Self-Purchase Lesson Plan: "My Own Humble Exertions"
By Jean West

Overview

Self-Purchase: 'My Own Humble Exertions' is a lesson plan for students who are studying about one of the less-traveled roads to freedom, that of self-purchase. Students will investigate the case studies of six slaves who earned their way to freedom between 1824 and the outbreak of the Civil War. Then, students will create six expressive pieces of writing (all in the same format) to form a mosaic of the self-emancipated.

Curriculum Standards

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Time required

Approximately one week, depending on computer accessibility and the depth of the students' research.

Materials

• Access to the Internet for students


• Roads to Freedom Online Exhibit

The Lesson

In Spain's North American colonies, the "Royal Proclamation of 1526" provided that any slave could purchase his or her freedom or coartación; in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1763 and in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1803, nearly 20 percent of the cities' population consisted of free blacks. While self-purchase occurred with less frequency in British colonies and the United States, some slaves purchased their freedom.

Teacher Advisory

This website links to two 19th century slave narratives (William Hayden and Lunsford Lane) and a Works Progress Administration (WPA) narrative on an ex-slave. Be honest with students that the slave narratives' readers were from the Victorian era, so sentence structure is often complex and vocabulary may be difficult. The WPA narrative of Jerry Moore captures the regional dialects that have largely disappeared from America, but which students may find difficult to read. Remind students that they usually don't appreciate people changing things they have said or written, and that it's important to hear the voices of the fugitive slaves through the words they chose, telling their story as they wished it to be known. Challenge students to put into perspective the inconvenience of reaching for a dictionary or having to struggle with a sentence with the perils faced by former slaves. Remind them that, if modern readers give up on these narratives, then the voices of the enslaved will be silenced not by hateful racists of the past, but by us.

Anticipatory Set

1. Ask students what would be necessary for slaves to be able to purchase their own freedom.



2. Explain to students that they will be examining the self-purchase histories of six individuals from across the United States:


• Susan Ann White--Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi: purchased her freedom in 1837 for $600.00.



• William Hayden--Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky: purchased his freedom in 1824 for $600.00.



• Horace King--Tuscaloosa, Alabama: petition of owner John Godwin to the Alabama legislature to grant Horace King emancipation was granted in 1846.



• Jerry Moore's father, Henry Moore--Alabama: purchased his freedom around 1842 for $800.00.



• Levi and Griffin Borders--Calhoun County, Alabama: purchased their freedom before the Civil War.



• Lunsford Lane--Raleigh, North Carolina: purchased his freedom in 1835 for $1,000.00.


3. Ask students to use an atlas to locate, and mark on their outline maps, the locations for the emancipation of each of the six slaves who purchased their freedom.

Procedures

1. Ask students to list the six individuals in the chronological order of their freedom.



2. Explain to students that they will be writing three pieces of either prose or poetry from the point-of-view of three of the six individuals they have examined: Susan Ann White, William Hayden, Horace King, Henry Moore, Levi and Griffin Borders, and Lunsford Lane. Once students have selected a form, they should use the same form for all three pieces, whether it is (for example) a poem or song lyrics, a stream-of-consciousness monolog, a journal entry or letter, or a speech or sermon. Ask students to express the feelings of the individual whose persona they have adopted.



3. Direct students to touch on historical events and details from the Self-Purchase Road to Freedom in their writing. Ask students to research the six individuals online, taking notes about the types of work skills each one possessed, their purchase price and experience with the owner selling them (when noted,) and whether they purchased family members once they had secured their own freedom. Encourage students to research for more information at the links listed in the Related Works segment below so that they will sound authentic. Allow several days before the due date so that students will have an opportunity to conduct this research.



4. Be prepared to provide students with three pieces of construction paper to mount their three pieces of writing. Alternatively, students may have ideas about background paper, such as wrapping paper, wallpaper, fabric remnants, newsprint, or other materials, so the mounting material will be optional.



5. Display the creative writings and provide time for students to read each other's work.

Assessment

The assignment can be evaluated on a 25-point scale (which may be multiplied by 4 to convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades) using the following rubric:

Related Works

Books

• Gibbons, Faye. Horace King: Bridges to Freedom. Birmingham, Alabama: Crane Hill Publishers, 2002.


Lupold, John S. et al. Bridging Deep South Rivers: The Life and Legend of Horace King. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2004.
http://www.civilbookstore.com/index/page/1/author/John_S._Lupold.html

Internet Resources

• Alabama State Archives, Acts of Alabama, 1845: "An Act to Emancipate Horace King, a slave."
  http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/slavery/lesson1/doc3.html



• Daguerreotypes of Horace King and Frances Thomas King, The Columbus Museum
  http://www.columbusmuseum.com/history.html



• Library of Congress, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938,Texas Narratives, Volume XVI, Part 3, Jerry Moore
  http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mesn/mesnp/163/163121v.jpg



• Biography of Henry Moore, Former Slave
  http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/MM/fmoxr.html



• Narrative of William Hayden, Containing a Faithful Account of His Travels for a Number of Years, Whilst a Slave, in the South. Written by Himself.
  http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/hayden/menu.html



• The Narrative of Lunsford Lane, Formerly of Raleigh, N.C. Embracing an Account of His Early Life, the Redemption by Purchase of Himself and Family from Slavery, and His Banishment from the Place of His Birth for the Crime of Wearing a Colored Skin. Published by Himself.
  http://docsouth.unc.edu/lanelunsford/menu.html

Interdisciplinary Links

• Classical Languages and Studies: The word "manumission" comes from the Latin word manumittere, referring originally to a hand releasing something from its control. Slavery was a feature of the civilizations of antiquity, but the Romans had several means by which slaves could become free. Roman law provided slaves with the peculium, an allowance, and this was the avenue of self-purchase for some Roman slaves. Students in Latin class may wish to investigate the practice of self-purchase and manumission in ancient Rome, the rights and duties of manumitted slaves, and how manumission was restricted under the Empire.



• Computer: Students may create either a computerized slide show or a website featuring the individuals whose biographies were researched in this assignment. Additional illustrative materials should be added only from public domain sites and properly credited.



• Economics: Ask students to compare the prices slaves were required to pay to purchase their freedom with historic prices of slaves to determine if the prices charged to slaves was the fair market price, or not. One source available online is: "Slave Prices and the Economy of the Lower South, 1722-1809," by Peter C. Mancall, Joshua L. Rosenbloom, and Thomas Weiss and can be accessed at:
  http://www.eh.net/Clio/Conferences/ASSA/Jan_00/rosenbloom.shtml. Students may also wish to examine the prices quoted in Lunsford Lane's narrative for himself and also for his family.

This lesson was submitted by Jean West, an education consultant in Port Orange, Florida.