"Fortune's Story"-Slavery & The Pursuit of Freedom in Waterbury

In March the Project:LUCID students went to the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT   Students hooked up with their video conferencing partners and learned about Slavery and early life in Waterbury, CT.  As a pre-visit activity, they explored Fortune's Story on the Mattatuck Museum's website.  They completed the 'Scavenger Hunt' on this website.  

As part of the tour, the students took a walk around the green, exploring the rich history of the area, with a focus on Fortune's family as well as the lives of the African Americans of Colonial Waterbury.

The group stopped at the Historic Grand Street Cemetery where Fortune and the other African Americans, both slave and free, were buried in the separate, "colored burial plot."

The burial ground was moved in the late 19th century to make way for the Silas Bronson public library and those that could moved their loved ones remains to the new Riverside cemetery nearby.  Those too poor to move their family members, including the towns slave community, remains interred on this spot.

Venture Smith-The Struggle For Freedom in Connecticut

The Life of Venture Smith
Life of a Connecticut Slave

Day I 

Read the summary of "Slavery in Connecticut" and review the timeline.  Have a class discussion of the African American experience in colonial Connecticut.

Day 2

1. Tale a moment to write down your definition of slavery.  As a class come to a consensus an list the elements or components of slavery on the board.

2. Make a T-Chart in your notebook titled "Slavery in Connecticut" on one side, leaving plenty of room between each element.

3. Read alone or with you teacher "A Narrative of The Life and Adventures of Venture Smith" and look for evidence of slavery as you as a class have defined it.  When you have found an event that corresponds to one of the listed elements of slavery, quote the Narrative, writing page number and corresponding line (s) on the right hand side of the T-Chart.

OR

Complete this Teacher's Domain leson plan on From Slavery to Freedom in Colonial Times.

Day 3

Discussion Questions:
1. Did slavery exist in Connecticut in the colonial period?
2. What was the African American experience in colonial Connecticut?
3. How can primary source documents help us to better understand history?

Slave Ads and 

Slave Life in Connecticut

Day 4


Advertisements offering rewards for capturing runaway slaves was a common sight in Colonial Connecticut newspapers.  Through these ads we can learn a great deal about everyday life for these enslaved people.  

1. In groups of four, analyze one of these "Connecticut Slave Sale Ads" or "Runaway Slave Ads" published in Connecticut newspapers.  As you are reading, brainstorm any and all observations and questions you might have.  Have a recorder in the group write down you group's observations and questions.

2. Have a class discussion about what we can learn about the daily lives of Connecticut slaves.  How did they dress?  What sort of work did they do?

The Living Consequences: Connecticut Apologizes for Slavery
Resolution Expressing The Profound Regret of The General Assembly

Slavery in America-Part II (Life As A Slave)

Slavery in America-Part II

Life As a Slave

     
In America, Africans were sold and taken to new homes, where they would be forced to work, usually for more than twelve hours a day. Most slaves worked in the fields, picking tobacco or cotton. Slaves who did not work or tried to run away were beaten and sometimes even killed. Slaves were given simple shacks and clothes and food to eat, but this did not make up for what was taken away from them. By law, slaves were considered property that could be bought and sold. Families were often split up and never saw each other again. Slaves were forbidden to speak their native African languages or practice their native religions. Slave owners could kill a slave without punishment. Slaves were not allowed to own property, to gather for meetings, to marry whom they chose, or even to learn to read and write.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)

Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland and treated harshly in his young life. He taught himself to read and eventually escaped to the North. There, he published his narrative and became one of the country’s most important speakers against slavery. Here is an excerpt from his narrative where he recalls Slave Life.

"Here, too, the slaves of all the other farms received their monthly allowance of food, and their yearly clothing. The men and women slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars. The allowance of the slave children was given to their mothers, or the old women having the care of them. The children unable to work in the field had neither shoes, stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them; their clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts per year. When these failed them, they went naked until the next allowance-day. Children from seven to ten years old, of both sexes, almost naked, might be seen at all seasons of the year.

There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these. This, however, is not considered a very great privation. They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep; for when their day’s work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending, and cooking to do, and having few or none of the ordinary facilities for doing either of these, very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in preparing for the field the coming day; and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, — the cold, damp floor, — each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver’s horn.

