The Secret to Freedom
This
lesson uses three books to introduce students to what a slave's life was
like, and to explain why slaves sought freedom in the north and in Canada.
The books are:
The Strength of These Arms by Raymond Bial
Slavery Time When I Was Children by Belinda Hurmence
The Secret to Freedom by Marcia Vaughan
Depending on your class and situation, you may want to read excerpts from these books, show some of the pictures, and then discuss what you have seen. You can also include our plantation images, which show conditions on a former plantation.
Gather students to the group discussion area. Writes the students' responses on chart paper in an 'idea cluster'. For more images of the conditions in which slaves lived, see the Plantation Images.
We saw in the book The Strength of These Arms some of the cabins where slaves lived and we saw some of their tool, dishes, beds and quilts.
Are the slave cabins like your home? What is different?
Do you think the cabins were warm in the winter?
Were the chairs comfortable?
Would you want to live in a slave cabin?
Slavery Time When I was Children had many pictures of slaves doing work they were forced to do by their masters.
What were some of the jobs slaves were forced to do?
Do you do jobs at home?
What's the difference between a slave and someone who works?
If a person doesn't get paid, are they a slave?
What's the difference?
Would you want to be a slave?
The Secret to Freedom is a story about one family and their search for freedom.
Read the book, and carefully point out that the book
is fiction. It's a story the writer created. Read the Author's Note at
the back of the book. Allow children to read and look at the book in the
class library.
Copyright
© 2003 by the Network for Instructional TV, Inc.
All rights reserved.