The document provides resources and instructional topics for teaching the African American experience related to enslavement and freedom, focusing on African history, the Atlantic slave trade, and life in colonial New York. It discusses cultural aspects, resistance, abolition, and notable African American activists and their struggles for rights. Additionally, it includes resources and lesson materials for educators to explore these topics further with students.

1. The Struggle fromThe Struggle from
Enslavement to FreedomEnslavement to Freedom
Resources for Teaching theResources for Teaching the
African American Experience inAfrican American Experience in
Social StudiesSocial Studies

2. Instructional TopicsInstructional Topics
 African Enslavement in HistoricalAfrican Enslavement in Historical
PerspectivePerspective
– African CultureAfrican Culture
– Migration: Atlantic Slave Trade & MiddleMigration: Atlantic Slave Trade & Middle
PassagePassage
– Africans in New York (colonial/post colonial)Africans in New York (colonial/post colonial)
– Life in EnslavementLife in Enslavement
– ResistanceResistance
– AbolitionAbolition

3. African CultureAfrican Culture
 Discuss colonial trade routes and their impact on societies
(African, European, North American)
 Examples:
– Origins of Enslaved Africans Shipped to North America
– History of Slavery in Africa
– Triangular Trade
– New York's role in slave trade/importation
– Data on slave trade (Slave exports)
 Sources:
 In-Motion: The African American Migration Experience (Schomburg)
 The African Slave Trade (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
 NY Digital Gallery (NYPL)
 Cross Roads and Cross Rivers: Early People of NY (Hudson Valley)

4. The fabrication of iron tools and weapons allowed for the
kind of extensive systematized agriculture, efficient hunting,
and successful warfare necessary to sustain large urban centers.
Source:
The Age of Iron in West Africa | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Mus

5. Period
Number of Enslaved
Africans Identified
Per Cent
1450-1600 409,000 3.6
1601-1700 1,348,000 11.9
1701-1800 6,090,000 53.8
1801-1867 3,466,000 30.6
Total
Known
Population
11,313,000
Source: Paul E. Lovejoy, Transformations in
Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2000.)
http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/database/search.faces

6. RIGHTS OF MANRIGHTS OF MAN
 VISIT TO A SLAVE SHIP.
Onn^outheni voyage of trading and
discovery, Capt Beioj, Morrell, Jr. visited
a slave ship off the coast of Africa. We
extract the account as a fair specimen of
his valuabln narrative, lately published by
the enterprising Messrs. Harpers.
* * * # » *
If the reader has ever been on board of
a Hudson River market sloop, , loaded
with calves and sheep for the city slaughter
houses, he may form some faint idea
oi'tliis Brazilian shiv- brigi A '"•i!;« <•(
pens, or bins, occupied each side of the
main deck, from the cat-head to the main
chains, in which were confined such a
number of the slaves as were permited to
come upon deck at one time. In a line
with the mam hatchway, on each side,
wa9 erected a bulkhead, or partition, separating
the men from the women ; while a
narrow passage remained open lo the
gangway, abaft the sternmost pen, or befiveen
that and the quarter deck.
The slaves, pi rfectly naked, were stowed
in rows, fore and aft, ia a siting or
crouching posture; and most of the men
and their faces between their knees, either
indulging in a……

7. Describe the culture and lives of the African
slaves in Colonial America
especially in New York
 Examples:
 From Ancient Africa and the Atlantic to life in colonies/states
 Food, clothing, shelter, roles as workers, recreation, education
 Newspaper ads, wills, bills of sale, laws
 Memoirs, Poems, Narratives: Phillis Wheatly, Jupiter Hammon;
 excerpts of narratives from Austin Steward, Jermaine Loguen,
Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, others
 Sources:
– Documenting the American South: N. American Slave Narratives
– New York Heritage (search “slavery New York” and “runaway slaves”)
– Cross Roads and Cross Rivers: Early NY Inhabitants (various cultures)
– Slavery in New York (NYHS) (compares Dutch, British, American)
– Slavery in the North (NY) (Northern and NY slavery distinct from South)
– US Historical Census Browser
– SI: Slave Life and the Underground Railroad lessonSI: Slave Life and the Underground Railroad lesson with song “Gone, Sold &with song “Gone, Sold &
Gone” fromGone” from Many Roads to FreedomMany Roads to Freedom
– Slavery in Genesee County, New York (Genesee Co. Dept. of History)Slavery in Genesee County, New York (Genesee Co. Dept. of History)