At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field. There must be no halting; every one must be at his or her post; and woe betides them who hear not this morning summons to the field; for if they are not awakened by the sense of hearing, they are by the sense of feeling: no age nor sex finds any favor. Mr. Severe, the overseer, used to stand by the door of the quarter, armed with a large hickory stick and heavy cowskin, ready to whip any one who was so unfortunate as not to hear, or, from any other cause, was prevented from being ready to start for the field at the sound of the horn.

Mr. Severe was rightly named: he was a cruel man. I have seen him whip a woman, causing the blood to run half an hour at the time; and this, too, in the midst of her crying children, pleading for their mother’s release. He seemed to take pleasure in manifesting his fiendish barbarity. Added to his cruelty, he was a profane swearer. It was enough to chill the blood and stiffen the hair of an ordinary man to hear him talk. Scarce a sentence escaped him but that was commenced or concluded by some horrid oath. The field was the place to witness his cruelty and profanity. His presence made it both the field of blood and of blasphemy. From the rising till the going down of the sun, he was cursing, raving, cutting, and slashing among the slaves of the field, in the most frightful manner. His career was short. He died very soon after I went to Colonel Lloyd’s; and he died as he lived, uttering, with his dying groans, bitter curses and horrid oaths. His death was regarded by the slaves as the result of a merciful providence."

Discussion Questions: 

1. Describe the life of a slave in Maryland.  What did they eat?  How did they sleep? working conditions?

2. Who was Mr. Severe? What was the relationship like between the slaves and the overseer?

3. What would you have found most difficult if you were a slave?

To learn more about Frederick Douglass and his struggle for freedom click on this website: Young American Heroes.

The CT Historical Society: The Amistad & Slavery in Connecticut

Today the Project:LUCID students went to visit the Connecticut Historical Society and Museum.  The students participated in a hands-on activity that helped bring alive the experience of Slavery in Connecticut.  The students read slave advertisements and discussed what can be learned about the life of the runaway slaves written about in the advertisements.

Next the students learned about journey from Africa to America aboard a slave ships by discussing their reaction to excerpts from the narrative of Olaudah Equiano's.  They also participated in a hands-on simulation that allowed them to "experience" the cramped conditions on a slave ship.

The highlight of the day was the multimedia "Amistad" Exhibit.  There the Project:LUCID students experienced the story of Cinque and his fellow Africans who revolted against their Spanish captors aboard the slave ship "The Amistad" and fought to return home to their native Sierra Leone.  The story of Cinque and his fellow Africans struggle for freedom is a part of Connecticut history as the trial of the Africans takes place in New Haven and Hartford.  Ultimately, the Africans are found to be free men by the US Supreme Court and allowed to return to their homeland.

The group very much enjoyed the day and we look forward to our next face to face in April!

Slavery in America-Part I (The Middle Passage)

Early European settlers in America had a lot of work to do, but not many people to do it. To solve the problem, they brought slaves from Africa to do the work. Slavery was a cruel experience that has left lasting effects on American life.

Slavery began in the U.S. Colonies in the early 1600’s and lasted until 1865. By that time, the slave population was approximately 4 million people. 95% of slaves in America lived in the Southern states. European slave traders kidnapped people from Africa and shipped them to America. Slaves were chained so that they could not escape or fight back. They were sent by ship across the Atlantic Ocean. The terrible voyage, called the “Middle Passage,” lasted up to a month. As many as half of the slaves died along the way.

Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)

Olaudah Equiano was abducted at the young age of 11 from his Ibo village in West Africa (Benin) and enslaved, endured the terrible "middle passage" and was sold into slavery.  Thirty years later he was able to purchase his freedom and wrote his famous autobiography, "The Life of Olaudah Equiano."  His slave narrative was very influential in bringing about an end to slavery, especially in Great Britain.  He later became an abolitionist and spent the last part of his life traveling the world speaking out against the cruelty of slavery.

The excerpt below describes his voyage from Africa to the New World.

[1] "I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation (greeting) in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that with the loathsomeness of the stench (stink) and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything....two of the white men offered me eatables, and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet while the other flogged (whipped) me severely. I had never experienced anything of this kind before, and although, not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet nevertheless could I have got over the nettings I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water...

[2] The stench (stink) of the hold (below deck) while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined together it became absolutely pestilential (sickening). The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration (breathing)  from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died...The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low (I was getting very sick) here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck, and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters (chains). In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs...

