slave_trade_middle_passage_day_2.pptx | |
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File Type: | pptx |
Letter of Protest: Expectations
Description of the Artifact:
This was the final assignment of a short three-day unit on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the middle passage. The assignment asked students to read two primary sources for homework; an account of the first stage of the middle passage by a European traveler n and an account written by an ex-slave, Equiano, who had supposedly made the middle passage journey. Using these accounts as well as the images we analyzed as a class (see middle passage images power point above), students were asked to write a 2 page letter of protest to the King of Spain or Portugal. The exact description of the assignment is posted below.
Letter of Protest (2 Pages)
Write a letter to the King of Portugal or Spain and ask these rulers to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. Cite specific reasons and describe the horrors of such a voyage. Consider who you will be in the letter (former slave trader, former slave, just an observer)
Use Specific Sources that we used in class. Either quote or describ
-Falconbridge’s Account
-Middle Passage Images
-Equiano’s Account
Proper Citation
•CITE!!! After you put in a fact or a quote, add a citation in Parenthesis.
•Quote: When you directly lift someone else’s words and put them in your own paper
•Example) “ Slave traders access humans like they are horses” (Falconbridge
•Paraphrase: When rewrite someone else’s ideas in your own words
•Example) The slaves were analyzed by the slave traders, just like horses (Falconbridge)
Desired goal:
Ideally, the students would have demonstrated all of the below criteria for this specific assignment.
There were two major components of this assignment 1) tone and argument 2) Incorporation of primary sources. For the first component, the students needed to create an organized essay that conveyed a passionate argument. I also wanted to see a sincere attempt at adopting a role. This was early in my student teaching and the first time I gave a major writing assignment where I required historical role-play. So while I wanted to see a voice different from their own, I sincerely did not know what to expect from my students.
I also expected my students to synthesize the primary sources to create a larger argument against the slave trade. The assignment asked students to cite all the sources at least once. It was not a formal citation format. Instead, students needed to demonstrate that they used primary sources for some of their arguments. After they used a description from a source, they were required to use a simple in-text citation.
While the use of sources were important, it should not have dominated the entire paper. The letter could not just be a list of inhumane practices that the students found in the primary sources. There needed to be a space that established the historical perspective as well a larger logical argument and/or impassioned plea. In other words, the students needed to use their primary source evidence thoughtfully to create a larger argument, from the perspective of an adopted historical role, that incorporated both emotional as well as intellectual, original ideas.
Desired Elements of Historical Imagination:
1) Re-enactment:
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to Re-enact?
Students were able to pick any role from the 15th century that could have had insight into the slave trade. First, I wanted to see each student chose a reasonable historical character. They could have adopted a simple character like an unnamed ex-slave trader or a specific and defined fictional character that had a detailed persona. Ultimately, there needed to be lear evidence that the student chose a role that was bound by the historical context of the event. They also needed to that they maintained that role throughout the piece of work.
2) Interpolation:
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to interpolate?
Students were given three primary sources that informed their knowledge of what happened during the middle passage. The sources provided extensive information on the many inhumane practices. Therefore, students did not necessarily need to fill in empty gaps in the historical records with additional possible practices that could have occurred. Since the journey from being sold as a slave to arriving in the Americas was clearly documented, they did not need to make an educated guess about a specific part of the journey.
However, depending on the role they adopted, the letter did require the students to consider the emotions involved with being a witness to such horrific actions. For example, we never looked at a primary source from a former slave trader. But if a student chose to adopt that role, I expected to see a level of remorse in his/her argument and tone. All the students therefore, should have made an educated guess about the emotions that their adopted persona would have experienced at the time of observing/experiencing the middle passage.
3) Interrogation
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to interrogate sources?
There was no real intense level of interrogation of the sources. This lesson occurred before I had a unit on primary sources, so they did not have the necessary vocabulary to express understandings of possible bias. Additionally, the students were asked to adopt an argument that the sources supported so there was less of need to critically analyze the authors’ prejudices.
Desired Elements of Historical Empathy:
1) Describe in-depth the role that students were asked to adopt.
There was no strictly defined role for the students to adopt in this assignment. I told the students to pick a historical actor during the era of the slave trade that had some level of knowledge about the conditions of the middle passage. The adopted role was also supposed to be protesting the slave trade (no one was allowed to be in support of the slave trade). I gave three specific examples, A European Traveler to Africa, an ex-slave, and an ex-slave trader. They were not limited to these examples.
