English: Five Senses of Slavery
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt Interdisciplinary Unit
By Cynthia Weeden

Overview

In this language arts lesson, students will reflect on aspects of slavery through a sensory exercise. They will first compare the duties of house and field slaves using a Venn diagram. Then, they try to imagine what it felt like to be a slave. In the discussion following the lesson, teachers will tie in the feelings discussed with Clara with her willingness to risk so much for the freedom.

Time Required

One or two class periods.

Materials Needed

• Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
• Venn Diagram
• Slave image
• Pencils

Anticipatory Set

1. Have students imagine they are sitting on the beach in Hawaii. Ask them to describe what they hear, see, or smell. Good things, probably.



2. Explain that they may feel different emotions if you switch the topic to slavery. Tell them: "Today we are going to compare and contrast two slavery scenarios and finish the lesson by doing a sensory assignment."

Procedures

1. Read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. Focus on page one where Clara and Jack must speak in low voices. Also, discuss page two where Clara is laying "dead" tired.

Listen to an excerpt of a slave child's job in the big house.   Click to Start. Click Again to Stop. "Well, I tell you all I can, dear. I was four years old when I was put on the block and sold. And I had to set by the cradle and rock my old mistress' baby and keep the flies off her before I was five years old. My name is Vergy."

Listen to another excerpt of a slave child in the big house.   Click to Start. Click Again to Stop. "I stayed in the slaveowner's house. I slep' in a little trundle bed that they pulled out from under the bed at night. The coldest nights, the old missus took me in the bed with her. I use'ta curl up down at the foot and sleep warm and comfable as a kitten in a basket. My name is Lou Perkins."

2. Discuss and brainstorm with students the slaves’ expectations.



3. Have students, as a class, fill in the Venn Diagram showing the differences and similarities in slaves’ housework and fieldwork. Show them the typical schedules for field hands and house slaves.



4. Then, have students write a compare/contrast essay using at least three examples from their Venn Diagram for comparing and three examples for contrasting.



5. Have some students share their topic and transitional sentences to help others get started.



6. After 15 minutes of writing, have students stop and close their eyes.



7. Tell students that they are to imagine being a slave. Then, have them create a sense of imagery with the five senses by writing on the back of their paper what they think slavery:


• feels like;
• tastes like;
• looks like;
• sounds like; and
• smells like.

Go to the Image Gallery and the Domestic Slave Trade Collection for images of slaves.

Assessment

Grade essays based on effort and students’ reflections on the feelings of slavery. You can use a rubric, such as the one below:

Grading Element	Score (out 45)
Topic Sentence	5
Three contrasts	15
Topic Sentence	5
Three similarities	15
Grammar/Spelling	5

For Older Students

1. Have students prepare an essay on an abolitionist who helped slaves to freedom. They can go to the gateway and use the Abolition Web sites as a starting point for their research.



2. Then, ask students to compare the abolitionists’ help with Clara’s efforts in the book.

Return to the main unit page.