[3] One day they had taken a number of fishes, and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on the deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity when they thought no one saw them of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings (whippings).

[4] One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea: immediately another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same if they had not been prevented by the ship’s crew, who were instantly alarmed.  Those of us that were the most active were in a moment put down under the deck, and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people of the ship as I never heard before, to stop her, and get the boat out to go after the slaves. However two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery. In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now relate, hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade. 

Discussion Questions: 
1. Describe what the middle passage was like.  Why was it often so deadly?


2. What would you have found most difficult about the middle passage?  

Discovery Education
    Understanding Slavery: The Story of Olaudah Equiano

*History Tools: Sources, "Equaino Recalls the Middle Passage" 

The Yale Museum of American Art & The British Art Museum

The Project:LUCID students were off to Yale University in January to tour the British Museum of Art and The Yale University Art Gallery.  The focus of the tour was "The Slave Trade and Exploring West African Culture Through Art."  The students were very fortunate to have with us on this field trip, Mrs. Kopecki's and Miss Avery's Chinese guests, who were here in the state to learn about US educational practices.

Slavery & The Pursuit of Freedom in Wethersfield

In late November the Project:LUCID classes visited Wethersfield, CT and the Silas Deane and Webb Houses.  The tour focused on Slavery in Old Wethersfield as well as the roles of Joseph and his son, Samuel Webb in the Revolutionary War.

The 1752 Joseph Webb House served as George Washington’s headquarters in May 1781, and was later owned by Wallace Nutting. 

General Washington made three visits to Wethersfield including a visit in May 1781 when he stayed for five nights at Joseph Webb's house.  The project:LUCID students toured the Webb House, visited the Washington bedchamber and saw Wallace Nutting murals depicting Revolutionary War scenes, including the Battle of Yorktown, which is believed to have been first conceived and planned by Washington and the French General Rochambeau while in Wethersfield, CT. The students also learned through a hands on activity about the role of Joseph's son Samuel in the Battle of Bunker Hill and as aide-de-camp to General George Washington.

The Silas Deane House, circa 1770, was built for America’s Revolutionary War diplomat to France as both his residence and as a power base for his political aspirations.  


While touring the Silas Deene House, the Project:LUCID students explored the lives of Pompey, Hagar and other enslaved African Americans in 18th century Connecticut.  They toured the slaves' quarters at the Deane House and played a traditional West African game.


After the house tours the students visited Wethersfield's Ancient Burying Ground where they for a moment in front of the graves of some of town's slave inhabitants. 

Wethersfield's Ancient Burying Ground
Here are the "few remaining witnesses" of the lives of African Americans slaves that once lived in Wethersfield, CT including Quash Gomer, who purchased his freedom in 1766 from John Smith for 25 pounds.
"In Memory of Quash Gomer, a native of Angola, in Africa, brought from there in 1748 & died June 6th 1799, Aged 68 years." and "In Memory of Tenor Abro, who died April 5th 1795 in the 25th year of his age."

"In Memory of FRANCOIS (Abro) who was born in Africa, and died July 1st 1816, aged about 55 years."

The 18th Century Meeting House in Wethersfield was built between 1761 and 1764.


They next toured the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, which served as the town's Meeting House in the 18th Century.  They learned about  how John Adams once climbed the steeple of this church and how George Washington attended services here.  They also learned about the church's preparations for a traditional New England Thanksgiving service.  

Mark Twain's Childhood Memories on Slavery

Last week the Project Lucid classes visited the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT. We had a wonderful day, filled with new friendships and new learning on Mark Twain, the writer.

Read the excerpt below from “The Autobiography of Mark Twain.” In this exerpt, Twain recollects what slavery was like in his home town of Hannibal, Missouri when he was a young boy.

(Historical Note: The first enslaved Africans were forcibly taken from their family and home and transported by ship in chains to America in the late 16oos. Once in the colonies they were needed to work on tobacco and rice plantations. By the 18th century slavery was deeply a part of the American way of life, both in the North an the South. By the early 19th century the Northern states would end slavery, but in the South, in places like Hannibal, Missouri, slavery was still legal. In the “deep South” in places like Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia, many slaves worked on cotton plantations and labored from sun up to sun down picking cotton for their masters, so that it could be cleaned and sent to Northern textile mills to make clothes. Slavery ended in all of the United States in 1865 with the end of the Civil War.)

