4th Grade Slavery Inquiry

How did Slavery Shape my State?

Image per the Lexington Herald-Leader, “Tom Eblen: Without the Civil War, who knows when Lexington's slave trade might have ended?” February 1, 2012. Accessed from:

http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article44152383.html.

Supporting Questions

1. Where did slave populations grow?2. How did the slavery system differ from place to place?3. How did your state’s former slaves describe their treatment?4. How is the legacy of slavery visible in your community?

T H I S W O R K I S L I C E N S E D U N D E R A C R E A T I V E C O M M O N S A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L - S H A R E A L I K E 4 . 0 I N T E R N A T I O N A L L I C E N S E . 1

4th Grade Slavery Inquiry

How did Slavery Shape my State?

Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies, 4th Grade

Big Idea: Geography - 2.19. Students recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography and apply their knowledge in real-life situations.

Big Idea: Historical Analysis - 2.20 Students understand, analyze, and interpret historical events, conditions, trends, and issues to develop historical perspective.

Staging the Question Look at images depicting slavery and have a class discussion about its origins and possible consequences on individuals.

Supporting Question 1 Supporting Question 2 Supporting Question 3 Supporting Question 4

Where did slave populations grow?

How did the slavery system differ from place to place?

How did your state’s former slaves describe their treatment?

Understand

How is the legacy of slavery visible in your community?

Formative Performance Task

Formative Performance Task

Formative Performance Task

Formative Performance Task

Complete a graphic organizer that explains where slavery grew in consideration of geographic features.

Compare and contrast how slavery differed from place to place using a graphic organizer.

Write a summary that describes slaves’ discussion of their treatment.

Write a claim supported by evidence concerning how the legacy of slavery is visible in your community.

Featured Sources Featured Sources Featured Sources Featured Sources

Source A: Interactive map, “The Spread of U.S. Slavery”Source B: 1860 Census MapSource C: Slave Population Statistics

Source A: Excerpt from Takaki, A Different MirrorSource B: Excerpt from “Slavery in Colonial British North America,” Teaching History, ZagarriSource C: Excerpt from A Concise History of Kentucky, KlotterSource D: Excerpt from “Kentucky and the Question of Slavery,” KET Education

Source A: Kentucky Slave Narratives, Works Progress Administration Records, 1941

Source B: Slave Auction Advertisements, Kentucky Digitial Library, 1853-59

Source A: Images of Cheapside Slave Auction, Lexington, KY, c. 1862

Source B: Images of Cheapside Historical MarkerSource C: Articles on Cheapside statues, 2015-17

Summative Performance Task

ARGUMENT How did slavery shape my state? Construct an argument (e.g., detailed outline, poster, essay) that discusses the compelling question using specific claims and relevant evidence from historical and contemporary sources while acknowledging competing views.

EXTENSION Create a timeline of your state’s history, incorporating slavery’s influence.

Taking Informed Action

ASSESS Have a class deliberation about how the history of slavery is and should be memorialized in your community

T H I S W O R K I S L I C E N S E D U N D E R A C R E A T I V E C O M M O N S A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L - S H A R E A L I K E 4 . 0 I N T E R N A T I O N A L L I C E N S E . 2

ACT Write a class proposal to send to the mayor or other stakeholder, suggesting how to memorialize this history

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Overview

Inquiry Description

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the influence of slavery on the history of individual states, particularly highlighting Kentucky. (The blueprint for this inquiry was purposefully written so as to allow for other states or regions to adapt it to their local particulars.) By investigating the compelling question, students examine the growth and development of slavery, the ways in which the slave system differed from place to place, the violence endured by slaves, and how this portion of the country’s history is (or isn’t) being remembered. By completing this inquiry, students will begin to understand how slavery had a significant impact on the development of the country and their particular region, while also have them consider the extent to which historical memory is appropriately reflecting its impact.

It is important to note that this inquiry requires prerequisite knowledge concerning the origins of slavery in the Americas. If needed, teachers can provide applicable sections from Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States and/or Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror for Young People.

NOTE: This inquiry is expected to take four to six 30-minute class periods. The inquiry time frame could expand if teachers think their students need additional instructional experiences (i.e., supporting questions, formative performance tasks, and featured sources). Inquiries are not scripts, so teachers are encouraged to modify and adapt them to meet the needs and interests of their particular students. Resources can also be modified as necessary to meet individualized education programs (IEPs) or Section 504 Plans for students with disabilities.

