Follow the North Star School Program *An Underground Railroad Experience*

Transcription

1 13400 Allisonville Road - Fishers, IN tl tf fx connerprairie.org Follow the North Star School Program *An Underground Railroad Experience* Purpose The purpose of Follow the North Star is to familiarize students with the hardships, triumphs, and realities of one of our nation's greatest historical phenomena, the Underground Railroad. Through true-to-life experiences, students and teachers will role-play the part of a group of fugitive slaves trying to gain freedom. Objectives Through their participation in Follow the North Star, students will be able to Explain what the Underground Railroad was. Describe how the Underground Railroad worked. Identify the Underground Railroad as a national movement. Recognize that slaves escaped and were helped along the way since the beginning of slavery in the U.S. Recognize that Indiana and Hamilton County were active in the UGRR. Recognize that African-Americans took an active role in the UGRR effort. Recognize some of the myths that have developed about the UGRR. Recognize the attitudes of this earlier time and how they continue to impact our country today. Appreciate the risks people were willing to take to achieve freedom for themselves and others. Indiana Academic Standards Social Studies Describe the abolitionist movement and identify figures and organizations involved in the debate over slavery, including leaders of the Underground Railroad Analyze the influence of early individual social reformers and movements such as the abolitionist, feminist, and social reform movements Analyze the causes and effects of events leading to the Civil War, and evaluate the sectional conflict Explain the importance of responsible participation by citizens in voluntary civil organizations to bring about social reform.

2 USH.1.2 Summarize major themes in the early history of the United States such as federalism, sectionalism, na USH.1.3 Identify and tell the significance of controversies pertaining to slavery, abolitionism, and social reform movements. USH. 1.4 Describe causes and lasting effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction as well as the the Black Codes, and the Compromise of General Information WHAT: Follow the North Star is an educational program based on the historical phenomenon known as the Underground Railroad. It embraces the African- American journey to freedom, dramatizing the trials and triumphs of the runaway slave. The program is interactive to the extreme. It is a physical and emotional journey that teaches by experience. It is a testament to African-American perseverance toward freedom. This innovative program presents a "walk-in-the-shoes-of..." kind of history requiring visitors to become -- and be treated like -- fugitive slaves. WHERE: DATES: TIMES: LENGTH: COST: ATTIRE: Follow the North Star is an outdoor, historical experience utilizing Conner Prairie's landscape and setting to dramatize the story of the Underground Railroad through a series of character portrayals by Conner Prairie's interpretive staff. The museum's historic houses and barns become an unfamiliar environment where Indiana's free citizens, black and white, help, hinder or prey upon the runaways. The daytime school program takes place on selected dates in March, April and November. There is also a public program that takes place in the evening on selected dates in April and November. The school program can be booked to start as early as 9 am. Groups of about 15 start the program every 15 minutes. The program is 90 minutes. School groups: $9.50 per student; one adult free with every 14 students The public evening program is $19 per person for school groups. Most of the program is outside, so participants will need to dress for the weather. In addition, the program is physically demanding, requiring participants to cover approximately one mile on foot over hilly and uneven terrain. Participants also will be asked to get on their knees or squat down at times. For these reasons, we

3 recommend that participants wear comfortable walking shoes, long pants, and long sleeves. PROGRAM OVERVIEW: The program begins with an orientation. A Conner Prairie staff person will discuss the Underground Railroad and the Follow the North Star program. Then a video provides more information and sets the scenario for the role play. After the orientation session, you will walk outside and board a tram for a ride to the location where you will start the role-play experience. As fugitive slaves, you will encounter a wide range of people and events that reflect the social and racial mood of the time: hostile new owners, a reluctantlyhelpful farm wife, a belligerent, transplanted Southerner, a sympathetic and kind Quaker abolitionist family, and a slave hunter who sees dollar signs at the sight of the runaways. You will encounter a free black character who provides advice and directions to Roberts Settlement, one of Indiana's historic free black communities. Finally, you will meet the Prophet who will review the events of your journey and discuss what your future holds. The program ends with a short debriefing session inside where you can sit down and discuss your experience. Follow the North Star Cast of Characters The anonymous New Owners have been involved in an illegal sale of slaves. In the mid- 1830s, a slave owner could travel through the state of Indiana and still retain ownership of his slaves. As soon as he established residency, the slaves were legally free. Some people came to Indiana with slaves in order to release them from their bonds in a free state. Other people who brought slaves with them from slave states sometimes took them back to a slave state in order to sell them. Not wanting to lose his investment, but not wanting to leave Indiana, your owner has illegally sold you within state borders. Sarah Merrick has a mindset typical of many Hoosiers of this time period. She is a Northerner who is tolerant of the fugitives as long as they are moving out of this territory. She knows some people, including her own husband, believe colonization is the solution to this "problem." Her biggest concern is a fear of getting caught helping the fugitives, which carries a heavy penalty. Jacob Williams is a poor white Southerner who feels he was displaced in the South by slave owners and slaves. He believes they took away a good living by providing cheap labor. He is also resentful of the perceived economic threat from free blacks moving into Indiana where he has come to try to make a living. Williams sees this encounter with a group of fugitives as an

