Introduction
This WebQuest was created to have students take an in depth look at slavery and how slavers were treaded.
It is the 1800’s and slavery is booming in southern American. These African American Slaves make up more than 20% of the southern population, and they are vital to the economy. Slaves were used as cheap or free labor starting in American in 1619 as the British used them at the first colony Jamestown, Virginia. As time went on the slave, population grew and the issue of slave rose many red flags. Slaves were subjected to less than human treatment and conditions, expected to complete rigorous work and labor on barely or no pay.
During the Web Quest, you will learn all about slave life in 1800 southern America. You will read some documents and read a firsthand slave narrative about the terrible conditions and lifestyle these people were forced to live.
Task
You are to explore the provided resources and answer questions on what it was like to be an American slave in the 1800's. You will be expected to research the lives of slaves, the conditions they lived under and how they were treated. You will be looking at first hand accounts to get an accurate idea of how they lived.
Process
You are to go to each of the links below and explore what it was like to be an American slave. In addition, do the work on your provided worksheet that goes along with each link.
In this first link, you will read about slave life, how they were treated, how they lived, and what they did. After reading the information on this link, answer the questions on your worksheet that go along with this site.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2956.html
On this next link, you are to choose 3 Historical Documents to read and write about. You will be expected to explain what you read, what happened in the text you read, and how it affected slaves and their lives.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/index.html
This last link is a library of First hand slave narratives. You are to pick one narrative of your choice and explain to me what this slaves personal experience were like compared to what you read on the first link.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/
Evaluation
You are expected to complete the worksheet with accurate information from each of the links that were provided. Your worksheets will be graded based on completion and the amount of actual reliable facts you pulled from each link.
Conclusion
I hope that while completing the quest you have gained a better understanding on how Slaves were treated and what their lives were like. You should now understand the harsh lives slaves were forced to live, what kinds of tasks they were made to complete and finally understand the harsh reality of slavery.