Structure of the Inquiry

In addressing the compelling question “How did slavery shape my state?” students work through a series of supporting questions, formative performance tasks, and featured sources in order to construct an argument supported by evidence while acknowledging competing perspectives.

Staging the Compelling Question

In staging the compelling question, teachers may prompt students with images depicting slavery and have a class discussion about slavery’s origins and possible consequences on individuals involved. This will provide an opportunity to review the causes of the development of slavery, as well as allow students to consider how the system affected both slaves and slave owners.

Supporting Question 1

The first supporting question—“Where did slave populations grow?”—helps students unwrap the geographic factors leading to the growth of slavery in particular areas over others. The formative performance task has students create a graphic organizer that explains where slavery grew in consideration of geographic features. The

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first featured source for this question is an interactive map from historian, Lincoln Mullen, showing the spread of US slavery from 1790-1860. (See: http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/slavery/). The second featured source is a choropleth map of the 1860 census of slave populations. (See: https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/1860_slave_distribution.pdf). Featured source C consists of two tables related to slave and slave-owning populations. The first table displays the population breakdown (white, free nonwhite, slave) for the original thirteen colonies from 1790-1860. The second table provides data as to the number of slave holders and how many slaves they owned, separated by state. (See for more information: https://eh.net/encyclopedia/slavery-in-the-united-states/).

Supporting Question 2

For the second supporting question—“ How did the slavery system differ from place to place?”—students build on their geographic knowledge of the growth of slavery by assessing geographic variances in the slave system. The formative performance task has students add information about slave labor to the previous task’s organizer.

The first featured source is a brief excerpt from Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror for Young People, which succinctly describes the oppressive nature of the plantation system. Featured source B is an excerpt from an article on Teachinghistory.org, from historian Rosemarie Zagarri. The select text provides an explanation as to how large and small farms differed, as well as describes slave life in more urban areas. (See entire article here: http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25577). The third featured source for this question is an excerpt from Kentucky historian, James C. Klotter’s book, A Concise History of Kentucky. Within this excerpt, Klotter discusses slavery’s influence in the state’s founding, as well as provide an overview of some of the features of slave life in Kentucky. The last source is excerpted from a Kentucky Educational Television (PBS Affiliate) article discussing slavery in Kentucky. The chosen portions further elaborate on how the slave system operated within Kentucky. Though not included in this inquiry, the history of the state song, My Old Kentucky Home, is included in this article and may be used to supplement instruction. (See entire article here: https://www.ket.org/education/resources/kentuckys-underground-railroad-passage-freedom/#kentucky-and-the-question-of-slavery). Collectively, these sources complicate understandings of slavery’s history, dispelling homogenous depictions, in Kentucky and beyond.

Supporting Question 3

The third supporting question—“How did your state’s former slaves describe their treatment?”—has students engage with slave narratives to add the human factor to their inquiry into the slave system. Students will write a summary that describes slaves’ discussion of their treatment. The first featured source consists of several excerpted sections from the Works Progress Administration’s compilation of slave narratives, collected in the 1930s. (See: https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/). Though these are narratives of former slaves, teachers should be conscientious in helping students consider the limitations of this particular source. In particular, the dynamic between interviewer and interviewee could certainly have shaped responses – most interviewers being white Southerners. Some are also told in first person, others in third person. Teachers are encouraged to read a brief overview of the project from the Library of Congress for context. (See: https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/narratives-slavery/). The chosen excerpts highlight both everyday aspects, as well as how violence permeated slave life. One particular aspect highlighted in the narratives is the division of families in slave auctions. To supplement the WPA

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Slave Narratives, slave auction advertisements for Kentucky locations mentioned in the Narratives, are included to add another medium for teachers to use in instruction.

