Topic: ARKANSAS SLAVES AND THE CIVIL WAR

Grade Level: Secondary

Time: Three to five days

Arkansas History Frameworks: 1.13, 1.14, 1.16, 1.20

Objective: Develop and understanding of how the Civil War, along with the Emancipation Proclamation changed the lives of slaves throughout Arkansas, and the country. Also, to be able to interpret a poem for feelings of the Civil War era.

Set: Slaves everywhere in the United States were affected by the Civil War. Slaves in Arkansas, paid particular attention to the Emancipation Proclamation. Although it did not ever actually free a slave, it did help develop a clear focus on the reasoning behind the Civil War. Many slaves faced enormous odds to flee from slavery to a Union Army who did not welcome them.

Resources: *transcription of The Emancipation Proclamation
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/featured-document/eman/emantrns.html
*The White Troops Had Their Orders But the Negroes Looked Like Men by Gwendolyn Brooks
**Glory -may be a follow up activity

Materials: *Fredrick Douglas quote


Key Terms: *During the time of the Civil War there were 110,000 slaves in Arkansas.
*Large slave populations were found in the eastern area of Arkansas
*Slaves who joined the Union camps were known as refugees or contraband.
*Refugees faced starvation in the Union camps
*Some schools and orphanages were established for refugee children.
*Once the Federal government permitted slaves to enlist, over 5,00 joined.

Activities: Arkansas History

"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.

Let the students share their ideas.

2. Discuss the development of African American troops throughout the country. Talk about the "choices" that the slaves had when the Union Army arrived in Arkansas. Slaves could escape and join up with the Union, sometimes as soldiers, but many times as camp workers, or just followers. Some slaves chose to stay with his/her owner, while some had that decision made for them including a move to Texas, or some other Confederate controlled territory.

3. Pass out copies of the transcription of the Emancipation Proclamation for students to read. Explain to them what the Proclamation was intended to do versus what it really did.

4. Break students into groups of 3-4 to work together to develop a "day in the life" paper of skit based on a randomly drawn situation for a slave.

*one who escapes to join the Union Army as a soldier
*one who escapes to join the Union Army as a camp worker
*a refugee child in a Union Army camp
*one who chooses to stay with his/her owner
*one who is forced to stay and is moved to Texas

Activity: English Class
1. Students will read the poem The White Troops Had Their Orders but the Negroes Looked Like Men by Gwendolyn Brooks.
2. Students will write an essay explaining the meaning behind the poem, drawing from the discussions in their history class.

Closure: Show the movie Glory. Pepsi put out an edited version for the classroom.

Assessment: 1. Student oral responses during class discussion
2. "Day in the Life" paper or skit
3. English essays

The White Troops Had Their Orders But the Negroes Looked Like Men

They had supposed their formula was fixed.
They had obeyed instructions to devise
A type of cold, a type of hooded gaze.
But when the Negroes came they were perplexed.
These Negroes looked like men. Besides, it taxed
Time and the temper to remember those
Congenital iniquities that cause
Disfavor of the darkness. Such as boxed
Their feelings properly, complete to tags-
A box for dark men and a box for Other-
Would often find the contents had been scrambled.
Or even switched. Who really gave two figs?
Neither the earth nor heaven ever trembled.
And there was nothing startling in the weather.

Gwendolyn Brooks

 

By Lucia Turner

































































By Lucia Turner