American Studies/New Policy for Late Assignments!!

Lateness regarding turning assignments in has gotten out of hand. As a result, my policy for lateness has changed. If your assignment is late, you will receive half credit.

interesting article

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7567291&page=1

Exams this week

for both American Studies and African American Studies

American Studies

Stanford Experiments doc---http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=677084988379129606#

EXTRA CREDIT for ALL CLASSES!

Read and write a short summary of the following articles (written by me). Create 3 questions, that come to mind, per article.

http://hubpages.com/hub/HistoricalRevelations

http://hubpages.com/hub/Philadelphia1793CommonLawsblasphemybastardy

African American History

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/teachers/rationalizing_race.html

African American History

http://contexts.org/socimages/2008/06/18/whites-blacks-apes-in-the-great-chain-of-being/

African American History

Ms. Gold/African American Studies

February 9, 2010/Compact Essay

“How did science contribute to the construction and justification of racism?”

First Draft Due: Tuesday, February 18^th, 2010

Final Draft Due: Monday, February 25, 2010

Directions:

· Answer the following essay question: How did science contribute to the construction and justification of racism?

· Use both the vocabulary word sheet that states Compact Essay at the top

· Use articles, textbook and other materials as evidence to support your ideas

· Write 3-5 pages

· Must include thesis statement within introduction paragraph, 3 solidly evidence-based reasons that support your thesis, and a concluding paragraph that analyzes and synthesizes your data. In other words, draw conclusions of your own (help us synthesize all of the ideas that you have set forth in your paper!).

· Must be type-written in 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and have a cover page stating your name, date, title of your paper and course name (African American Studies)

5-10 pts Extra credit for both Freshmen and Sophomores

Write a couple of paragraphs in response to the following link. (5 pts)

Include constitution or NYC local ordinance laws and receive 5 more pts!

Answers must be posted to this blog sight in order to receive credit.

African American History

DESIREE'S BABY

• Why was Armand's rule over the slaves a strict one? How had his father treated their slaves?



• Why would it matter that Desiree's background was unknown?



• Why did Madame Valmonde look at the child in the best light available? Why did she focus her look at Zandrine?



• Explain why Chopin uses the word "her" in this line:
  "He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse."



• How did Desiree feel about slavery? About the way Armand treated the slaves? What makes you think this?



• "One of La Blanche's little quadroon boys--half naked too--stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers." From this, what do you deduce that La Blanche is?



• "A quick conception of all this accusation meant for her..." What do you think it meant? Why was it important?



• Why didn't Desiree go back to Valmonde? Why does she accept her fate without fighting? What does that tell you about her role as a woman, and her place in society?



• What would be the consequences to Armand and the plantation if it were found that he had African ancestry?

HW Read....

Being prepared for class activities and discussions is important! It is part of your classroom grade! You are not responsible for "activities" in terms of your homework.

Chapters 3 & 4 Read Thursday night!! Questions Due Friday, Feb 5th!

Chapter 5 & 6---Read/Discussion Monday/Questions due Monday!!

Chapters 7&8 Read in class-Monday Night-do questions (see below) due Tuesday!

Chapters 9 & 10 -Read Tuesday night & HW-Do questions below due Wed!

Chapters 10 Class reading

Chapter 11 and appendix Read and do questions below-due Friday!

Test on Frederick Douglass and 1800s the following week (Feb 15th week).

Read in class-- Tuesday--Chapters 5 & 6---Read and answer questions:

Tells readers more about overseers and relates incidents of slave murders.

QUESTIONS

• Why is Mr. Austin Gore a "first-rate overseer"? What is the irony of this description of him? What is ironic about his name? (English)
  
• What reason does Mr. Gore give for killing Demby the slave?
  
• What other examples does Frederick give of his statement "that killing a slave, or any colored person, . . . is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community" (p. 41)? (History)*

QUOTES
Maxim laid down by slaveholders: "It is better that a dozen slaves suffer under the lash, than that the overseer should be convicted, in the presence of the slaves, of having been at fault" (p. 38).

"To be accused was to be convicted, and to be convicted was to be punished" (pp. 38-39). [Another important point that continues throughout the narrative.] (History)

"He dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well" (p. 39).

Chapter V

Examines Frederick's life as a slave child and discusses his leaving the plantation.

QUESTIONS

• What was life like for Frederick on the plantation?
  
