Finding Slaves in Unexpected Places : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History Site

Keeping Blacks in Bondage Was Not a Southern Monopoly

AMONG THE MINUTEMEN who turned out on Lexington Green on April 19, 1775, to confront the British and start the fight for American freedom was Prince Estabrook, a black man and a slave. He was wounded in the shoulder. Five years before, runaway slave Crispus Attucks was among five men slain by British soldiers in the Boston Massacre, a confrontation he may have rashly initiated. Some modern Americans might guess that Estabrook and Attucks were southern slaves visiting New England with their masters, but they were Massachusetts residents, two of the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children in northern bondage during the eighteenth century.

Read more of the article at:

Finding Slaves in Unexpected Places : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History Site

Phillis Wheatley

What would your students say if asked to list what they knew about slavery? Typical answers might include:

*Slavery was in the South.

*They were not paid.

*Black people were enslaved.

*People were sold.

*Slavery was the cause of the Civil War.

*There is no slavery today.

*The Middle Passage was horrific.

If you were to then hand them this image of Phillis Wheatley, what might they observe?

*She’s writing a letter.

*She’s well dressed.

*She’s black.

*There is a book and a quill pen on the table.

*She’s not working, she looks to be in repose.

*She has the same name as the person to whom she is a servant

*She lives in Boston/the North.

Born in West Africa and purchased by the Boston Wheatley family, Phillis Wheatley complicates our ideas of slavery and of the American Revolution. Her book of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral and published in 1773, was the first book of poetry published by an African-American. Phillis was eventually freed by her owner. She continued writing and even corresponded with George Washington. Read more about her life at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Her story has been told in picture book format, A Voice of Her Own, and in a YA novel, Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons. The Old South Meeting House has published a teacher's guide as well.

Flow of History is reading Laurie Halse Anderson's YA novel Chains which tells the story of young Isabel, another enslaved girl at the time of the American Revolution. In Chains, the author begins each chapter with a quote from a primary source. One of the first quotes is from Phillis Wheatley's poem, "To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth"

I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate

Was snatch'd from Afric's fancyied happy seat: ...

...That from a father seiz'd his babe belov'd:

Such, such my case. And can I then but pray

Others may neve feel tyrannic sway?

How might Isabel have identified with Phillis? Phillis's portrait gives some clues and offers an accessible primary source for readers of Chains.

New England's Slave Past

The Boston Globe has published a slide show of pictures and documents that tell the human story of slavery in our region.

Check it out at:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/gallery/new_englands_slave_past/?s_campaign=8315

New teaching kits on abolition in Vermont

Have you visited Rokeby Museum?

Rokeby Museum is one of the best-documented Underground Railroad sites in the country and it is here in Vermont! Rowland Thomas and Rachel Gilpin Robinson were devout Quakers and radical abolitionists, and they harbored many fugitive slaves at their family home and farm during the decades of the 1830s and 1840s. Among the thousands of letters in the family's correspondence collection are several that mention fugitive slaves by name and in some detail.

Rokeby has just created two teaching kits about abolition:

Speaking Truth to Power

A new multi-media kit presents the stirring words of America’s radical abolitionists and introduces middle and high school students to their principles, tactics, and ideas. Each of the eight speeches – recorded by professional actors – opens the door on a chapter of abolitionist history. The teachers’ guide includes historical and biographical background, text of the recordings, discussion questions, student activities and worksheets, and primary source documents. The kit also includes exhibit panels, period illustrations for student investigation, and a selection of books for further reading. Excellent enrichment for Vermont and American history, speech, and civics courses. Two-week rental is $30 (you are responsible for the cost of return) if we ship the kit; $20 if you pick it up.


Frederick Douglass in Vermont

Did you know that Frederick Douglass – the greatest African American of the 19th century – toured Vermont early in his career? The kit provides newspaper reports of his 1843 speech in Ferrisburgh, a recording of the speech (read by a professional actor), questions for classroom discussion, student activities, and 15 copies of Douglass’s Narrative. Appropriate for middle and high school courses in Vermont and American history, civics, and journalism. Two-week rental is $25 (you are responsible for the cost of return) is we ship the kit; $20 if you pick it up.

For more information about the kit, contact:

ROKEBY MUSEUM
Attn: Jane Williamson, Director
4334 Route 7
Ferrisburgh, VT 05456
Phone: 802.877.3406

e-mail: rokeby@comcast.net

Slavery in the North

Did you know that John Winthrop was a slave owner? In book group we have been reading Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North. This deep history of one farm (first owned by John Winthrop) north of Boston reveals how interconnected the North was to slavery.

Want to find out more about slavery in the North? Check out these links:

You can actually visit The Isaac Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford, Mass. This is the real "Ten Hills Farm."

Slavery in the North This website provides an overview of each northern state and its relationship to slavery.

Traces of the Trade: A Story of the Deep North tells the story of how descendants of Rhode Island's most powerful slave trader came to grips with their family history. The website accompanies a film which follows the family as they retrace the triangle trade. The film and teaching materials are available online.

A Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery in New England is a curriculum published by Brown University. You can purchase the curriculum for download.