Context

Life on a sugar plantation was brutal and the work was unrelenting. Because of high worker mortality rates on sugar plantations, large numbers of enslaved Africans were brought to work in the Caribbean. Slaves, many armed with machetes for harvesting sugar cane, vastly outnumbered the free whites and workers. Economies of scale, the need to process sugar quickly, and the fear of slave rebellion resulted in the overwork and mistreatment of the Africans. By the early 1800's, the moral conscience of many consumers was starting to be pricked. Abolition was becoming a powerful political and social issue. Frederika Bremer and Olaudah Equiano both wrote about and published descriptions of the experience of enslaved workers. Coming from very different lives -- educated Scandinavian woman and freed slave seaman, their descriptions are different; each powerful in its own way.

• New York State Standards:
  • Standard 1: New York and US History Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.
  • Key Idea 4: The skills of historical analysis include the ability to: explain the significance of historical evidence; weigh the importance, reliability, and validity of evidence; understand the concept of multiple causation; understand the importance of changing and competing interpretations of different historical developments.
• Purpose:
  • H10: consider different interpretations of key events and/or issues in history and understand the differences in these accounts
  • H12: view historic events through the eyes of those who were there, as shown in their art, writings, music, and artifacts
• Materials:
  • The texts and the analysis sheet.
  • Watercolor paper, watercolors and brushes, black fine line permanent markers
  • History notebooks
• Number of class periods needed: 3

Connection

We have been studying the story of sugar and how it has played an important part in history. The difficult work of growing sugar and the high mortality rate of sugar workers resulted in a new trade network. The "triangle trade" brought Africans to the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations, sugar to the United States and Europe in exchange for other goods that either were from those places (for example, wood from the United States) or were brought to those places from far away (for example, tea came from India to England and then on to the United States). Today, we are going to begin reading two different descriptions of life for the enslaved Africans. By reading these documents, we will develop a deeper understanding of what life must have been like on the plantation.

Procedure

• Students work in groups to read the documents. It is recommended that the students read one document by itself, share and discuss what they learned, and then read the second document. After reading each document, engage the class in a discussion of the author's point of view of life on a plantation with consideration of what the author is trying to say and the evidence provided to support that point of view.
• After students have completed reading both documents ask them to create a water color and ink drawing of an image that these documents generated for them.
• What images do these two documents create in your mind? What words or phrases help to create that image? Using art supplies provided create an image that expresses the contrast between the two documents or
• These images can be ‘representational' (you try to make them look realistic) or ‘symbolic' (you use shapes, lines, colors, etc. to create an image that conveys ideas or feelings.)
• When you have finished, write an artist's statement about your picture. What does it show? Why did you decide to make this image the way you did? What parts of the texts were especially influential?

Assessment

Look for evidence that students are engaging in the procedural practices of history:

• Noticing and considering the role of authorship and date of publication/creation
• Placing the document in historical context
• Differentiating own ideas from the ideas expressed in the text
• Asks questions, makes connections ot other parts of life refers back to the original text to support opinions/interpretations