Students will work collaboratively (or individually) to produce a presentation that addresses the demographics of the slave population and contributions by a freed slave from student’s home region. This assignment may be used both in the traditional and virtual classrooms.
Conducting meaningful individual and collaborative research about slave populations and post-Civil War contributions by slaves provides students valuable learning opportunities about the importance of African-American accomplishments to present-day America.
Examine slave statistics about home region.
Identify contributions of former slaves to post-Civil War America.
Standard 2 (SS.912.A.2): Understand the causes, course, and consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction and its effects on the American people.
- History Channel Presentations on Slavery in America
http://www.history.com/videos/origins-of-slavery#origins-of-slavery
- Slavery and the Making of America PBS video series
- Presentation by Missouri teacher about Civil War, Slaves, and Missouri
owensville.k12.mo.us/~smart_lessons/4/.../Civil%20War/Civil%20War.ppt
Found on Internet through Google search
- Slave Census http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/slave-maps/slave-census.htm
- Density of Slave Population as a Percentage of Total Population in US www.upa.pdx.edu/IMS/currentprojects/TAHv3/.../1860_Slaves_Percent.pdf
- Link to slave testimonies http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER%20@band(g3861e%20cw0013200))
- Link to Primary Sources: Slavery and the Making of America (PBS) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/teachers/primary-source.html
WPA Slave Narratives
From http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/teachers/primary-source.html |
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- Traditional Classroom
1. Teacher will display picture of Timothy Thomas Fortune (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flgatsaa/Fortune/Fortune.html). Ask students for identity of photo. After identifying Fortune, offer slide with his contributions. Read one of his poems to class. NOTE: Since Fortune and I were born in the same Florida county, I have a personal connection with his history. Try to find a prominent American-American former slave to whom you can relate due to common geography, interests, or background. This connection will make teacher sharing more meaningful and memorable to students.
2. Teacher will introduce slavery demographics using primary sources listed in lesson plan. Students will brainstorm effects of density and distribution of pre-Civil War slave population.
3. Teacher will lead students to conduct a search for American-American contributions to varied areas of American history and culture. This may be accomplished as a large/ small group or individual activity as in-class or out-of-class assignment. Possible sites are the following:
- Black Studies: Profiles of Important African-Americans
http://www.black-collegian.com/african/aaprofil.shtml
- Famous Firsts by African-Americans
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmfirsts.html
- Notable African-American Women
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/africanamerican/a/black_women.htm
- Notable African-American Biographies
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/afroambios.html
Missouri-specific websites:
- The State Historical Society of Missouri: Famous Missourians- African-Americans
http://shs.umsystem.edu/famousmissourians/africanamericans/
- Missouri State Archives: Missouri’s African-American History
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican/intro.asp
- African-Americans Contributions to Missouri’s Economy
http://www.missourieconomy.org/newsletter/black.htm
NOTE: Similar resources may be found at the websites of comparable institutions in all states.
4. Students will prepare and present a PowerPoint presentation including the following minimally required slides:
- Introduction (Names of group members/presentation title- 1 slide)
- History of slavery in US and home state (3 slides)
- Slave population density in United States (1 slide)
- Slave population demographics in home state (2 slides)
- List of at least five African-Americans and their contributions (5 slides)
- Detailed information on selected African-American from home state (3 slides)
- Summary (1 slide)
- Credits (2 slides): Include contributions by each group member as well as sources used for construction of presentation.
NOTE: Above requirements must be met to receive a passing grade on presentation.
Virtual Classroom: Information would be placed within course in its learning platform. Assignment could be completed as a required collaborative assignment. Presentation could be made using Elluminate or similar program. Skype could also be used if students are not in-country. Rubric could be adapted for virtual classroom. Discussion board area or Wiki could be used for student communications and presentation planning and construction.
Rubric: Research and Presentation
CATEGORY |
Excellent-4 |
Good-3 |
Satisfactory-2 |
Needs Improvement-1 |
Content - Accuracy |
All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are no factual errors. |
Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of information that seems inaccurate. |
The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information is clearly inaccurate. |
Content confusing or contains more than one factual error. |
Sequencing of Information |
Information is organized in a clear, logical way. It is easy to anticipate the next slide. |
Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One slide or piece of information seems out of place. |
Some information is logically sequenced. An occasional slide or piece of information seems out of place. |
There is no clear plan for the organization of information. |
Effectiveness |
Project includes all material needed to give a good understanding of the topic. The project is consistent with its purpose. |
Project is lacking one or two key elements. Project is consistent with its purpose most of the time. |
Project is missing more than two key elements. It is rarely consistent with its purpose. |
Project is lacking several key elements and has inaccuracies. .Project is completely inconsistent with its purpose. |
Use of Graphics |
All graphics are attractive (size and colors) and support the topic of the presentation. |
A few graphics are not attractive; however, all support the topic of the presentation. |
All graphics are attractive; however, a few do not support the topic of the presentation. |
Several graphics are unattractive AND detract from the content of the presentation. |
Text - Font Choice & Formatting |
Font formats (color, bold, italic) have been carefully planned to enhance. readability and content. |
Font formats have been carefully planned to enhance readability. |
Font formatting has been carefully planned to complement the content. It may be a little hard to read. |
Font formatting makes it very difficult to read the material. |
Spelling and Grammar |
Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors. |
Presentation has 1-2 misspellings, but no grammatical errors. |
Presentation has 1-2 grammatical errors but no misspellings. |
Presentation has more than 2 grammatical and/or spelling errors. |
Cooperation |
Group shares tasks and all performed responsibly all of the time. |
Group shares tasks and performed responsibly most of the time. |
Group shares tasks and performs responsibly some of the time. |
Group often is not effective in sharing tasks and/or sharing responsibility. |
Delivery |
Members spoke at a good rate and volume while using good grammar. They maintained eye-contact while referencing their notes. |
Members spoke a little faster or slower than necessary, or too quietly or loudly. They used acceptable grammar. They maintained eye-contact, but relied too much on their notes. |
Members spoke at a good rate and volume, but used poor grammar. They relied heavily on their notes. |
Members demonstrated little attention to rate, volume or grammar. They read nearly word for word from notes. |
Adapted from http://discover.education.purdue.edu/challenge/PBL/2002_2003/ENL_Progress/PPPrubric.htm