Individual Lesson View
Slavery Via Frederick Douglass's Autobiography
From: Teaching American History
Grade Level: HS, (College)
Remote Ready: With Modifications
Time: 4-5 Class Periods for All
Activities
Length of Reading: Chapter
Slavery Through the Eyes of a Slave
What does Frederick Douglass's autobiography tell us about slavery? Four lessons are available here: (1) discussing what students already know, (2) reading 1 of 2 chapters from Douglass's autobiography, (3) comparing it to student's background knowledge, and (4) writing an article about the terrors of slavery.
Activity 1: Students create a T-chart with what they know about slaves and slave masters.
Activity 2: Students read 1 of 2 chapters in Frederick Douglass's autobiography (links provided, the first chapter is 5 pages printed with large font and the second chapter is 15 pages). A link is available with active reading strategies. Students fill out a worksheet with Hagen's 9 Questions.
Activity 3: Students revisit the T-chart they made in the first activity to see if it makes sense in light of Activity 2.
Activity 4: Students write an article about the terrors of slavery based on the Douglass autobiography.
Assessment: Students write tweets based on "Slavery by the Numbers" facts (link provided).
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Grade Level: HS, (College)
- HS=High School
- Though HS is the specified grade level, this lesson would be excellent for college students as well.
Remote Ready: With Modifications
- Links to the reading assignments can easily be emailed or posted for students
- Students’ writing assignments can easily be emailed to the teacher or turned in through you LMS.
Primary Source Icon
This means that this activity utilizes primary sources
Writing Icon
This activity asks students to write a 3 paragraph answer to a questions. There are also short answer questions in this activity, but this icon refers to longer writing requirements
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