November/December Social Studies

Unit Overview

This unit focuses on slavery in the United States of America.  Students will use what they know of  life in colonial and early America focusing specifically on the the geography and economy of the three different regions with a particular emphasis on the southern region.   

This unit is designed to give students an overview of life in Africa in the 1500s,  examine the causes of slavery and discuss the dilemmas Africans faced regarding slavery. Students will be given an overview of the conditions of the Middle Passage and life in the colonies and will gain a deeper understanding of the harsh conditions of slave life.

Essential Questions:

∙      What happened in the past?

∙      How am I connected to those in the past?

∙      How does our personal sense of relatedness to the past change?

∙      How were slaves’ family and personal lives different than those of other Americans?

∙      What sort of conditions did Africans endure on their voyage to the New World?

∙      What was the impact of the slave trade on Africans?

∙      How did the slave system develop in the Americas?

∙      How was daily life viewed by different socio-economic groups in the same colonial community   

    (slaves and slave owners)?

∙      How did colonial slavery impact the life of Africans?

Learning Objectives:

∙      Students will be able to summarize the lives of African slaves.

∙      Students will be able to discuss the dilemmas of the slave trade (trading slaves for guns, surviving the middle passage, surviving life in the colonies) and predict/describe the actions that were taken.

∙      Students will be able to think critically about the dilemmas Africans faced during slavery.

∙      Students will be able to describe and discuss a slave auction.

∙      Students will be able to describe ways in which African slaves carried their traditions to the Americas.