8. Alphabetical List of North American Slave Narratives
The Liberty Minstrel. Gone, Dead and Gone (1844)
Gone, gone—sold and
gone,
To the rice-swamp dank
and lone,
Where the slave-whip
ceaseless swings,
Where the noisome insect
stings,
Where the fever demon
strews
Poison with the falling
dews,
Where the sickly sunbeams
glare
Through the hot and misty
air,
Gone, gone—sold and
gone,
To the rice-swamp dank
and lone,
From Virginia's hills and
waters,
Woe is me my stolen
daughters!

9. Its enslaved Africans built whatever
New Amsterdam needed.
•A wall and a fort to protect against
native peoples and rival English
colonies.
•A dock to receive cargoes from the
Hudson Valley and from overseas.
•Roads into the interior of bountiful
Manhattan Island.
Eventually the Africans won "half-
freedom." They still had to pay an
annual tax and could be called back
to work for the Dutch West India
Company. But they had their own
homes and the chance to create one
of the first free black communities in
North America.
Individual Classroom Materials for Teachers:
Teacher Guide - Download PDF
Buried Stories: Lessons from the African Burial Ground - Download PDF
White New Yorkers in Slave Times - Download PDF
Laws Affecting Blacks in Manhattan - Download PDF
Fact Sheet - Download PDF
Glossary - Download PDF
Photo Cards - Download PDF
Life Stories: Profiles of Black New Yorkers During Slavery and Emancipation
- Download PDF

11. Analyze/discuss sectionalism in the America
during the nineteenth century.
Examples:
 Slavery and State’s rights
 Examples: Personalities: John C. Calhoun, John Brown, William Lloyd
Garrison, others
 Examples: King Cotton versus factories; New York rural farms v.
urban ports; seasons
Sources:
– SI: Slave Life and the Underground Railroad lesson
– song “Gone, Sold & Gone” from Many Roads to Freedom
– Trees of Liberty and Slavery Map, LOC
– SI NPG: A Brush with History: Abolition & the Civil War
– Reuben Fenton (Mr. Lincoln's War)
– Republican Party Platform of 1860
– Territorial Kansas Online lesson (G. Smith, R. Fenton, F.L. Olmsted, etc)
– WNY and the 1854 Emigrant Aid Company (Kansas) (Daniel R. Anthony)
– PBS American Experience: The Time of the Lincolns (Loguen letter)
– 1835 NY Anti Slavery Convention
– Slavery A Positive Good (John C. Calhoun, 1837)

12. Frederick Douglass
on John Brown
The
friendship of
Frederick
Douglass and
John Brown
began in
1848, when
Douglass
visited
Brown's
home in
Springfield,
Massachusett
s. Brown
confided to
Douglass his
ambitious
scheme to
free the
slaves. Over
the next
eleven years,
Brown
sought
Douglass's
counsel and
support.
Frederick Douglass.
"A Lecture on John Brown."
Autograph corrections and drafts,
1860.
Frederick Douglass Papers,
Manuscript Division. (3-8b)

14. Examine major struggles within the nation and
the resulting compromises
 Examples:
 • Texas statehood (Alamo)
 • Compromise of 1850
 • Fugitive Slave Act and abolitionists
 • “Bleeding Kansas” and Nebraska Act
 • Anti-Slavery Societies
 • Dred Scott
 Sources: (including from previous section)
 Accounts of Fugitive Slave Cases in Buffalo, Niagara
 Edsitement lesson on Kansas-Nebraska Act
.