Supporting Question 4

For the fourth supporting question—“How is the legacy of slavery visible in your community?”—students will connect what they learned about the history of their region to consider how slavery is (or isn’t) memorialized in their community. The formative task asks students to write a claim supported by evidence concerning how the legacy of slavery is visible in their community. (See Appendix C for a sample evidence-based claim graphic organizer). The first component of the Taking Informed Action piece of the inquiry is embedded in this task. To understand the extent to which slavery is or isn’t appropriately remembered, resources are provided concerning current discussions of Cheapside Park, a prominent slave auction site in Lexington, Kentucky, mentioned within the WPA Slave Narratives. The first featured source is a screenshot from the Lexington Visitor’s Center, discussing Cheapside Park as a portion of the town’s African-American Heritage Tour. Featured Source B consists of images of both sides of the historical marker in Cheapside Park, discussing its slave history. Featured Source C includes several excerpts from the local Lexington newspaper, the Herald-Leader, discussing the controversy surrounding Cheapside Park. The cornerstone of the controversy is the placement of two Confederate general statues in Cheapside Park. Both men, John C. Breckinridge and John Hunt Morgan, were slave owners. For teachers in other communities, they can provide resources or have students research: preservation attempts, memorials or markers to slavery, statues or memorials to slave owners, or the lack of any formal memorial.

Summative Performance Task

At this point in the inquiry, students have examined how slavery was a part of the growth of the United States, how the system varied from place to place, the violence endemic to slavery, and how slavery is represented in historical memory, specifically within students’ communities.

Students should be expected to demonstrate the breadth of their understandings and their abilities to use evidence from multiple sources to support their claims. In this task, students construct an evidence-based argument using multiple sources to answer the compelling question “how did slavery shape my state?” It is important to note that students’ arguments could take a variety of forms, including a detailed outline, poster, or essay.

Students’ arguments will likely vary, but could include any of the following:

Slaves were a large portion of Kentucky’s growing population and, thus, their experiences are a significant part of Kentucky’s state history.

Kentucky’s economic growth was impacted significantly by the use of slave labor, thus an important part of Kentucky’s identity.

Slavery had a great impact on all Kentuckians, leaving a legacy that is memorialized today. Though slavery was a significant part of Kentucky’s history, its legacy needs more emphasis in how it

shaped the state today.

To extend their arguments, teachers may have students create a timeline of their state’s history, incorporating slavery’s influence.

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Students have the opportunity to Take Informed Action by drawing on their understandings of slavery in their community to consider how it should be remembered. The understand component was completed by Supporting Task 4. To assess the issue, students will have a class deliberation about how the history of slavery is and should be memorialized in their community. To act, students will write a class proposal to send to the mayor, suggesting how to memorialize this history.

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Staging the Compelling QuestionFeatured Sources Source A: Prints and Photograph Online Catalog, Library of Congress, Database.

Source B: Slavery Collection, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Database.

“Slave Auction at Richmond, Virginia,” wood engraving, 1856. Accessed from: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98510266/

“A Slave Auction at the South,” wood engraving, 1861. Accessed from: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a06254/

Additional resources may be accessed from: Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/ National Museum of African American History and Culture: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection

Supporting Question 1Featured Source Source A: Lincoln Mullen, "The Spread of U.S. Slavery, 1790–1860," interactive map

(Accessed 2017)

Accessed from: http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/slavery/

Supporting Question 1Featured Source Source B: Hergesheimer, E. “Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the southern

states of the United States,” Compiled from the census of 1860, Library of Congress, (1861).

Accessed from: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3861e.cw0013200/

Supporting Question 1Featured Source Source C: Jenny Bourne, “Slavery in the United States,” EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert

Whaples, 2008.

See Tables 1 & 4

Accessed from: https://eh.net/encyclopedia/slavery-in-the-united-states/

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Supporting Question 2

Word Bank

Urban – city or town Rural – country area, rather than city or town Peculiar institution – a phrase often used to refer to slavery Exponentially – rapidly, very quickly Profitable – resulting in financial gain Ironically – not what one would expect Scrutiny – closely watched Agriculture – related to farming Artisan – a skilled trade

Supporting Question 2Featured Source Source A: Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural Ameria,

excerpt, 2012, pp. 88-89.

On Southern Plantations

Meanwhile, in the South in 1860, four million African Americans were slaves. They accounted for 35 percent of the total population of the region. The majority of them worked on plantations, large farms with more than twenty slaves.

A slave described the routine of a workday:The hands are required to be in the cotton field as soon as it is light in the morning, and, with the exception of ten or fifteen minutes, which is given to them at noon to swallow their allowance of cold bacon, they are not permitted to be a moment idle until it is too dark to see, and when the moon is full, they oftentimes labor until the midnight.

