Lesson Plan: Overview
Slave Auctions in South Carolina
Grade Level: 8th | |
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Academic Standards |
Standard 8-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the settlement of South Carolina and the United States by Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans. |
| 8-1.3
Summarize the history of European settlement in Carolina from the first attempts to settle at San Miguel de Gualdape, Charlesfort, San Felipe, and Albemarle Point to the time of South Carolina’s establishment as an economically important British colony, including the diverse origins of the settlers, the early government, the importance of the plantation system and slavery, and the impact of the natural environment on the development of the colony. |
| 8-1.6
Explain how South Carolinians used natural, human, and political resources to gain economic prosperity, including trade with Barbados, rice planting, Eliza Lucas Pinckney and indigo planting, the slave trade, and the practice of mercantilism. |
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| Social Studies Literacy Elements |
| L.
Interpret calendars, time lines, maps, charts, tables, graphs, flow charts, diagrams, photographs, paintings, cartoons, architectural drawings, documents, letters, censuses, and other artifacts |
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Historical Background Notes
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Slavery in America
began in Jamestown around 1619, but
the history of African enslavement
began in Africa during a much earlier
time. Africans' journey into slavery
began on the"Dark Continent" itself
with Africans enslaving Africans.
Eventually Arabs would come from
the east to create a lucrative trade
in slaves with African chieftains.
When the New World is discovered
the Africans would become the workhorses
of colonization.
The journey into slavery was
as cruel and torturous as the institution
itself. It involved greed, warfare,
and eventually a misunderstanding
of what slavery in America was
like as compared to slavery in
Africa. While slavery was an institution
in Africa, it was not one based
on race and the idea of inferiority.
Instead slave status was based
on conditions in life such as crime,
debt, and tribal warfare. Once
the Arabs and Europeans became
participants, African slavery was
exported to the Americas and became
race related.
Enslavement began with capture
by slave traders. Millions of Africans
were driven hundreds, thousands
of miles to what came to be called
the Slave Coast after being kidnapped
from their homelands. The trip
was inhumane with the use of leather
ties, wooden yokes, iron shackles,
and chains. Once reaching the coast,
the Africans were delivered to
slave factories or barracoons for
keeping until ship captains arrived
to purchase their human cargoes.
The captains and their emissaries
checked the people for disease,
blemishes, deformities, and strength.
They made their deals for those
selected. Rum, iron bars, etc.
were items traded for human flesh.
Once purchased the Africans were
removed from the barracoons and
branded, chained, thrown into small
boats, and delivered to the waiting
slavers anchored off the coast.
The part of the journey into
slavery that was the worst was
the"Middle Passage".
The horrors were gruesome. There
are many accounts such as"Amistad" and
others found on the pbs.org website
if you wish to read more. Millions
of Africans died during the Atlantic
crossing. Some slavers delivered
their cargo to the West Indies
where the Africans were seasoned
(trained in plantation life); others
were taken directly to the colonies.
Charleston was the main port of
entry for slaves coming to America.
Upon arrival at Charleston, the
Africans were unloaded at Sullivan's
Island to be cleaned, prepped,
disinfected, and quarantined before
entering the city. There was great
fear of contagious diseases and
epidemics such as small pox spreading
through the city. Charleston had
suffered many such calamities during
her history. The poor conditions
on board slavers made epidemics
a strong possibility.
Africans would be delivered to
the auction warehouses where plans
had been made for auctioning. Most
auctions were public. Fliers were
posted and notices sent to newspapers
announcing the date, time, and
specifics about the cargo. The
slaves could be previewed. The
Africans were put on the block
just like animals. The treatment
was very humiliating. Families,
tribal members, friends were separated
as the planters or their buyers
made their purchases. Auctions
were also held to sell groups of
slaves from plantation to plantation
and from the estates of planters.
The price a slave brought depended
on such factors as sex, age, health,
need, skills/talents, and availability.
Important to note: slavery sustained
Southern cash crop agriculture
by providing labor necessary for
growing and harvesting vast quantities
of agricultural crops for world
markets. In early colonial days,
rice ruled the roost, so to speak,
in South Carolina, but by the 1850s,
cotton was king. Cotton production
was labor intensive, and by the
eve of the Civil War, cotton prices
were at all time highs. South Carolina
plantation owners profited greatly
from a system that factored the
cost of slave labor as a cost of
production. Further, oppressive
race-based slavery maintained political
and social order in a state with
a White minority population.
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Materials
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| Primary Sources |
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P.J. Porcher & Baya" List of a Gang of Forty Four Negroes Accustomed to the Culture of Cotton and Provisions", Page 1
(Slave Auction Announcement and Record of Sale), February 8th,1859, South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, South Carolina. |
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P.J. Porcher & Baya" List of a Gang of Forty Four Negroes Accustomed to the Culture of Cotton and Provisions", Page 2
(Slave Auction Announcement and Record of Sale), February 8th,1859, South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, South Carolina. |
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Secondary
Sources |
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Africans in
America, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html |
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Botsch, Carol
Sears. African-Americans and
the Palmetto State. Columbia:
South Carolina Department of
Education, 1994. |
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Lesson Plans
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| Slave
Auctions in South Carolina gives students
an introduction to the subject of slavery,
taking a close look at slave auctions.