• Why was Frederick so happy to be leaving the plantation?
  
• Why did he particularly want to go to Baltimore?
  
• What relationship did his new master have to his old master?
  
• Why did Frederick, who was seven or eight, not know the month or year of his sailing?
  
• What were Frederick's initial impressions of his new mistress, Mrs. Sophia Auld?

QUOTES
"I may be deemed superstitious, and even egotistical, in regarding this event as a special interposition of divine Providence in my favor" (p. 47).

ACTIVITIES
Draw pictures of slave children in summer and in winter. (Anthropology)
On a map plot the route that Frederick followed to get to Baltimore. (History/Geography)

CHAPTERS 6-10

Chapter VI

Discusses learning to read and explains its importance.

QUESTIONS

• To what does Frederick attribute the kindness of Mrs. Auld?
  
• What, according to Frederick, changes her?
  
• Why is Mr. Auld angry when he finds that Mrs. Auld is teaching Frederick his letters?
  
• Why does Frederick call Mr. Auld's forbidding his learning how to read "invaluable instruction" (p. 49)? (Education) *
  
• Why does inability to read keep men enslaved according to Frederick and to Mr. Auld? (Education)
  
• What does Frederick hope to gain by learning how to read?
  
• Who teaches Frederick why black men are not taught to read?
  
• Why is this lesson so important to him?
  
• Why is the life of a city slave so much better than the life of a plantation slave?
  
• Why does Frederick relate the story of the slaves Henrietta and Mary? (English)

QUOTES
"If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master" (p. 49).
"I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty - to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom" (p. 49). (Education)
"In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both" (p. 50). (Education) *
"A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with a slave on the plantation" (p. 50).

ACTIVITIES
Discuss the irony of what Mr. Auld taught Frederick when he forbid Mrs. Auld to teach him to read. (English)
Conduct a role play of Master Auld, Mistress Auld, and Frederick discussing Frederick's learning how to read.
Go to the library and investigate the education of slaves in the United States. Discuss: Was Frederick's situation typical? Why? Why not? (History/Education) *
Discuss: In education we refer to the school's "hidden curriculum," that which is not intentionally taught but is learned by the students. What are some of the "hidden curricula" in the schools you attended? How does Mr. Auld's lesson to Frederick relate to the concept of the 'hidden curriculum?' (Education) *
Examine the concept of reading as equivalent to freedom. (Education) *
Discuss how you might use this chapter with a class of middle or high school reluctant readers. (Education) *

Chapter VII

Relates what Mrs. Auld learned from keeping slaves; how Frederick came to hate slavery and how he learned to write.

QUESTIONS

• How did Mrs. Auld change and why did she change?
  
• What plan did Frederick adopt to learn how to read now that Mrs. Auld was no longer teaching him?
  
• Why is it ironic that he bribed the little white boys to teach him to read? (English)
  
• What irony does Frederick find in this statement: "It is almost an unpardonable offence to teach slaves to read in this Christian country." (p. 54)? *
  
• What did Frederick learn from the book "The Columbian Orator"?
  
• How does Master Auld's prediction about Frederick and learning come true?
  
• How does Frederick learn the meanings of the words abolition and abolitionist?
  
• What do the two Irishmen encourage him to do? Why does he not trust them?
  
• How does Frederick learn to write?
  
• How does he trick the white boys into teaching him new letters?

QUOTES
"Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her [Mrs. Auld] of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness" (pp. 52-53).

"The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell" (p. 53). "I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out" (p. 55). (Education) *

"White men have been known to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch them and return them to their masters" (p. 57).

ACTIVITIES
Discuss the concept of learning as a curse rather than a blessing. Frederick makes this comment on page 55. Is it possible that he is correct? Readdress this issue after you finish reading the book. (Education) *
Write a diary entry of a memory you have about an early reading experience. Discuss how your experience differed from Frederick's.
Write about why learning to read is so important to practicing freedom. Discuss your writing in a small group. Examine the question: Did the slave owners understand that learning to read was important to practicing freedom? (English/History)
Discuss how you learned how to read and write. How did it differ from the methods used by Frederick? (English/Education)
Go to the library to find out how the colonists felt about education. Compare this to how slaveholders felt about the education of slaves. Why was education considered essential for white children in New England and illegal for slave children in the south? (History/Education) *

Chapter VIII

Discussion of slaves as property; plight of old slaves; return to Baltimore.

