they were coming to America?) will be written on the chalkboard. Note: Explain the warm up and give examples if necessary.

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Briefly discuss the warm up. Ask students what they thought the conditions were like for slaves coming to America.

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Tell students to pass up their warm-up folders and that they need to clear their desks of everything, except for a pen or a pencil. Procedures (including critical questions, accommodations):

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Remind students of the objective for the lesson. The objective is written on the left side of the chalkboard. Pass out note sheets to students. Tell students that they will be discussing the Middle Passage, which was a route from Africa to the Americas that transported slaves. Tell students that some of this material is disturbing. Tell them that there are things that might bother them but they need to be mature about the material and if they are upset about something, they can come talk to Ms. Rotramel or I about it. Turn on the SmartBoard and use the PowerPoint to talk about the middle passage. Tell students that they should be taking notes ( they will make a C-note chart and write the questions from the top of the slide in the left column and the answer in the right column) because there will be an assignment related to the information we will learn in class. See following notes on the PowerPoint information: Slide 2: Intro Middle Passage Slide 3: What is Triangular Trade? -Trade Route between Britain, Africa, Americas -Americas means West Indies and colonies, not just 13 colonies Slide 4: Map -Manufactured goods (weapons, textiles, etc) come from Britain and go to Africa -Manufactured goods traded for slaves; slaves brought to Americas -Slaves traded for raw goods (sugar, molasses, tobacco, etc) -Wasnt an exact triangle! Trading was happening everywhere, but followed this general pattern SHOW VIDEO! Slide 5:How Slaves Were Captured -Africans were at war with Africans -Rival tribes captured Africans -Africans traded captives to the Europeans Slide 6:What is Middle Passage: -Middle Segments of Triangle Trade -Part of the trip that brought slaves to America -10-20 million Africans went on Middle Passage -estimated 2 million died on the trip (10-15% of all people) -Well talk about conditions of Middle Passage Slide 7: Map Slide 8: What were the conditions like? -Well talk about the 3 main hardships of African slaves while on the Middle Passage -First, ships were crowded! Slide 9: Little Room -Slaves had very little room to move or sleep -Several hundred slaves were put into the same area, chained together. Sometimes dead. -Some slave ships were tight-packed (bring as many Africans as possible), some were loosepacked (bring lots, but dont pack them so tight so they would be more healthy on arrival and get more money for the slaves) Slide 10: How much room would you get? -If you were a boy youd get -If you were a girl, youd get -(Show papers) Ask for volunteers (of different sizes) to demonstrate what little room youd

25 minutes

get. Slide 11: What were conditions like? -Unhealthy Slide 12: Conditions -Well talk about several unhealthy conditions (dont write these down yet) -Diet, disease, sanitation, breathing room, forced exercise Slide 13: Diet -Slaves typically ate cornmeal, bean pulp, stewed yams -Slaves not used to this food because it wasnt part of their typical diet -Not nutritional Slide 14: Diseases -Smallpox (pictured): skin disease, get little pustules on skin -Dysentery: intestinal problem, diarrhea, deadly -Yellow Fever: -Malaria: from insects Slide 15: Why was there so much disease? -No sanitation: bathrooms didnt exist, people were chained together, and they couldnt use bathroom -Little fresh air: chained together in small enclosed area with no windows -Cramped conditions: when people are close, disease is able to spread quickly; people chained to dead people, so there was issues wit that Slide 16: Thrown Overboard -If crew members didnt think youd recover from your disease, youd be thrown overboard -Did this so that most slaves would make it alive Slide 17: Forced Exercise -Slaves would be forced to exercise so theyd stay healthy -Used whips to make slaves dance Slide 18: What were Conditions Like? -Low Morale -Morale means the extent to which you are happy, so low morale means slaves were unhappy Slide 19: Revolts -Slaves revolted against horrible conditions -Revolt means to protest -They protested the conditions that they lived in Slide 20: Unhappiness -Read quote/watch video -Talk about slaves unhappiness -Many wanted to commit suicide but that was hard because the crew did everything they could to keep slaves alive to they could sell them Slide 21 & 22: -Explain assignment Summary/Closing: 4 minutes Explain that the student will be taking on the identity of an enslaved African coming to America. Tell students that they will be writing a -1 page journal entry using what theyve learned about the conditions of the Middle Passage. Students are to imagine that they are an African slave coming to America and discuss how they were captured, what they are experiencing on the ship, and how they feel about it. Tell students to take out a piece of notebook paper. Tell students that they need to write their name on the top of the paper. Students will be given the rest of the class period to write their journal entries, which should be approximately 20 minutes.

1 minute 20 minutes

Assessment: At the end of the class period, students will hand in their journal entries. The journal entries will be graded based on the 5 point scale in which the child will receive a 5 if they meet all of the requirements of the objective and the assignment. A student will receive a 4 if they most meet the objective and assignment requirements. Students will be given a score 1-5 based on the elements of the rubric.