Memories on Slavery

From “The Autobiography of Mark Twain”

“At first my father owned slaves but by and by he sold them and hired others by the year from the farmers. For a girl of fifteen he paid twelve dollars a year….for a negro woman of twenty-five, as a general house servant, he paid twenty-five dollars a year…for a strong negro woman of forty, as cook washer, etc. , he paid forty dollars a year…and for an able-bodied man he paid from seventy-five to a hundred dollars a year..

All the negroes were friend of ours, and with those of our own age we were in effect [friends.] I say in effect,..We were [friends] and yet not [friends]; color and condition [created] a subtle line which [both of us] were conscious of and [allowed] complete [togetherness] impossible…

In my schoolboy days I had no [strong feeling of dislike] to slavery. I was not aware that there was anything wrong about it….The local papers said nothing against it; the local [churches] taught us that God approved of it, that it was a holy thing and that the doubter need only look in the Bible if he wished to settle his mind-and then the texts were read aloud to us to make the matter sure; if the slaves themselves had a [dislike of slavery] they were wise and said nothing. In Hannibal we seldom saw a slave misused; on the farm never.

There was, however, one small incident of my boyhood days which touched this matter and it must have meant a good deal to me or it would not have stayed in my memory, clear and sharp…all these…years. We had a little slave boy whom we had hired from someone, there in Hannibal. He was from the eastern shore of Maryland and had been brought away from his family and his friends halfway across the American continent and sold. He was a cheery spirit, innocent and gentle, and the noisiest creature that ever was, perhaps. All day long he was singing, whistling, yelling, whooping, laughing-it was maddening, devastating, and unendurable. At last, one day, I lost all my temper and went raging to my mother and said Sandy had been singing for an hour without a single break and I couldn’t stand it, and wouldn’t she please shut him up. The tears came into her eyes and her lip trembled, and she said something like this. ‘Poor thing, when he sings it shows that he is not remembering, and that comforts me; but when he is still I am afraid he is thinking and I cannot bear it. He will never see his mother again; if he can sing I must not hinder it, but be thankful for it. If you were older you would understand me; then that friendless child’s noise would make you glad.’ It was a simple speech and made up of small words, but it went home and Sandy’s noise was not a trouble to me anymore.

….There was nothing about slavery of the Hannibal region to [make people feel in their heart that slavery wasn’t right and to do something about it]. It was the mild domestic slavery, not the brutal plantation [slavery.] Cruelties were very rare and…very unpopular. To separate and sell members of a slave family to different slave masters was a thing not well liked by the people and so it was not often done… I have no recollection of ever seeing a slave auction in that town…..I vividly remember seeing a dozen black men and women chained to one another, once, and lying in a group on the pavement, awaiting shipment to the Southern slave market. Those were the saddest faces I have ever seen.

The slave trader was [hated] by everybody. He was [thought of] as a sort of human devil who bought and [transported] poor helpless people to hell-for to our whites and blacks alike, the Southern plantation was simply hell; no milder name could describe it.”

Response to Literature “Memories of Slavery” by Mark Twain.

1. Describe the relationship between the young Mark Twain and the slaves on his farm who are his own age.
2. Why did Mark Twain’s mom let the slave boy Sandy sing all day?
3. How was slavery in Hannibal, Missouri different from slavery “down the river” in the Southern plantations?
4. Reread the passage on the slave boy named Sandy. Make a text to self connection between Sandy and you. What is similar in this passage to your life? What is different in this passage to your life?

Mark Twain Quotes

From St. Nicholas Magazine, August 1916.
From the Dave Thomson
collection

Mark Twain is one of America’s best-known authors. Born in Florida Missouri in 1835, Twain moved to Hannibal Missouri in 1839. He wrote classics such as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” He was also an enormous observer of life and human nature, finding humor in ordinary, everyday details.

Read his quotes below.

• Supposing is good, but finding out is better.

• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

• Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

• The best way to cheer your self is to try to cheer someone else up.

Notice something around you and create a quote of your own.

Post your quote to the blog under comments.

Watch your spelling. No IM language!

(Be sure to write your First Name and First Letter of Your Last Name at the end of the quote. )