To manage their enslaved labor force, masters used various methods of discipline and control. They sometimes used kindness, but also believed that strict discipline was essential and that they had to make their slaves fear them. Senator James Hammond of South Carolina, who owned more than three hundred slaves, explained, “We have to rely more and more on the power of fear. We are determined to continue Masters, and to do so we have to draw the rein tighter and tighter day by day.” Physical punishment was common.

Masters also used psychological control, trying to brainwash slaves into believing that they were racially inferior and suited for bondage. Kept illiterate and ignorant, they were told that they could not take care of themselves. (p. 88-89)

African Americans in Southern Cities

Not all slaves lived and worked on plantations. In 1860 there were 70,000 urban slaves in the South, laboring in cloth mills, iron furnaces, and tobacco factories. Many had been “hired out” by their masters to work as wage earners. The masters received weekly payments from the slaves’ employers or from the slaves themselves. One slave in Savannah, Georgia, used the hiring-out system to his own advantage. First he bought his own time from his master at $250 a year, paying in monthly installments. Then he hired seven or eight slaves to work for him. (p. 92)

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Supporting Question 2Featured Source Source B: Rosemarie Zagarri, “Slavery in Colonial British North America,” National History

Education Clearinghouse, teachinghistory.org, web article, (n.d.)

Slavery in Pre-Revolution AmericaIn the 13 mainland colonies of British North America, slavery was not the peculiar institution of the South. This development would occur after the American Revolution and during the first decades of the 19th century. Although slaves had been sold in the American colonies since at least 1619, slave labor did not come to represent a significant proportion of the labor force in any part of North America until the last quarter of the 17th century. After that time, the numbers of slaves grew exponentially. By 1776, African Americans [were] about 20% of the entire population in the 13 mainland colonies.

[…] On the mainland British colonies, the demand for labor varied by region. In contrast to the middle and New England colonies, the Southern colonies chose to export labor-intensive crops: tobacco in Chesapeake (Virginia and Maryland) and rice and indigo in South Carolina, which were believed to be very profitable.

Large vs. Small PlantationsBy the time of the American Revolution, slaves comprised about 60% of South Carolina's total population and 40% of Virginia's. While most enslaved people in the Chesapeake labored on small farms, many of those in South Carolina lived on large plantations with a large number of slaves. By 1750, one third of all low-country South Carolina slaves lived on units with 50 or more slaves. Ironically, those who lived on larger plantations were often allowed to complete their tasks for the day and then spend the rest of their time as they liked, free from white supervision. Those on smaller farms, however, often found themselves working side-by-side with their white masters, hired white laborers, and only a small number of slaves. As a result, they faced more scrutiny from whites, were expected to labor for the entire day, and had fewer opportunities to interact with other enslaved African Americans.

Slaves in the Urban NorthAlthough the largest percentages of slaves were found in the South, slavery did exist in the middle and Northern colonies. The overall percentage of slaves in New England was only 2-3%, but in cities such as Boston and Newport, 20-25% percent of the population consisted of enslaved laborers. Other large cities, such as Philadelphia and New York, also supported significant enslaved populations. Although enslaved people in cities and towns were not needed as agricultural workers, they were employed in a variety of other capacities: domestic servants, artisans, craftsmen, sailors, dock workers, laundresses, and coachmen. Particularly in urban areas, owners often hired out their skilled enslaved workers and collected their wages. Others were used as household servants and demonstrated high social status. Whatever the case, slaves were considered property that could be bought and sold. Slaves thus constituted a portion of the owners' overall wealth. Although Southern slaveholders had a deeper investment in slaves than Northerners, many Northerners, too, had significant portions of their wealth tied up in their ownership of enslaved people.

Accessed from: http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25577

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Supporting Question 2Featured Source Source C: James C. Klotter, A Concise History of Kentucky, excerpt, 2008, pp. 92-95.

Between Kentucky’s statehood in 1792 and the start of the Civil War in 1861, the commonwealth grew rapidly. On the surface, visitors found the state a good place to live. […]One visitor wrote that in Kentucky, “every man stands on his own individual merits.” But that was not true. Behind the nice towns and the friendly people that these visitors described, there was another Kentucky that refused to let a large number of people in the state stand on their own merits and abilities – the enslaved. The visitors said little or nothing about the slaves, even though much of Kentucky’s wealth came from slave labor. Slaves’ lives were part of the hidden story of the state.

