History Alive! The Underground Railroad in Wisconsin

Sources for Stories:

Freedom Train North: Stories of the Underground Railroad in Wisconsin by Julia Pferdehirt (Middleton, WI: Living History Press, 1998)
May be used as a base text for a unit. This 12 chapter, Wisconsin-specific book contains 10 chapters of individual stories taken from original, primary source documents. Remaining chapters include a discussion of the difference between history, legends, and stories, how to determine whether local/regional stories of underground railroad activity might be true

Many Thousand Gone by Virginia Hamilton (New York: Knopf: 1993) is another “base text” possibility for a longer unit. This book is general rather than Wisconsin-specific and includes short, age appropriate, well written stories of people and places in the history of slavery and the underground railroad.

A unit on underground railroad history lasting from two weeks to one day may be done by reading one "story" chapter each day. Quotes, "In Their Own Words" personal narratives, and “Let’s Talk About It” discussion questions from this website may be used to introduce or develop each day’s reading. Project ideas are included to compliment each day’s content.

Shorter units may be planned using the same resources. For example, a three-day unit could be structured as follows:

Classroom Visuals:
Draw a timeline on the board to note all dates. Note present date, 2000, dates of students’ births, 1619 (first African slaves brought to US), 1831 (Nat Turner rebellion; teaching slaves to read and write is illegal, 1833 (slavery outlawed in England and Canada) 1850 (fugitive slave law) 1862 (start of Civil War), 1863 (emancipation proclamation frees slaves in Southern states) 1865 (Civil War’s end)

Because students have such difficulty envisioning time, it may be helpful to leave a visually illustrative space between the year 2000 and 1860. Use a colored marker to draw a thick bar or arc between the two. Label 140 years = 14 x 10. Since many students are about 10 years old, it helps some to understand that their lifespan has passed about fourteen times since the years of slavery.

Print maps and photos/biographical sketches of abolitionists from the National Geographic website . Post or display.

Project Ideas:
Choose one chapter or story from Freedom Train…or Many Thousand Gone
OR read aloud Minty a picture book about Harriet Tubman OR Freedom River by Doreen Rappaport, about a free black man who helped slaves escape, OR one chapter of Escape from Slavery, a collection of true stories by Doreen Rappaport. Students can illustrate the story as you read. Post student drawings as a bulletin board

Day 2:

Post Quote for the Day

Print out and read aloud one slave narrative from this site or from one of the listed resources.
Suggested is the story of William Hall, whose escape began in Kentucky, but who left US soil for Canada from Wisconsin. (see site In Their Own Words: personal stories – William Hall)
Talk about what happened. Find any locations mentioned on a map. Trace the route of escape if such details are included in the narrative. Note dates on the timeline

Make list of “reasons to escape” and “Obstacles and problems” by gathering ideas from students.

Day 3:
Post Quote for the Day

Choose one personal narrative told by someone who had once been in slavery from the website. Again, locate any sites or routes mentioned on a map. Note dates on the time line
OR
Print out and read aloud one short story from Many Thousand Gone or Freedom Train North (or other chapter book on this subject) again noting sites and dates as appropriate.
OR
Print out the 10 slave narratives on the website and distribute. Group students (in groups of 2 or 3) who are reading different narratives. Each group should summarize the story in their own words and share with the class.

Choose one Talk About It question from the website. Discuss this as a class. How does the read-aloud story relate to the Talk About It question?

Choose one hands-on activity from the website
Examples: Illustrate the story you’ve read as a class. Use the illustrations as a bulletin board to border an underground railroad route map – a US Map with routes noted in colored marker. Placing this bulletin board in the hallway allows the whole school to learn some underground railroad history!
Or: Create a bulletin board story quilt using the slave narratives students have read. Group students who have read the same narrative. Together they should summarize the story in one or two paragraphs. Each student may choose an incident in the story to illustrate.

Print out and read aloud one short slave narrative from the website. Again, locate any sites or routes mentioned on a map. Note dates on the time line
OR
Copy one story from Slavery Time When I Was Chillun’ by Belinda Hurmence. This writer chose first-person stories remembering back when the elderly men and women interviewed were in slavery as children. Read aloud and discuss as a class.
How do students imagine life for a child in slavery? What effects did the slavery of children have on families?
OR
Send the class on an online search for slave stories at the computer lab. Students (and teachers alike) will be amazed at the number of stories and their content.

Assign students to find and print out one narrative (or 1-3 pages from a longer narrative).
Summarize the story in their own words. Be sure to include map and timeline details if provided.
OR
Print out and read aloud one short story from Many Thousand Gone or Freedom Train North (or other chapter book on this subject) again noting sites and dates as appropriate.
OR
Print out the 10 slave narratives on the website and distribute. Group students (in groups of 3 to 5) who are reading different narratives. Each can briefly share the story he or she read with the group.

Choose one Talk About It question from the website. Discuss this as a class. How does the read-aloud story relate to the Talk About It question?

Day 5:
Post Quote for the day.

Read aloud Follow the Drinking Gourd (at least four versions of this book exist. All are picture books. The book by Jeanette Winter is probably the most well-known.)
OR
Read aloud Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

Bring in “star gazing” books from your library like Find the Constellations or The Stars: A New Way to See Them both by H.A. Rey, author of Curious George!

Creative Writing:
Ask students to write their own story about someone who learns about the drinking gourd…written from the point of view of a character “a lot like you” who learns about the “drinking gourd.” Remind students their “storyteller” character could be anyone – the son or daughter of an underground railroad station master/mistress, a child in slavery, a child hearing the story of her/her grandparents’ flight from slavery for the first time…a stargazing 21st century child finding the North Star and hearing the story of its history.

For any remarks, suggestions, or broken links:
Please email us at: historyalive@epdmail.engr.wisc.edu

Lesson Ideas