The lesson will take one or two sixty-minute
class periods. |
| 1. |
In
a lecture, the teacher will
introduce the topic of slavery
(see Historical Background
Notes, Africans in America,
and African Americans and
the Palmetto State). This
lecture will provide context
for learning about slave
auctions. The lecture will
include information about
the economics of cash crop
agriculture and how slavery
provided the labor necessary
for sustaining Southern cash
crop agriculture. |
| 2. |
After
lecture and discussion, students
will examine P.J. Porcher
and Baya's auction announcements
and record of sale. |
| 3. |
From
the Porcher and Baya document,
students will create a frequency
table, which includes the
following categories: Age
(e.g., 0-10, 11-20, etc.),
Gender, Qualifications (e.g.,
Field Worker, Domestic Worker,
Skilled Craftsman, etc.),
and Costs (e.g., $1-$49,
$50-$100, etc.). To complete
the exercise students will
tabulate frequencies for
the categories. |
| 4. |
Next,
students will create bar
graphs and pie charts, illustrating
the data from their frequency
tables. |
| 5. |
Next,
students will analyze their
tables, charts, and graphs
to answer the following questions:
a. What was the correlation between the following: age and price,
gender and price, qualifications and price?
b. What conclusions can you make about the skills and qualifications
of slaves?
c. What conclusions if any can you make about the health and care
given slaves?
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| 6. |
Finally, using lecture notes and information from the Porcher and Baya exercise, students will write a one-two page paper that explains some of the economic factors of slavery. Papers should discuss how slave labor fueled the Southern cash crop economy and how income is derived from labor by focusing on the following subtopics:
a. Cash crop agriculture,
b. World markets,
c. Costs of production, including labor as a cost of production,
d. Slavery as a means to maintaining political and social control. |
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Teacher Reflections
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The
lesson I have chosen to reflect upon
is titled Slave Auctions in South
Carolina. The lesson begins with
a detailed look at the practice of
African slave trade. I have developed
a unit on the history of African
slavery in America starting with
a look at the history of slavery
among the Africans themselves. This
lesson is just one in a series of
lessons dealing with the practice
of slavery and its consequences.
The topic of slave trade and auctions
generates a lot of class discussion
and questions. The focus of the lesson
was to get the students to look at
the people who were enslaved and
auctioned in terms of their gender,
talents, age, and even prices brought
at the auction. The purpose was to
have the students gain a better understanding
of the people and their circumstances
and the correlation between variables
such as age, gender, and skills and
the price paid for slaves at auction.
Each student was given a copy of
one of four broadsides that represented
Auction Announcements and Records
of Sale at auctions that took place
during the 1850's in Charleston,
South Carolina. The broadsides included
the list of slaves to be auctioned
and information about them including
money paid for their purchases. The
students were to create charts based
on the information provided that
would enable them to tabulate the
number of male and female slaves.
They needed to create ranges of ages
based on the records, and figure
the number of males and females in
each age group. They were required
to tabulate the qualifications/types
of work of the slaves according to
domestic, fieldwork, and skills/trades.
They were to use their tabulations
to create graphs to represent the
information. Creating and interpreting
charts and graphs are important PACT
skills.
This should have been a very
simple activity, but it was frustrating
for me as well as the students.
The students enjoyed looking at
the broadsides and reading the
information about the slaves. It
generated many questions, such
as:"Was January a male or
female name? How did the slaves
get these strange names? What was
a cooper? They auctioned babies?" These
questions I anticipated, but I
did not anticipate students' lack
of skills in math. We had made
charts and graphs in class before,
but we had not used as many variables.
They were quite confused at first,
so I finally drew the tabulation
chart for them. After they had
the chart they could easily complete
it. Most of the students could
then take the information they
had tabulated and create bar, line,
or circle graphs, but some still
had problems with mathematical
computation.
I will use this lesson again,
but with some changes. I will start
off by providing them with the
chart for tabulating their data,
although eighth graders should
be able to create their own tabulation
chart. I will also provide all
of the students with the same auction
broadside instead of using four
different ones. I think these changes
will decrease my frustration level
as well as the frustration level
of the students.
The students were very interested
in the history of slavery and the
slave trade and I will continue
to use the other lessons that I
have developed on the history of
African American slavery. I had
one student who owns horses and
attends modern horse auctions.
She was a good resource for the
students because she described
for them the auction practices
used with animals today. As a result
of this, another change that I
would make in the lesson for the
future would be to add a description
of modern auctions. The students
would then compare the auction
process of animals today to that
of the slave auctions of the 1700-1800's.
They could write a paper on the
inhumanity of slavery and slave
auctions.
I think the lesson was effective,
although it got off to a rough
start. The students understood
the auction process and the inhumane
practice of slavery. They did complete
a tabulation chart and create graphs
using their tabulated information.
I had no idea that math skills
would be such a problem. Next year
I will use a lot more math in teaching
social studies.
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Student Assessments
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Assessment
for Slave Auctions in South Carolina
is performance-based. Teachers can
rate student letters and speeches
and the class debate according to
a standards-based rubric. Student
performance can be rated as Unacceptable,
Needs Work, Good, or Excellent. Teacher
comments may include rationale for
marks and suggestions for improvement.
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Credit
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Jackie
Canaday
DuBose Middle School, South Carolina
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