The African Slave Trade (Student Unit Outline)

8/2/2019 The African Slave Trade (Student Unit Outline)

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THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE & THE

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

SOCIAL STUDIES 5/6

MR. LETKEMANS CLASS


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THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE & THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Between the 1500 and the 1800s, approximately 11 million Africans from the

areas in and around Ghana were kidnapped and taken to the Americas. When they

arrived in the Americas they were sold to plantation owners (farmers) to work asslaves for the rest of their lives. How do you think your culture and way of life

would change for you and your family if this had happened to you?

Major Assignments

During our study of this event, you will complete the following assignments and

quizzes to show me what you have learned.

1. Slave Diary (IN 6.4)

y You are going to create a fictional character from Ghana. This person will berecording his or her experiences as you would imagine them.

y The experiences will begin with you and your family being captured by theAshanti people of Ghana, and they will end with being freed from slavery by

travelling to Canada on the Underground Railroad. You will record each of

these experiences after we finish talking about an important part of the

Slave Trade story.y In each of your entries you must be using the vocabulary that we have been

working on in class.

y At the very end of the unit, you will write the diary entries that you havewritten onto the pages of meat packing paper to give it that old look.

2. Weekly Vocabulary Quizzes (IN 6.4 & DR 6.4)

y During every class of our unit, we will be taking the first 15-20 minutesworking on the vocabulary that comes from the Slave Trade and theUnderground Railroad.

y On the last Social Studies class of the week, you will write a vocabulary quizon the words that we have been working on that week.


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3. Underground Railroad Glog (IN 6.4 & DR 6.4)

y You are going to create a glog on the Underground Railroad using the onlinesoftware, Glogster. In this glog, you are going to talk about the Slave Trade

and the rescue of slaves from plantations by people working on theUnderground Railroad.

y In addition to covering the important events and people of the Slave Tradeand Underground Railroad, you must always be using the vocabulary that you

have been working on in class.

4. Slave Trade to Barack Obama Timeline (DR 6.4)

y Near the end of the unit, as a review just before our unit test, you are goingto create a timeline that shows the major events and people from thebeginning of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to the election of Barack

Obama, the first African-American president of the United States. Your

timeline will include written descriptions that include the vocabulary that we

have been working on throughout the unit.

5. Unit Test (IN 6.4 & DR 6.4)

y At the very end of this unit, you are going to write a unit test that will coverthe major events and important people of our Slave Trade unit. You will alsobe tested on the vocabulary that we have been working on throughout the

unit.


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VOCABULARY

Abolitionist Someone who is against slavery

African-American A black person who is a citizen of the United States.

Barack Obama The first African-American president of the United States. He

was elected in 2009.

Culture A common or shared way of life by a group of people.

Cultural Change When the culture of a group of people undergoes small or large

changes.

Ethnic Minority A group of people that have a different culture or race than the

main population.

European A person who comes from the continent of Europe.

Harriet Tubman A leader of the Underground Railroad

Middle Passage The part of the Triangular Trade Route that brought slaves from

Africa to North America.

Negro An old word for a black person. It is no longer used today because it is

often thought of as an insult.

Plantation A farm that throws cotton, tobacco, or sugar cane.

Racism The belief that one race is of less value than others.

Slave Someone who is owned by another human being and forced to do work for

them.


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Slave Auction Where slaves were bought and sold by white plantation owners.

Slave Ship Used to transport slaves from West African to the Americas.

Trade Buying and selling of goods.

TriangularTrade Route A roundtrip trade journey from Europe to Africa (guns,

dishes, plates); Africa to the Americas (with slaves to sell); and the Americas back

to Europe (cotton, sugar, and tobacco).

Underground Railroad A secret operation to free slaves from plantations in the

American south to the northern United States and Canada where slavery was

illegal.

Documents

The African Slave Trade (Student Unit Outline)