SlaveryLong before the English began to settle in Kentucky, slavery existed in America. During the trip from Africa across the ocean to the New World, many slaves died. Once the survivors arrived in North America, they had to adopt a new language and a new religion. They had to learn about new crops and new ways of doing things. They kept some of their old ways, however, such as singing African songs and retaining some African words, which are now part of the English language. The culture that the slaves developed was not truly African, nor was it fully European, for each group changed the other. It was American.

Slavery had been in America for more than 150 years when Kentucky was settled. People from Virginia and other places brought slaves with them into the new area. Early explorer Christopher Gist had only his black slave with him when he traveled to Kentucky in the 1750s. Daniel Boone turned back after his trip to settle the land, but slaves had been part of that group. On his next try, a slave and a white man died in an Indian attack. […]When Kentuckians met to write a constitution in 1792, they voted on whether to keep slavery or end it. They kept it by a vote of twenty-six to sixteen. Those twenty-six had seemingly forgotten that blacks and whites had fought as equals against their shared enemy. They did not consider that both groups had worked to build a state out of the wilderness. They could not throw off their old ways totally, even on this new frontier. So they planned for their freedom as a new state, but they excluded slaves from that freedom, and slavery continued. […]

Slave LifeMany people have tried to compare slavery to some situation in modern life. Some have likened it to being a private in the army: you have to obey orders and do what people say, but you have some free time to yourself. Others have compared life as a slave to being in a jail: there might be some time when you can do what you want, but you are limited by the walls around you and the guards watching over you. Of course, the main difference is that you can be discharged from the army, and a prison term can end. Slavery was for life. Those in the system were born into it and died under it. […]How people treated slaves differed from one place to another. Some masters might treat slaves as well as could be expected under the system. Others might abuse them badly. Some owners might provide food and clothes similar to those given to free workers. Others might give slaves very little. In such ways, slavery differed everywhere, from place to place, and from one person to person.

One thing, however, was the same: the buying and selling of human beings revealed a cruel, harsh system. People would read newspaper ads like this one from Bardstown in 1809: “For sale a negro man and woman, each about twenty-four years of age, both of excellent plantation hands, together with two children. They will be sold separately or together.” Some slaves sold at slave markets stayed in the state. Others were shipped farther south. Perhaps 80,000 Kentucky slaves never saw their Kentucky homes again after they went on the auction block. Even if a slave owner did not want to sell them, they could be sold after his or her death to pay off the owner’s debts. Under the law, slaves were just property, just like a horse or a house.

Eleven-year-old slave Isaac Johnson and his family were put up for sale. He was sold first. His four-year-old brother Ambrose went next, sold to someone else. When Isaac’s mother came before the crowd, she held baby Eddie in her arms. Someone yelled out to sell them separately. The auctioneer took the baby from her and sold

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him; then he sold the mother to another person. Isaac never saw any of his family again. Slavery harmed all it touched, black and white.

Supporting Question 2Featured Source Source D: KET Education, “Kentucky’s Underground Railroad: Passage to Freedom,” (n.d.).

KENTUCKY AND THE QUESTION OF SLAVERYEntering the Union in 1792 under the terms of the Northwest Ordinance, Kentucky continued its Virginia heritage as a slave-holding state. Unlike Virginia, Kentucky developed a diverse agriculture, which varied from region to region. The majority of enslaved Africans in Kentucky were held primarily in the Bluegrass and the Jackson Purchase, the largest hemp- and tobacco-producing areas in the state.

Many Kentucky slaves resided in Louisville; Henderson and Oldham counties along the Ohio River; and Trigg, Christian, Todd, and Warren counties in the tobacco-growing southcentral section of the state. Few slaves lived in the mountainous regions of eastern and southeastern Kentucky. Those slaves that were held in eastern and southeastern Kentucky served primarily as artisans and service workers.

Unlike in the Deep South, with its large cotton plantations and longer growing seasons, Kentucky slavery operated with greater diversity and on smaller plantations. In addition to providing the much-needed labor force to raise and harvest Kentucky tobacco and hemp, Kentucky slaves worked in salt mines, in iron works, and on bridge and road construction. In Kentucky’s urban centers, slaves worked in the better hotels and performed all the household chores in the homes of the white elite.