4 opportunity to make some money by way of a possible reward. He wants to get back at slaves for what he believes they did to him. The Halseys are a Quaker family, sympathetic with the anti-slavery movement, living in rural Indiana. They are aware of the conflict within the Friends church concerning Quaker efforts within abolitionism. They have decided they are willing to help those seeking freedom. Benjamin Cannon is a locally notorious slave hunter. He sees a group of fugitives as a good business opportunity, a chance for profit. He is not willing to put up with trouble from a group of people he sees as work animals. The Wards are originally from North Carolina, part of the immigration of free blacks into Indiana. Having lived in Indiana a few years, they are well aware of what life is like for African-Americans in Indiana. They freely offer advice to the fugitives. While they do admit that the fugitives can legally stay in Indiana, they will encourage them to keep moving north because of the difficulties involved in staying here. Characters and scripts written and developed by Michelle Evans and Doug Heiwig. Characteristic Attitudes in 1836 About Slavery Abolitionist As an abolitionist, you would strive for the end of slavery in the United States based on the beliefs that slavery was cruel, inhumane, and unchristian. You might help fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad, or you might fight slavery in other ways. American Colonization Society Member The American Colonization Society was an organization that advocated sending free blacks to Africa. There were two opposing attitudes from ACS members: 1) The founding members of the society saw colonization of free negroes as a means to abolish slavery and Christianize the Africans. You would view this as a solution to the problems of slavery and discrimination. 2) Slave owners became members of the ACS to strengthen the institution of slavery. By ridding the country of free negroes, the slaves would not have any reason to hope for freedom. You would be eliminating a threat to slavery. Free Negro As a free negro in Indiana, you would be opposed to slavery and probably try to help fugitives escape to freedom by guiding them to a free black settlement, guiding them to another sympathetic family along the way, or by giving advice to help the fugitives. Fugitive Slave For you, the decision to escape from slavery may be a difficult one especially if it meant leaving family members behind. But even if your escape route led through Indiana, a free state

5 that did not allow slavery, you would not necessarily be safe here. When traveling through Indiana, you might find help from Quaker families, free negroes or sympathetic white residents; or you might not find any help and continue on your journey unaided. Either way, it would be risky to stay in Indiana because of the threat of slave hunters. You would most likely continue on to Canada. Quaker You would be opposed to slavery, but might have mixed feelings as to how far to go to help the anti-slavery movement. Quakers were not to associate with people outside of their religion, and helping fugitive slaves would go against this rule. However, you might justify helping fugitives by believing you were obeying a higher law. Slave Hunter You would be out for the money. The slave hunter did not believe that slaves had any rights and viewed slaves as nothing more than a form of livestock. You would not necessarily take a stand for or against slavery. More than anything, you saw fugitive slaves as a source of money and would do almost anything to return a slave to the rightful southern owner in order to be paid. White Indiana Resident You would be glad to live in a free state because you are against slavery. However, you would not want a free black person living near you because you do not favor racial equality. You could even be hostile toward free blacks in your community. These attitudes were based on certain 1836 beliefs: a) blacks were savage, unrestrained beings; b) free blacks would take jobs from whites; c) the presence of free blacks added to the crime rate; d) blacks were mentally inferior.