QUESTIONS

• Why was Frederick forced to return to the plantation after the death of his master?
  
• How was the value of the master's property determined? How were the slaves valued?
  
• Why was the division of property between Mistress Lucretia and Master Andrew so horrifying to the slaves?
  
• What happened to Frederick's grandmother after the deaths of Lucretia and Andrew? How does this anecdote help explain the value of slaves? How are slaves valued
• when compared to livestock? [The ironic comparison of slaves to livestock is a continuous theme of the narrative.]
  
• Who owns Frederick by the end of chapter eight?
  
• Why is Frederick forced to leave Baltimore?

QUOTES
"At this moment [valuation of the property], I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder" (p. 60).

"The hearth is desolate. The children, the unconscious children, who once sang and danced in her presence, are gone. She gropes her way, in the darkness of age, for a drink of water. Instead of the voices of her children, she hears by day the moans of the dove, and by night the screams of the hideous owl. All is gloom. The grave is at the door" (p. 62).

ACTIVITIES
Discuss John Greenleaf Whittier's poem (p. 62). Why does Frederick put this poem in his narrative immediately following the anecdote about his grandmother? (English) *
Go to the library and find other poems by Whittier. What other poems has he written about slavery? Why does Frederick call him the slave poet? (English) *
Trace the ownership of Frederick from the beginning of the narrative through chapter eight. Explain why he is owned by so many different people. (History/Sociology)

Chapter IX

Moves to St. Michael's, Maryland, with Master Thomas Auld; the irony of the Christian slaveholder is discussed.

QUESTIONS

• Why does Frederick now know the date?
  
• Who is Frederick's newest Master?
  
• What rule of slaveholding does Master Thomas Auld violate?
  
• How did the slaves get food?
  
• Why does Frederick say that "adopted slaveholders are the worst"?
  
• What, according to Frederick, happens to Master Thomas Auld after his conversion to Christianity? Why?
  
• Why does Frederick find irony in the fact that the slaves sabbath school is discontinued? (English/Education) *
  
• Why does Frederick let Master Thomas's horse run away?
  
• Again, Frederick compares the treatment of slaves to the treatment of horses. How?
  
• How does Master Thomas propose to 'break' Frederick?
  
• Why is the use of the verb 'to break' ironic? *
  
• Why was Mr. Covey's reputation for breaking slaves of great value to him?
  
• Why does Frederick suggest that Mr. Covey's "pious soul" (p.70) adds to "his reputation as a 'nigger-breaker'" (p. 70)? *

QUOTES
"After his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty" (p. 67). [This is an important point that Frederick continues to make throughout the rest of the narrative.]

"He would quote this passage of Scripture - 'He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes'" (p. 68).

"He resolved to put me out, as he said, to be broken" (p. 69).

"Master Thomas was one of the many pious slaveholders who hold slaves for the very charitable purpose of taking care of them" (p. 69). *

ACTIVITIES
Frederick's contention that men use religion to justify cruelty is not new. Look for examples of this throughout history. (History) *
Frederick points out many ironies in this chapter. Discuss two of them. (English)

Chapter X

How a man is made a slave; a slave made a man.

QUESTIONS

• Why does Mr. Covey whip Frederick?
  
• Why are the slaves so fearful of Mr. Covey? Why does their work go on in his absence?
  
• Why is it "never safe to stop a single minute" (p. 73)?
  
• What does Frederick mean by "Mr. Covey's forte consisted in his power to deceive" (p. 74)?
  
• Why does Mr. Covey buy a slave to use as a breeder?
  
• Why does he hire Mr. Samuel Harrison, a married man? What irony does Frederick find in this?
  
• How does Mr. Covey succeed in breaking Frederick?
  
• How does Frederick succeed in again becoming a man?
  
• Why does Frederick go to Master Thomas Auld?
  
• Why does he return to Covey? Who convinces him to do so? What does Sandy Jenkins suggest that Frederick do?
  
• How does Frederick win the fight with Mr. Covey?
  
• Why does Frederick contend that Mr. Covey does not turn him in?
  
• What would have happened to Frederick had Mr. Covey turned him in? *
  
• Why is Frederick's battle with Mr. Covey "the turning-point in my career as a slave" (p. 82)?
  
• How are the holidays used to "disgust the slave with freedom" (p. 85)?
  
