To Kill a Mockingbird: An Historical Perspective The Roots of Slavery

Activity One: The Middle Passage -- From African roots to the North American soil (1 day)

1. Introduce students to the history of slave trading by viewing pictures and reading brief passages from Tom Feelings’ book Middle Passage: White Ships and Black Cargo. If web access is available in the classroom, project slides of his black and white illustrations posted at Juneteenth Pictorial: Middle Passage (http://www.juneteenth.com/middlep.htm).
2. View brief segments from Part 1 of the video recording of Alex Haley's Roots. Show students excerpts of Kunta Kinte on the slave ship, on the auction block, and on the plantation.
3. Debrief with students their response to the drawings of Tom Feelings and the movie clips from Roots.

Activity Two: Slaves and Masters (2 days)

1. Ask students to read chapter 2 from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Harriet Jacobs. Chapter 2 relates events that parallel the cruel treatment of Kunta Kinte in Roots. Have students identify the similarities and differences in Harriet Jacobs’ and Kunta Kinte’s experiences.

2. Have students read Chapter VI, "A Child's Reasoning," from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. It is an excellent piece to contrast with Scout's voice in To Kill a Mockingbird and can be abridged to accommodate reading abilities or time constraints.

3. As a class or in small groups, students describe and write down those images of slavery that most impressed them from Harriet Jacobs’ and Frederick Douglass’ first person narratives.

Activity Three: The Auction Block (2 days)

1. Ask students to read Solomon Northup’s account of a slave auction in Chapter IV, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of Newark, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and Rescued in 1853.
2. Go to African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907 and use a keyword search (use two words: slave, georgia in the search box) to locate the document "What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation? Great Auction Sale of Slaves, at Savannah, Georgia, March 2d & 3d, 1859. A Sequel to Mrs. Kemble's Journal." Ask students to read the entire work, taking note of the language, tone, narrative style, and point of view.
3. Group students in pairs to compare and contrast the stories of the two auctions. Use Study Guide for Slave Auction Narratives to focus their discussion.

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