Kentucky Center for African American Heritage

 

 

  
Return to Curriculum Index
    
 
8.3
PreviousLessonNext
Middle School – Grade 8
    

 

 

 

 

 

Slave on auction block
Auction

Core Content Guide

2.1.1
Culture is influenced by language, literature, arts, beliefs, and behaviors and may result in unique perspectives.

4.3.1
Human settlement develops in different ways based on the culture and needs of settlers.

4.3.2
Human populations may change and/or migrate because of factors such as war, famine, disease, economic opportunity, and technology.

4.4.2
The physical environment both promotes and limits human activities.

5.1.1
Different perspectives result in different interpretations of historical events.

5.1.3
History is a series of connected events shaped by multiple causeand- effect relationships, tying the past to the present.

Drawings ofguns and swords
Necessities for Settling the Frontier


    

 

8.3 Native Americans and Blacks

Pre-Visit
Students use a variety of primary and secondary sources (through research or teacher-provided text) to learn about the complex relationships between blacks and Native Americans.

Students choose one of these readings and write a response to one of the following:

• This event is an example of how conflict and competition may occur as cultures emerge and interact. or

• This event is an example of how compromise and cooperation are possible choices for positive social interaction and resolution of conflict.

Students’ writing should do the following:

• State clearly that the event is an example of one of the statements above.

• Summarize briefly the event for a reader who is not familiar with the event.

• Quote at least one short passage from the reading to support your point.

• Paraphrase at least one passage from the reading to support your point.

After students receive their graded writings, the students discuss their responses as a class.

In the Museum
Students tour settings that evoke feelings about the slave trade, especially the ship environment of the Middle Passage and an auction block in the Americas.

Students locate information about the slave trade; identify the country that established this enterprise (Spain); listen to various languages (Dutch, English) representing peoples involved in the slave trade; view the map of the triangular trade route; and consider how Africans, forced into slavery, were treated and the range of feelings they may have had. What kind of feelings do these exhibit environments evoke?

Students see an exhibit devoted to Pompey and tour an area interpreting the Kentucky frontier. Why were conflicts with Native Americans so common on the Kentucky frontier? In this exhibit, students imagine an attack on a frontier cabin.

Seeing images of a typical cabin and imagining the wilderness surroundings, students determine how difficult it would be to defend. What weapons or tools (not designed primarily as weapons) may have been used to defend against a surprise attack? Why were slaves so important during these attacks?

In the “A Nation Divided—Kentucky Divided” Gallery students read about an event at Camp Nelson when refugee families of slaves enlisting to fight the Civil War were turned out in the winter. This account includes a letter from a United States Colored Troops soldier at Camp Nelson whose wife and children were forced to leave. How many civilians were killed? Who made the decision to take this action? Why was this decision made? How did the government reverse the decision and make an effort to accommodate the families? Do you think they did enough?

Students tour the “Rebirth of a Nation, Shattered Promises” Gallery about the Reconstruction period; they read Constitutional amendments, learn about the different levels of rights granted blacks after emancipation, and see examples of segregation. Students find the presentation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Constitutional Amendments. Students answer: How are they presented? Why do you think this technique was used? Explore this area and determine when you think blacks actually became citizens? Is it difficult to determine this? Why? Are there other segments of people in society—other than African Americans—who have been treated similarly? Who and when? Do we still have trouble guaranteeing equal rights in America/Kentucky? Students support their answers.

Post-Visit
Track 1: Students may have completed a Core Content activity to create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the treatment of Native Americans and Africans in Spanish America. Repeat this exercise, creating a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the treatment of Native Americans and Africans on the Kentucky frontier. Use descriptive words to include the Euro-American settlers’ view of these groups of people, the status of these groups in society, the feelings these groups of people must have had; and the roles the groups played on the frontier.

Track 2:
Students may have already compared the place of newly freed blacks in post-Civil War society to Native Americans during the Removal. Students may research the Trail of Tears, collecting resources about the event and sharing them with the class. Pair and share to compare the removal of refugees at Camp Nelson with the Trail of Tears Cherokee removal. Students write a reflective piece or a poem from the viewpoint of a refugee during one of these two events.

Students may research monuments to honor times or events of great sorrow or loss and view pictures of various monuments, discussing their affect. Answer: What materials did the designer use? What design choices did he/she make? How did the designer/artist convey emotion? How does the monument make you feel? Which monument do you feel is most effective and why? How is injustice a common thread in these event stories?

Monuments may include the Amistad slave revolt memorial by Kentuckian Ed Hamilton; the Hall of Remembrance at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; the stained glass window at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham; the Memphis assassination site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the former site of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Drawing of Native Americans on horseback
Native Americans

Students may design a memorial to honor the refugees at Camp Nelson, including in the design an inscription summarizing the event. Students may discuss the need to create new monuments today (or possibly plans to create new monuments), based on recent events or past events that have not been so honored. Include events in the news, such as the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Extension Activity
When investigating the Trail of Tears and Camp Nelson removals, students consider the 1919 incident in Corbin, Kentucky, when 200 blacks were rounded up, beaten, and literally “railroaded” out of town. Citizens made the choice to be an all-white town. A 1990 documentary, Trouble Behind, covers the subject. (The documentary includes clips from Kentuckian D.W. Griffith’s controversial film about the Ku Klux Klan, Birth of a Nation, to provide historical context. The title for one of the Center’s galleries, “Rebirth of a Nation” was chosen because it makes some reference to the film title.)

Photograph of Camp NelsonCamp Nelson