• Where does Frederick go after leaving Mr. Covey's on January 1, 1834?
  
• Who is his new master and how does he treat Frederick?
  
• Why does Frederick include the anecdotes about the two religious slave holders Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Weeden? What point is he attempting to make? *
  
• Why and where does Frederick begin a Sabbath school? Why is it essential that the slaves tell no one about it?
  
• What would the slaveholders like the slaves to do on the sabbath? Why is this ironic?
  
• Why does Frederick decide to include the slaves in his Sabbath school in his plans to obtain his freedom? Why is this dangerous?
  
• Frederick makes the point that many slaves would "rather bear those ills we had, than fly to others, that we knew not of" (p. 93). How does this help explain why so few slaves escaped?
  
• How do the slaves plan to run away?
  
• What is the purpose of the "protections" written by Frederick?
  
• What happens to their plan, and how do the "protections" nearly cause their deaths?
  
• What happens to each of the slaves who attempted to run away?
  
• When Frederick returns to Baltimore, what does he do?
  
• Frederick again decides to fight when he is attacked. What happens to him? What does Master Hugh attempt to do for Frederick?
  
• What must Frederick do with the wages he earns each week as a caulker? Why?

QUOTES
"I do verily believe that he sometimes deceived himself into the solemn belief, that he was a sincere worshipper of the most high God; and this, too, at a time when he may be said to have been guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery" (p.74)

"Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!" (p. 75).

"Those beautiful [sailing] vessels, robed in purest white, so delightful to the eye of freemen, were to me so many shrouded ghosts, to terrify and torment me with thought of my wretched condition" (p. 76) (English) *

"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man" (p. 77).

"He only can understand the deep satisfaction which I experienced, who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery" (p. 83). (English)

"I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact" (p. 83) (English)

"The mode here adopted [is] to disgust the slave with freedom, by allowing him to see only the abuse of it" (p. 85). (Education) *

"I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, - a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection" (p. 86).

"In coming to a fixed determination to run away, we did more than Patrick Henry, when he resolved upon liberty or death. With us it was a doubtful liberty at most, and almost certain death if we failed" (p. 93). (History)

"All at once, the white carpenters knocked off, and said they would not work with free colored workmen. Their reason for this, as alleged, was, that if free colored carpenters were encouraged, they would soon take the trade into their own hands and poor white men would be thrown out of employment" (p. 100). (History)

"I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one" (p. 103). (Education) *

ACTIVITIES
Read aloud and discuss Frederick's discussion of sailing vessels beginning with the last line on page 75 and continuing through the end of the first paragraph on page 77. Why does Frederick find the sailing vessels so abhorrent to watch? What do they symbolize for him? At the same time he finds hope in them. What is his hope? What are the sailing vessels a metaphor of? (English) *
Frederick talks about the superstition of slaves when Sandy Jenkins gives him the root to place in his right pocket. Go to the library and see what other slave superstitions you can find. What were the reasons for these superstitions? (Anthropology)
Discuss: Who beside slaves have superstitions? What are some superstitions> you, your family, or your friends hold? Where do they come from?
Read sections of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to find the superstitions of the slave Jim. Discuss why slaves are superstitious. Why would slaves attribute their deaths to trickery? (English)
Frederick makes the point that although he is still a slave "in form," he is no long a slave "in fact" (p. 83). Discuss how this is possible.
Beginning with the final paragraph on page 83 and continuing to the end of the first paragraph on page 86, Frederick provides his readers with an anecdote about the purpose of the Christmas holiday for slaveholders. Read this section orally. Discuss why slaves are given the Christmas holiday.
Frederick becomes an apprentice caulker. Research the apprentice system of education in the middle Atlantic states. Was it common for slaves or free African Americans to be apprentices? (Education/History)
Several times in this chapter Frederick refers to free colored men and women. Research the free African Americans of the South. Why were some free and most slaves? (History)
Again in the chapter we hear about the legal system and slaves. Research cases in which slaves were tried. What occurred? (History)

Classwork & HW! Chapters 3 & 4 Questions

Chapter III To do in class

Relates several anecdotes that tell readers more about plantation life and the thinking of slaves.

QUESTIONS

• How did Colonel Lloyd keep the slave boys from taking his fruit?
  
• Why was it particularly difficult to be the slaves in charge of Colonel Lloyd's horses?
  
