Slaves as Property

General Plantation Activity

OBJECTIVES
Students will gain an understanding of what it means to be human property and identify the reasons a slave would run away.

AGE

4th-6th grade

ENHANCES 

SS.A.1.2.3, SS.A.6.2.4, SS.C.2.2.2

TIME AND PLACE

Classroom pre- or post-visit activity, 15 minutes

WORKSHEET

Reward Flyer pdf (130k)

This file must be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

To download this program (free of charge), click here.

PROCEDURE

Students will read a reward flyer that was printed in the Jacksonville Courier newspaper and answer questions based on the flyer.

EVALUATION

1. the owner, in this case Henry W. Maxey
2. by name or physical description
3. Yes. Slaves had to run far away so they wouldn't be recognized and had to do so quickly since the owner was going to be looking for him or sending people to search for him or her (this might be a good link to discuss the Underground Railroad)
4.  property status means that the slave:
   
   - was not paid
   - could not make decisions for his/her family
   - families were sold apart
   - could not choose where to live
   - had no choice for his/her occupation
   - did not have a chance for an education
   - did not choose to be at the plantation
   - the above applied to the enslaved person's entire life, starting before the age of your students.
   

Ask your students to compare the aspects of slave life (listed above in answer 4) to their own lives. Include that slave families could easily be separated by sale and that not being able to choose the type of work you do meant that you could be assigned to toil in the fields in August (complete with all the Florida climate concerns - extreme heat, thunderstorms, biting insects, etc.). Also add that slaves could not read or write and that many owners did not want them to learn. A conversation on "knowledge as power" might also come into this discussion.