Unlike slaves in the Deep South, Kentucky slaves lived on farms, not plantations, in units that averaged about five slaves. Only 12 percent of Kentucky’s masters owned 20 or more slaves, and only 70 persons held 50 or more. Fluctuating markets and seasonal needs characterized Kentucky slavery.

Congress prohibited the importation of slaves into the United States in 1808, and Kentucky prohibited the importation of slaves into the state for sale in 1833. However, because of the lucrative nature of the slave trade, slaves continued to be bought and sold, despite legal restrictions. In order to gain maximum benefit from their slaves, Kentucky slaveholders also frequently hired out skilled slaves as carpenters, blacksmiths, brick masons, coopers, herders, stevedores, waiters, and factory workers. In 1860, James Klotter estimates, roughly one-quarter of Louisville’s enslaved were hired out. The hiring-out system provided masters with considerable flexibility in using slave labor and afforded the enslaved a sense of freedom and perhaps a small measure of independence not experienced on larger plantations in the Deep South.

The invention of the cotton gin and the implementation of better-growing cotton and rice seeds and improved agricultural techniques caused demand for slave labor in the South to grow at alarming rates. To capitalize on expanding markets and to meet the needs of Southern planters, Kentucky quickly became a major supplier of hogs, corn, African slaves, and “fancy girls.” By the time of the Civil War, Kentucky was known as a “slave-growing” state, responsible for supplying African slaves for Southern plantations. According to historian George Wright, “Ownership of slaves was profitable to Kentucky whites; the slave trade shipped approximately 80,000 Africans southward between 1830 and 1860.”

In addition to enslaved African communities, Kentucky maintained small but vocal “free” black hamlets throughout the state. Kentucky’s free black population ranked third among the slave states that remained loyal to the Union in 1861 and seventh overall among slave states and the District of Columbia. The number of “free” blacks in Kentucky

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prior to the Civil War is uncertain, but noted scholars such as Wright list the total at about 11,000 in 1860, compared to a total of 211,000 enslaved Africans at that time.

Accessed from: https://www.ket.org/education/resources/kentuckys-underground-railroad-passage-freedom/#kentucky-and-the-question-of-slavery

Supporting Question 3Featured Source Source A: Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, Slave Narratives:

Volume VII: Kentucky Narratives, (1941).

Interview with George Henderson, former slave:“Out clothes were made of jeens and lindsey in winter. In the summer we wore cotton clothes. They gave us shoes at Christmas time. We were measured with sticks. Once I was warming my shoes on a back, log on the big fire place, they gell over behind the logs and burnt up. I didn’t marry while on the plantation.“My master and mistress lived in the big brick house of 15 rooms with two long porches. One below and one below. My mistus was Miss Lucy Elmore before she married. Her children were named Miss Mat, Hiss Emma, and Miss Jennie.“I saw the slaves in chains after they were sold. The white, folks did not teach us to read and write, we had church on the plantation but we went from one plantation to another to hear preaching.”… “I remember one slave named Adams who ran away and when he came back my old master picked up a log from the fire and hit him over: the head. We always washed up and cleaned up for Sunday. Some time the older ones would get drunk.”

Interview with Will Oats, ex-slave of Mercer Co., KY: “Will was owned by Lewis Oats and. his sister; they lived in a two story house, built of log and weather boarded. They were very wealthy people. The farm consisted of over 230 acres; they owned six slaves; and they had to be up doing their morning work before the master would wake."When working and the slaves would disobey their master, they were punished in some way; but there was no jail. They didn't know how to read or write, and they had no church to attend. All they had to do when not at work was to talk to the older folks. On Christmas morning they would usually have a little extra to eat and maybe a stick of candy. On New Year’s Day their work went on just the same as on any other day.”

Interview with Uncle Edd Shirley, Janitor at Tompkinsville Drug Co. and Hospital, Tompkinsville, KY:“I am 97 years old and am still working as janitor and support my family. My father was a white man and my mother was a colored lady. I was owned three different times, or rather was sold to three different families. I was first owned by the Waldens; then I was sold to a man by the name of Jackson, of Glasgow, Kentucky. Then my father, of this county, bought me.“I have had many slave experiences. Some slaves were treated good, and some were treated awful bad by the white people; but most of them were treated good if they would do what their master told them to do.“I onced saw a light colored gal tied to the rafters of a barn, and her master whipped her until blood ran down her back and made a large pool on the ground. And I have seen negro men tied to stakes drove in the ground and whipped because they would not mind their master.”

