Topic: SLAVERY IN ARKANSAS

Grade level: Ninth

Time: One class day

Objective: Students will understand the definition and origins of slavery. They will also learn the ways of life for a slave.

Resources: Negro Slavery in Arkansas, Orville W. Taylor
Arkansas 1800-1860 Remote and Restless, S. Charles Bolten

Materials: Paper, Pencil, Webster's dictionary

Key Terms: slavery Atlantic Slave Trade Cotton Gin
Yeoman Planters Pellagra

Key Facts: Origins
*Slavery has existed for 1000s of years.
*Became slave because captured in battle or in debt.
*Not until colonization of Americas did slavery exist in its racial connotation.
*Spanish first used natives as slaves under Encomienda System, but high death rates forced them to find an alternative labor source.
*Spanish priest, Bartolome de las Casas, suggested W. Africans because immune to tropical diseases, had farming and mining skills, and knew how to work with metal.
*Spanish needed them to search for gold.
*So began Atlantic Slave Trade (Triangular Trade)

Slavery in North America (Southern Agriculture)
*Spanish brought first W. Africans to N. America in 16 th c.
*Less than 5% of total slaves captured were sent to what is now US.
*Slavery's deepest roots were in southern colonies along Atlantic seaboard and English settlers.
*Began cultivating tobacco which required many workers.
*As US spread westward, so did slavery, especially after Eli Whitney invented cotton gin.
*Slavery was on decline in South because no easy way to clean cotton.
*With new invention, can grow more cotton and need more workers.
*Two types of farmers: 1) Yeoman and 2) Planters
*Planter class must own over 20 slaves and mainly grew cotton.
*One eve of CW, 96 % of Arkansas owned no slaves.
*Of 4 % that did, approximately 10% were part of planter class.
*Only 6 people owned bx 200-300 slaves and only 1 man, Elisha Worthington of Chicot County, owned over 500 slaves.
*Slavery in American South had only 3 % of total population that were in the Planter Elite class.

Life of a Slave
*Most slaves worked on cash crop farms.
*Worked from sun-up to sun-down.
*Began tilling fields in Jan and harvested crops in Sept or Oct.
*Typical day was to rise before sun was up, do basic chores like ten animals, eat breakfast, and be in fields by time sun came up.
*Slaves had to pick cotton bolls by hand.
*Cotton gin removed seeds.
*Some slaves were blacksmiths or brick masons.
*Slaves in city were house servants.
*Winter months spent tending to repairs on houses, fences, etc.
*Ate mostly bread and vegetables with little meat.
*Resulted in pellagra (lack of niacin)
*Resisted their masters by working slowly.
*Had now legal rights.
*Couldn't vote, own anything, marry, and were considered property that lived for its master's service.
*Why couldn't they legally marry?
*Jumped over broomstick to signify marriage, but wives, children, or husbands could be sold off.
*As CW approached, slaves were restricted on worship? Why (time to organize a result)- Southerner's biggest fear.
*Had to have white overseer present.

Activities: *Put each student into groups of two and have them for 5 minutes define that slavery is.
*Each group will read its answer to the class.
*Compare and contrast.
*Give Webster's definition.

Closure: Review information orally with students

By Matt Shepherd