6 Vocabulary abolition abolitionist American Colonization Society The termination of slavery in the United States. One who works toward the termination of slavery in the United States. A group of citizens that advocated the migration of free blacks to Africa as a means to end slavery. 1 st -person A type of communication where a person assumes a [historical] interpretation role and does not step out of that role. free negro freed slave free states fugitive slave manumit mulatto Quakers A person born to a free negro woman (the condition of the child was determined by the condition of the mother); their rights were restricted by laws intended for slaves. A free negro who has purchased freedom or was manumitted by his/her owner; their rights were restricted by laws intended for slaves. States that prohibited the institution of slavery (as of 1836: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine). One who flees; a runaway. To free from slavery. A person having one black parent and one white parent. A member of a religious sect, the Society of Friends. Friends believe in plainness of dress, manners, and religious worship, and are opposed to military service and the taking of oaths; they do not use the term Quaker. Roberts One of several Indiana free black settlements established in 1836 Settlement in northwestern Hamilton County. slavery A system of bondage to a master or household; to live as a piece of property that could be sold. Underground A historic phenomenon where people escaped from slavery with or Railroad without help. The term was coined sometime in the 1830s.

7 Activities: Before Your Adventure 1. To prepare your students to participate in this first-person interpretive program, explain to them what first-person interpretation is. Then read this introduction and have the students write a story in first-person describing what they think will happen on their journey. What would you do in this situation? The year is You are a slave, brought to Indiana from Kentucky by your master. As soon as he establishes residency in Indiana, you are legally free. Until he does that you are still a slave. Since he doesn't want to lose money on his investment, he has decided to get rid of you by sale -- an illegal sale since it is occurring in Indiana. What are you going to do? 2. Have students research and draw the possible routes of the Underground Railroad on a United States map. Discuss the routes: their beginning points, ending points, etc. Did they realize that some routes moved to the south? Which route would they take? Have them research the routes and stations in Indiana. 3. Discuss with students some of the myths associated with the Underground Railroad, found on the next page. Why do they think these myths persist?

8 Common Underground Railroad Myths Myth #1: The Underground Railroad was literally underground, and each station had special secret hiding places where slaves could stay. The Underground Railroad was neither a railroad nor underground. The term refers to the efforts of African American slaves trying to escape to freedom and the people who helped re not common, and most of the time the n attic is just an attic. Myth #2: Quilts were used to give directions to runaway slaves. This myth began to appear in the 1990s about the Underground Railroad. It comes mostly from oral traditions, however no valid historical evidence has been found to support this idea. Many of the quilt patterns said to have aided slaves did not exist during the time of the Underground Railroad, and none of the slave narratives from before or after the Civil War mention quilt codes. Myth #3: You had to have a conductor to travel on the Underground Railroad. The majority of slaves who traveled on the Underground Railroad to guide them. In fact, because it was difficult to know who to trust, it was sometimes safer to go it alone. Myth #4: The Underground Railroad went one direction- north. There were many routes slaves could take when seeking freedom, and where they ended up often depended on where they started. Slaves fleeing from the northernmost slave states like Kentucky or Maryland would likely have headed north. However, those in states bordering the Gulf of Mexico like Florida or Alabama might have gone to Mexico or the Caribbean. Those in western states like Texas probably would have gone west into Indian Territories. Myth #5: Once they got to a free state, African Americans were safe. The laws of northern states were not necessarily friendly to free African Americans. In Indiana, free blacks were required to register with their county and pay a bond of $500, more than most skilled tradesmen made in a year. Slave hunters were free to travel north into free states in northern states and sold into slavery in the south. This is why many fugitive slaves chose to travel all the way to Canada, where their chances of remaining safe were greater.

9 A Timeline of Slavery in America This timeline begins in 1746, listing a census that shows the first African-American residents to live in what would become Indiana. It ends in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation First recorded account of African-Americans living in what would be Indiana. "40 white men and 5 Negroes" living in a French settlement on the Wabash River (Vincennes) Northwest Ordinance adopted by the Continental Congress. Article VI provided: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." In spite of these words both slavery and involuntary servitude persisted for many years in Indiana The territorial legislature passes "An Act concerning the Introduction of Negroes and Mulattoes into This Territory" which said any person owning or purchasing slaves outside the Territory might bring them into Indiana and bind them to service, sometime for a period extending past their life expectancy. The other option was to be sold for life outside the territory The State Constitution of 1816 included in the Bill of Rights: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto hereafter made and executed out of the bounds of this State be of any validity within the State." The Missouri Compromise is passed. This law was an effort to prevent future disputes about slavery in states entering the Union. It stated that states entering the Union north of an imaginary line located at 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude would be free states; those south of the line would allow slavery Levi Coffin moves from North Carolina to settle in Newport (Fountain City), Indiana. Almost immediately, he continues his work helping fugitives African-Americans seeking to settle in Indiana are required by law to register with county authorities and post a bond of $500 as a guarantee of good behavior and against their becoming public charges The Spanish slave ship, the Amistad, is brought into Montauk, NY, by a group of Africans who revolt against their captors. They are defended before the Supreme Court by former U.S. President John Quincy Adams and are awarded their freedom Frederick Douglass is attacked by an anti-abolition mob after speaking in Pendleton, IN.

