Topic: SLAVERY IN ARKANSAS, MARKET TO MISERY
Grade Level: Sixth through Twelfth
Time: Two Days/ Two Activities
Objectives: Using a primary resource document, the students will determine the factors that were considered when purchasing slaves at market or through the purchase of an estate. The students will examine the Arkansas Slave Code and share its content through a group activity.
Ark History Frameworks: 2.1.11, 2.1.12, 3.1.12, 3.1.15
Resources: A Documentary History of
Arkansas, Fred C. Williams, University of Arkansas Press, 1984.
Negro Slavery in Arkansas, Orville
W. Taylor, University of Arkansas Press, 1958.
An Arkansas History for Young People,
Baker and Browning, University of Arkansas Press, 1997.
Materials: An Arkansas History for Young People; T. Harri Baker and Jane Browning p. 117-123 (Reading assignment before the lesson).
Transparencies of Slave Market and Slave Family
Copies of "Agreement to Purchase Slaves"
January 25, 1859
Copies of Handouts #1 and #2
Copies of selections from the Arkansas Slave
Code (1837)
Butcher paper and water color markers for
group activity
Key Terms: slave market, estate, penalty, Arkansas Slave Code, auction
Key Facts: Negro Slavery in Arkansas, Orville W. Taylor Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1958.
"Although thousands of slaves were purchased by citizens of Arkansas, the organized slave trade within the state was of very small proportions as compared to that of most of the other slave states. Arkansas had few slave auction businesses, plentiful in other states. There were no permanent slave markets to which licensed traders brought slaves from Virginia and Kentucky and other states which had a surplus, as they did to Memphis and New Orleans and Natchez and Montgomery and other well known slave-trading centers of the South. Only occasionally did announcements of Arkansas slave dealers appear in Arkansas newspapers, and then only in connection with other commodities."
"Out of state buying and selling such as has been described took place frequently, but probably the majority of all slave sales were carried out within the state between individuals who were not professional slave dealers. Slaves were sold for a wide variety of reasons. Sometimes it was necessary to sell the slaves of a deceased slaveowner in order to pay claims against his estate." "The slaves of a deceased man might also be sold in order to make a fair distribution of the estate among the heirs."
"Certainly many slave families were separated by sales, but many instances are recorded in which sales were made only as a family unit, or were prompted by no other reasons than to keep a family together or to reunite one previously separated."
"In times of economic depression and financial distress the sale of slaves in Arkansas increased, sometimes because of foreclosures on estates, and in other instances simply because the owner found it necessary to raise money."
Set: Without prior explanation, show students the picture of the slave market. Ask them to look at the picture and interpret it. (Students will point out the sign "Auction & Negro Sales". Someone will probably point out the guard with the gun in front of the business.) Explain that some slaves were sold locally, but large slave markets were usually in cities which were business centers and crossroads of geographic regions. This particular slave establishment was in Atlanta, Georgia. The closest slave market to Arkansas would have been Memphis. Ask the students why slavery was an accepted institution in the South. (Students will usually point out the need for a labor force to grow cotton.)
Next, show the students the transparency of the slave family. Ask the students to speculate on the possible relationship of the slaves in the picture and their ages. Explain that slaves were a long-term investment for the owner, and great care was usually taken to make sure the buyer got value for his money. Also, explain that not all owners had vast numbers of slaves on large plantations. "…a typical holding in the northwestern section of the state (Arkansas) was no more than a small family of slaves, one in the southeast consisted of from two to six families." Only 3.5% of the white population owned slaves in Arkansas. In the southeast, 43% of the white population were members of slave holding families (Taylor, 1958).
Activities: The Slave Market
Put the students in groups of three or four. Pass out the slave list (Handout #2) and have the students read it paying special attention to the notes or special information given on the slaves for sale. Tell the students they are to assign a value to each slave as follows: (Use Handout #1 "The Slave Market, Name the Price") Tell the students it would be helpful to pretend they are doing the buying. How much would they be willing to pay for each slave given the values they must assign? Each slave must have one of the assigned prices written beside his or her name. Give the students an appropriate amount of time to work on this.
Questions for the students:
After time has been called, ask the students
some leading questions.
Which slaves were assigned the lowest prices?
Examples? Why?
Which slaves were assigned the highest prices?
Examples? Why?
What were special circumstances that caused
you to raise or lower the price your were
willing to assign?
What were some specific jobs of slaves on
the list?
What were some other possible jobs of slaves
during this period?
Which gender was worth more?
**** After answering the above questions, ask the students to identify the factors used to assign a price or value to a slave. (age, gender, health, skill, work habits, family ties)
Prices Revealed:
Pass out copies of the Agreement to Purchase Slaves, January 25, 1859. Let the students see how close they came to correctly identifying the value of the slaves sold as part of the estate of Francis Withers. Tell the students that all of the slaves were part of a single contract. Would they have been willing to split up a family to purchase a single slave if these slaves were sold on the open market to pay off estate debts? (Point out that the lines indicate family groups.)
Activity #2:
The Arkansas Slave Code
Put the students in groups of no more than four. Give each group a piece of butcher paper and a set of water color markers. Distribute copies of the Arkansas Slave Code. Explain that the Slave Code was a set of laws (rules and regulations) for slave ownership in Arkansas. Each section states the law and the penalty (punishment) for breaking the law.
Have the students select a section of the Arkansas Slave Code and create a graphic that illustrates the law and possible penalty under the law. Each group is to label the graphic:
Arkansas Slave Code
Section # __
At the end of the period ask the students to present the graphics to the class.
THE SLAVE MARKET (Handout #1)
NAME THE PRICE!
1 of the slaves is worth $50.00. Which one?
2 slaves $100.00
1 slave $150.00
3 slaves $200.00
1 slave $250.00
4 slaves $300.00
1 slave $350.00
4 slaves $400.00
5 slaves $500.00
1 slave $700.00
12 slaves $800.00
5 slaves $1000.00
1 slave $1200.00
(Handout #2)
SLAVES FOR SALE: Write the value of each slave beside the name.
Andrew 38 years William 1 1/2
Serena 36 Dinah 18 1/2
Jos 10 Quash 14 1/2
Judy 8 William 9
Henry 5
Jack 30
Patience 27 (pregnant)
Daniel 11
Prince 9
Phyllis 5
Bess 3 ½
James 28 (carpenter, drinks, delicate)
Hagar 24 (pregnant, near time of delivery)
Joe 39 (carpenter and cooper)
Levi 50
Betsey 40 (comes with father, 80 years)
Murria 18 (half-witted)
Toby 14
Paris 35
Hannah 33
Frank 16 ½
William 14
Caty 9
Michael 6
Eleanor 3 ½
Dandy 1
Strophon 50
Lucy 18
Judy 14
Toney 38 (an indifferent carpenter)
Betty 35
Daniel 16 ½ (3 years apprentice with bricklayer
to mix mortar)
Francis 4 ½
Caesar 1 ½
O Sary 50 (cook and washer)
Israel 31
Esther 28
Closure: Show the overhead transparency
of slave advertisements from the Gazette.
(Orville W. Taylor, 1958, pg. 70)
Assessment: Give each student a post-it note and ask them to write a well-constructed sentence telling something they learned about the slave market. Ask for volunteers to share these with the class.