Life as an American Slave

Introduction

This WebQuest was created to have students take an in depth look at slavery and how slaves were treated.

 

It is the 1800’s, and slavery is booming in southern American. These African American Slaves make up more than twenty percent of the southern population, and they are vital to the economy. Slaves were used as cheap or free labor starting in American in 1619 as the British used them at the first colony Jamestown, Virginia. As time went on the slave population grew, and the issue of slavery was greatly debated. Slaves were subjected to less than human treatment and conditions, expected to complete rigorous work, and labored on barely any pay or no pay at all.

 

During the Web Quest, you will learn all about slave life in 1800 southern America. You will read some documents and read a firsthand slave narrative about the terrible conditions and lifestyle these people were forced to live.  

Task

You are to explore the provided resources and answer questions regarding what it was like to be an American slave in the 1800's. You will be expected to research the lives of slaves, the conditions under which they lived, and how they were treated. You will also be looking at first hand accounts to get an accurate idea of how they lived.

Process

You are to go to each of the links below and explore what it was like to be an American slave. As you read the information, please take notes and write summaries according to the directions provided.

 

In this first link, you will read about slave life, how they were treated, how they lived, and what they did. After reading the information on this link, answer all the questions on the FRONT page of your worksheet that go along with this site. Use bullet points to note your information.

 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2956.html

 

On this next link, you are to choose 2 historical documents to read and write about. You will be expected summarize the main ideas of the articles that you have read in paragraph form. Please note the title of each article on your worksheet. 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4

 

This last link contains a library of first-hand slave narratives. Pick one narrative of your choice and summarize what this slave's personal experiences were like.  Then, please compare this slave's experiences to the information that you gleaned from the first link. 

http://www.vgskole.net/prosjekt/slavrute/primary.htm

 

Evaluation

You are expected to complete the worksheet with accurate information from each of the links that have been provided.   Be sure to use bullet points on the first page and summaries in paragraph form on the second page.  Your worksheet will be graded based on completion, quality of your paragraph responses, and the amount of reliable facts that you have pulled from each link

Conclusion

I hope that while completing the quest you have gained a better understanding about how slaves were treated and what their lives were like. You should now understand the harsh reality of slavery and what kinds of tasks that they were made to complete, as well as the impact this had on their lives.  This knowledge will help you write your prequel to John Henry's Tall Tale.