• What is ironic about Colonel Lloyd's treatment of his horses compared to the treatment of his slaves? (English) *
  
• What happened to the slave who told Colonel Lloyd the truth about his master?
  
• What is a maxim? (English)

QUOTES
Slave maxim: "a still tongue makes a wise head" (p. 36). (English)

ACTIVITIES
Add to your diagram of Colonel Lloyd's plantation holdings. (History/Anthropology)
Discuss the prejudice that existed among slaves from different plantations. Examine the irony of this prejudice. (English)

Chapter IV HW-Due Friday

Tells readers more about overseers and relates incidents of slave murders.

QUESTIONS

• Why is Mr. Austin Gore a "first-rate overseer"? What is the irony of this description of him? What is ironic about his name? (English)
  
• What reason does Mr. Gore give for killing Demby the slave?
  
• What other examples does Frederick give of his statement "that killing a slave, or any colored person, . . . is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community" (p. 41)? (History)*

QUOTES
Maxim laid down by slaveholders: "It is better that a dozen slaves suffer under the lash, than that the overseer should be convicted, in the presence of the slaves, of having been at fault" (p. 38).

"To be accused was to be convicted, and to be convicted was to be punished" (pp. 38-39). [Another important point that continues throughout the narrative.] (History)

"He dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well" (p. 39).

Notebook Check this Friday

1. Slide Show Description

2. APUSH 2 Questions

3. Notebook Guide 8

4. Preview: Inventions

that Changed a Nation

5. Opportunity of…

6. 8.2 Door cover, & all notes

inside - 8.3-8.6 completed

7. Putting Opportunity on Trial

8. Garrison/Wendell Phillips

9. HW Did Doors of Opport.

10. Ch 1 & 2 Questions completed

Notebook Check this Friday

Due Wednesday

Read Chapter I & 2....Answer the following questions ...

Sets the scene; Frederick tells us some of his early life and begins to explain life on the plantation.

QUESTIONS

• Why is Frederick not sure when he was born?
  
• What is Frederick's last name at birth?
  
• Why would slaveholders want to keep a slave ignorant of such a simple thing as the date of his birth? (Education)
  
• Who were Frederick's mother and father?
  
• Why does Frederick make the point that a slaveholder who has fathered a child is likely to be tougher on that child?
  
• Why does Frederick only rarely see his mother?
  
• Is Frederick's relationship with his mother typical of other slave children?
  
• What is the role of the overseer on the plantation?
  
• What is the relationship of the slaveholder to the overseer to the slave on the plantation? (History)
  
• What do we learn about Plummer, the overseer?
  
• Who is Frederick's first master?
  
• Why does Frederick tell the story of Lloyd's Ned?

Chapter II

Describes the plantation system of Colonel Lloyd; discusses the daily existence of slaves on the plantation.

QUESTIONS

• Who were the family members of Frederick's master Colonel Edward Lloyd?
  
• What is the relationship of Colonel Lloyd to Frederick's master?
  
• Was there a pecking order among slaves? Explain.
  
• Why would a slave whose life on a plantation was very bad fear being sold to a slave-trader?
  
• Why was Severe an appropriate name for the overseer? (English)
  
• Why is it difficult to find copies of slave songs?
  
• Why does Frederick suggest that slaves sing out of sorrow rather than out of joy?

QUOTES
"The same traits of character might be seen in Colonel Lloyd's slaves, as are seen in the slaves of the political parties" (p. 30). (History) *

"Crying for joy, and singing for joy, were alike uncommon to me while in the jaws of slavery" (p. 32).

ACTIVITIES
Draw a diagram of the holdings (including plantations and slaves) of Colonel Lloyd. (History/Sociology)
Discuss with your group what you would likely possess if you were an adult slave on Colonel Lloyd's plantation. Now discuss what you would possess if you were a child slave. (Anthropology)
Write a diary and then make a chart of a day in the life of a slave. (Anthropology/Sociology)
Go to the library and find some songs sung by slaves. Discuss the meaning of these songs and examine if they were likely to be sung because of sorrow as suggested by Frederick. (English)

Due Tuesday Feb 2nd/

Monday Night Homework: One Page Response

On a sheet of loose-leaf paper to hand-in tomorrow, write

your own response to the essential question:

Did changes in the 1800s open the door of opportunity for Americans? Use

specific examples as

evidence to support your position.

(Minimum - 1 page)