15. Identify and discuss some AmericanIdentify and discuss some American
activists before the Civil War.activists before the Civil War.
 Examples:
 Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Sojourner Truth, Horace Mann, Dorthea Dix,Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Sojourner Truth, Horace Mann, Dorthea Dix, The LiberatorThe Liberator
by William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Harriet B. Stowe,by William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Harriet B. Stowe,
Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass andand The North StarThe North Star by Frederick Douglass,by Frederick Douglass,
Reuben Fenton, Austin Steward, the Anthony family, William W. Brown, Jermaine W.Reuben Fenton, Austin Steward, the Anthony family, William W. Brown, Jermaine W.
Louguen, Henry Highland Garnet, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the Bloss familyLouguen, Henry Highland Garnet, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the Bloss family,, Gerrit Smith,Gerrit Smith,
Amy Post, othersAmy Post, others
 Sources:Sources:
– Many Roads to FreedomMany Roads to Freedom (Rochester area abolitionists)(Rochester area abolitionists)
– Reform, Religion & the Underground Railroad in WNYReform, Religion & the Underground Railroad in WNY (WNY agents by(WNY agents by
county)county)
– Flight to Freedom: RMSC Teacher GuideFlight to Freedom: RMSC Teacher Guide
– Frederick Douglass quoteFrederick Douglass quote (from “Freedom: A History of US”)(from “Freedom: A History of US”)
– 19th century African American Activists in WNY (MFRHC)19th century African American Activists in WNY (MFRHC)
– Garnet's Call to Rebellion (Buffalo, NY 1843)Garnet's Call to Rebellion (Buffalo, NY 1843)
– U. of Detroit Mercy: Black Abolitionist ArchivesU. of Detroit Mercy: Black Abolitionist Archives (newspapers and abolition articles)(newspapers and abolition articles)
Henry Bibb's 1850 speech in Buffalo, NYHenry Bibb's 1850 speech in Buffalo, NY (audio)(audio)
Account of Henry Box Brown, 1849Account of Henry Box Brown, 1849
Maria Pointer's 1861 Thanksgiving appealMaria Pointer's 1861 Thanksgiving appeal

16. MANY ROADS TO FREEDOM: WORKERS
FOR THE ABOLITIONIST CAUSE
Click on names for biographical information
and on images for larger views

17. Underground Railroad in Western NewUnderground Railroad in Western New
YorkYork
 Fugitive Slave Case, Lockport, NY, 1823Fugitive Slave Case, Lockport, NY, 1823
 Fugitive Slave Case, Buffalo, NY, 1835Fugitive Slave Case, Buffalo, NY, 1835
 American Anti-Slavery Society, WNY Branches, 1837-1838American Anti-Slavery Society, WNY Branches, 1837-1838
 Attempt to Release a Slave, Niagara Falls, NY 1847Attempt to Release a Slave, Niagara Falls, NY 1847
 Fugitive Slave Case, Buffalo, NY 1847Fugitive Slave Case, Buffalo, NY 1847
 Mass Meeting of Colored Citizens, Buffalo, 1850Mass Meeting of Colored Citizens, Buffalo, 1850
 Meeting to Protest the Fugitive Slave Bill, North Collins,Meeting to Protest the Fugitive Slave Bill, North Collins,
 Fugitive Slave Case of "Daniel", Buffalo, NY, 1851Fugitive Slave Case of "Daniel", Buffalo, NY, 1851
 Betrayal of a Fugitive Slave, Buffalo, NY, 1857Betrayal of a Fugitive Slave, Buffalo, NY, 1857
 Catherine Harris and the Underground Railroad in JamesCatherine Harris and the Underground Railroad in James
 Underground Railroad Agents in Western New YorkUnderground Railroad Agents in Western New York

18. Title: Henry Bibb
Speaker or author:
Bibb, Henry, b. 1815
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Speech denouncing Daniel Webster's
position on slavery and his recent
speech regarding fugitive slaves.
(from the collection audio files)
Description of original document:
PDF 3 page, 669 word document
Date published: 1850-04-12
Black AbolitionistBlack Abolitionist
ArchiveArchive

19. Canada or Colonization?Canada or Colonization?

20. Connections with Ongoing Struggles forConnections with Ongoing Struggles for
Civil Rights and Human RightsCivil Rights and Human Rights
Anti-Slavery International