10 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland. She returns 19 times to the South to help other slaves escape on the Underground Railroad The passage of the revised Fugitive Slave Law, which requires all citizens to assist in returning fugitive slaves to their masters and instituted harsher penalties for those aiding runaway slaves, inspires strong resistance throughout the north The Indiana State Constitution of 1851 states African-Americans are prohibited from moving into the state The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law. It repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed the residents of new states to determine if slavery would be allowed in that territory or not. This idea was known as popular sovereignty. This led to a long, violent dispute over the fate of slavery in Kansas known as Bleeding Kansas In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the U.S. Supreme Court rules against citizenship for blacks; the Court rules that Dred Scott, a slave, cannot sue for his freedom in a free state because he is property and as such "has no rights a white man has to respect." The American Civil War begins. The root cause of the war is a sectional conflict over pecially the right to own slaves The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect. It frees slaves in states in rebellion against the Union.

11 Activities: After Your Adventure 1. ody to do right and with upon their experience with the characters and ideas they encountered during Follow the North Star. Are there any ways in which these ideas are relevant to their lives today? 2. On the next page you will find a worksheet that will help students consider the Underground Railroad from multiple historical points of view. 3. Even though slavery was outlawed in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, it does still exist today, both in other countries and the United States. Have students take the quiz at slaveryfootprint.org. (The quiz asks questions about spending habits and lifestyle factors to estimate approximately how many slaves make the products the students buy.) How many slaves are working for them? Will this information change any of their spending habits? Is there anything they can do to help solve this world-wide problem and be modern abolitionists? 4. The ideas at the heart of slavery are the same as those at the heart of bullying-. Encourage students to reflect on their experience with the New Owner characters. How did that make them feel? Did they feel powerless? Angry? Weak? Intimidated? Do they feel differently now about bullying than they did before? 5. Students can participate in another Underground Railroad simulation through Mission US, a series of free multimedia games produced by WNET-13 New York Public Media. Mission 2: Flight to Freedom features Lucy, a 14-year-old runaway slave from Kentucky. Mission US also offers a collection of educator resources, including primary document exercises. The game and educator resources are available at

12 The Underground Railroad: Choose For Yourself The people who participated in the Underground Railroad risked their lives in order to seek their own freedom or to help those who were trying to flee slavery. Everyone involved in it had to decide for themselves if they were going to take that risk. Think about that decision from thes would you do if you were in their place? Why? A 24-year-old man who was born into slavery and has a relatively good position as a personal servant to a wealthy plantation owner in South Carolina. He is treated well by his master. If you were him, would you try to run away? A 35-year-old woman in Virginia who has worked in the fields on a tobacco plantation for years. She has been beaten for not working fast enough. Her husband and one of her children were sold to a master in another state, but she still has two young children with her. If you were her, would you stay or go? A 56-year-old former slave living in Ohio who was trained as a blacksmith and worked for years to save enough money to buy his freedom. Now, his abolitionist neighbors are asking him to hide runaway slaves in his barn. If you were him, would you let them seek shelter on your property? A 41-year-old white woman in Indiana with a husband and 4 children who sees the issue of slavery as none of her business. One evening, she sees a young fugitive slave sleeping in the

13 If you were her, would you turn him in, pretend that help him on his way? A 48-year-old white man in Georgia from a well-to-do family believes slavery is wrong. He has freed his own slaves, but most of his neighbors are strong supporters of the institution of slavery. He has heard that some slaves belonging to a close business associate are planning to run away. If others found out he knew of the plan and did not try to stop it, it would damage his reputation and his business. If you were him, what would you do?

14 Teacher's Page: Read More About It Blassingame, John W., editor. Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, Blockson, Charles L. The Underground Railroad. New York: Berkeley Books, Blockson, Charles L. The Underground Railroad: Dramatic Firsthand Accounts of Daring Escapes to Freedom. Prentice Hall, 1987; Berkeley Books, 1989, Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, Northrup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, Parker, John P. His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad. W.W. Norton & Co., Still, William. The Underground Railroad. Chicago, 1872; Johnson Publishing Co., Websites To Visit American Slave Narratives International Slavery Museum National Park Service - "Underground Railroad: Special Resource Study" The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Links to the Past: National Park Service Cultural Resources National Geographic Mission US