Individual Lesson View
Slave Resistance
From: Zinn Education Project
Grade Level: MS, HS,
Remote Ready: With Modifications for Activities 3-5
Time: 4-5 Class Periods for All Activities
Length of Reading: Chapter
Poetry of Defiance:
How the Enslaved Resisted
Click on "Download to Read in Full." Pick the parts you like.
In 5 separate activities, students (1) share quotes from slaves; (2) write poems about resisting slavery in groups; (3) read a poem; and (4) create a T-Chart about slave resistance and how owners attempted to crush resistance. Finally (5), you have the option to assign a chapter from Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.
(Steps 5-7): Each student is given a quote from a slave (teachers bring your scissors to cut these out). Student go around the room, reading their quotes to one another and filling out a worksheet.
(Steps 8-15): Then based on the quotes, each group will write one stanza of a poem about slaves resisting slavery (see example poems).
(Step 16): If time, students may read David Williams's essay on slave resistance,"I Freed Myself" (5 pages). Students can answer questions in step 18.
(Step 17): Have students "draw a line down the center of a piece of paper and list on one side the ways enslaved African Americans resisted their enslavement and on the other side the ways slave owners and slave catchers tried to prevent resistance.
You may also want to assign Howard Zinn's chapter "Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom" from A People's History of the United States and answer discussion questions on step 18.
4A
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Grade Level: MS, HS
- MS=Middle School
- HS=High School
Remote Ready: With Modifications
- We don’t believe a meet-and-greet style activity would work remotely, but if you have a work around, please let us know.
- However, based on the quotes provided, students can create a poem alone or in groups. They can also info put those quotes into a T-Chart.
- The reading assignment from Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is also possible remotely. You can put a quiz or discussion questions in your LMS.
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