2) Were the students asked to explain their own perspective in addition to the role they were required to adopt? What do you expect will be the specific differences between these two perspectives and how are they limited to a specific historical time and place
N/A
This was the final assignment of a short three-day unit on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the middle passage. The assignment asked students to read two primary sources for homework; an account of the first stage of the middle passage by a European traveler n and an account written by an ex-slave, Equiano, who had supposedly made the middle passage journey. Using these accounts as well as the images we analyzed as a class (see middle passage images power point above), students were asked to write a 2 page letter of protest to the King of Spain or Portugal. The exact description of the assignment is posted below.
Letter of Protest (2 Pages)
Write a letter to the King of Portugal or Spain and ask these rulers to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. Cite specific reasons and describe the horrors of such a voyage. Consider who you will be in the letter (former slave trader, former slave, just an observer)
Use Specific Sources that we used in class. Either quote or describ
-Falconbridge’s Account
-Middle Passage Images
-Equiano’s Account
Proper Citation
•CITE!!! After you put in a fact or a quote, add a citation in Parenthesis.
•Quote: When you directly lift someone else’s words and put them in your own paper
•Example) “ Slave traders access humans like they are horses” (Falconbridge
•Paraphrase: When rewrite someone else’s ideas in your own words
•Example) The slaves were analyzed by the slave traders, just like horses (Falconbridge)
Desired goal:
Ideally, the students would have demonstrated all of the below criteria for this specific assignment.
There were two major components of this assignment 1) tone and argument 2) Incorporation of primary sources. For the first component, the students needed to create an organized essay that conveyed a passionate argument. I also wanted to see a sincere attempt at adopting a role. This was early in my student teaching and the first time I gave a major writing assignment where I required historical role-play. So while I wanted to see a voice different from their own, I sincerely did not know what to expect from my students.
I also expected my students to synthesize the primary sources to create a larger argument against the slave trade. The assignment asked students to cite all the sources at least once. It was not a formal citation format. Instead, students needed to demonstrate that they used primary sources for some of their arguments. After they used a description from a source, they were required to use a simple in-text citation.
While the use of sources were important, it should not have dominated the entire paper. The letter could not just be a list of inhumane practices that the students found in the primary sources. There needed to be a space that established the historical perspective as well a larger logical argument and/or impassioned plea. In other words, the students needed to use their primary source evidence thoughtfully to create a larger argument, from the perspective of an adopted historical role, that incorporated both emotional as well as intellectual, original ideas.
Desired Elements of Historical Imagination:
1) Re-enactment:
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to Re-enact?
Students were able to pick any role from the 15th century that could have had insight into the slave trade. First, I wanted to see each student chose a reasonable historical character. They could have adopted a simple character like an unnamed ex-slave trader or a specific and defined fictional character that had a detailed persona. Ultimately, there needed to be lear evidence that the student chose a role that was bound by the historical context of the event. They also needed to that they maintained that role throughout the piece of work.
2) Interpolation:
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to interpolate?
Students were given three primary sources that informed their knowledge of what happened during the middle passage. The sources provided extensive information on the many inhumane practices. Therefore, students did not necessarily need to fill in empty gaps in the historical records with additional possible practices that could have occurred. Since the journey from being sold as a slave to arriving in the Americas was clearly documented, they did not need to make an educated guess about a specific part of the journey.
However, depending on the role they adopted, the letter did require the students to consider the emotions involved with being a witness to such horrific actions. For example, we never looked at a primary source from a former slave trader. But if a student chose to adopt that role, I expected to see a level of remorse in his/her argument and tone. All the students therefore, should have made an educated guess about the emotions that their adopted persona would have experienced at the time of observing/experiencing the middle passage.
3) Interrogation
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to interrogate sources?
There was no real intense level of interrogation of the sources. This lesson occurred before I had a unit on primary sources, so they did not have the necessary vocabulary to express understandings of possible bias. Additionally, the students were asked to adopt an argument that the sources supported so there was less of need to critically analyze the authors’ prejudices.
Desired Elements of Historical Empathy:
1) Describe in-depth the role that students were asked to adopt.
There was no strictly defined role for the students to adopt in this assignment. I told the students to pick a historical actor during the era of the slave trade that had some level of knowledge about the conditions of the middle passage. The adopted role was also supposed to be protesting the slave trade (no one was allowed to be in support of the slave trade). I gave three specific examples, A European Traveler to Africa, an ex-slave, and an ex-slave trader. They were not limited to these examples.
2) Were the students asked to explain their own perspective in addition to the role they were required to adopt? What do you expect will be the specific differences between these two perspectives and how are they limited to a specific historical time and place
N/A