Union Co., Ruby Garten:"I remember the slaves on my grandfather's farm. After they were freed they asked him to keep them because they didn't want to leave. He told them they could stay and one of the daughters of the slaves was married in the kitchen of my grandfather’s house. After the wedding they set supper for them. Some of the slave owners were very good to their slaves; but some whipped them until they made gashes in their backs and would put salt in the gashes.”

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Garrard Co., Story of Aunt Harriet Mason, age 100 - a slave girl:"When I was seven years old my missis took me to Bourbon County, when we got to Lexington I tried to run off and go back to Bryantsville to see my mammy. Mas’r Gano told me if I didn’t came the sheriff would git me. I never liked to go to Lexington since.”

Boyd Co., Carl F. Hall (interviewer): “John's master, in allowing his slaves to marry, was much more liberal than most other slave owners, who allowed their slaves no such liberty.“As a rule negro men were not allowed to marry at all, any attempt to mate with the negro women brought swift, sure horrible punishment and the species were propogated by selected male negroes, who were kept for that purpose, the owners of this provileged negro, charged a fee of one out of every four of his offspring for his services.”

Laurel CO., Perry Larkey (interviewer): “Concerning slaves of this section of the country, I will quote experiences and observation of an old negro lady who was a slave, Mrs. Amelia Jones, living in North London, Kentucky. ‘Aunt Amelia’ as she is known around here is eighty-eight years of age, being sixteen years of age at the close of the Civil War.”…“Master White was good to the slaves, he fed us well and had good places for us to sleep, and didn't whip us only when it was necessary, but didn't hesitate to sell any of his slaves, he said, “You all belong to me and if you don't like it, I'll put you in my pooket” meaning of course that he would sell that slave and put the money in his pocket.“The day he was to sell the children from their mother he would tell that mother to go to some other place to do some work and in her absence he would sell the children. It was the same when he would sell a man's wife, he also sent him to another job and when he returned his wife would be gone. The master only said “don’t worry you oan get another one”.…“Mrs. Jones has a sister ninety-two years of age living with her now, who was sold from the auction block in Manchester. Her sister was only twelve years of age when sold and her master received $1,220.00 for her, then she was taken south to some plantation. Also her father was sold at that place at an auction of slaves at a high price, handcuffed and taken south. She never saw her father again. She says the day her father was sold there was a long line of slaves to be sold and after they were sold and a good price paid for each they were handcuffed and marched away to the South, her father was among the number.“The Auction block at Manchester was built in the open, from rough-made lumber, a few steps and a platform on top of that, the slave to be sold. He would look at the crowd as the auctioner would give a general description of the ability and physical standing of the man. He heard the bids as they came in wondering what his master would be like.”

Floyd Co., John I. Sturgill (interviewer): “Many folk went over to Mt. Sterling or Lexington to auctions for trading servants. (The same manner is used trading stock today).“Slave traders came into the county to buy up slaves for the Southern plantations, and cotton or sugar fields — Slave families were very frequently separated, some members mean, theiving, or running away niggers were sold (first) down the river. Sometimes good servants were sold for the price, the master being in a financial strait or dire need of money. Traders handcuffed their servants purchased, and took them by boat or horse-back down the river or over in Virginia and Carolina tobacco fields.”

Clay Co., Pearl House (interviewer): “The following story of slave days is the exact words of one who had the bitter experience of slavery. Sophia Word, who is now ninety-nine years of age, born February 2, 1837. She tells me she was in bondage for nineteen years and nine months. I shall repeat just as she told the story.”…

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“Our Master didn't auction off his slaves as the other masters would for he was a better master than most of them. When he started to sale one of us he would go out and talk to the old slave trader like he wuz g’wine to sale a cow or sometin and then he would come back to git the slave he wanted. This wuz the way my mothers brother and sister wuz sold. When the other masters at other places sold a slave they put the slave on the auction block and the slave trader had a long whop that he hit them 4W with to see if they could jump around and wuz strong. The largest and brought the money.“I wuz a slave nineteen yeahs and nine months but somehow or nuther I didn’t belong to a real mean pet of people. The white folks said I was the meanest nigger that ever wuz. One day my Mistress Lyndia called fer me to come in the house. but no, I wouldn't go. She walks out and says she is gowine make me go. So she takes and drags me in the house. Then I grabs that white woman, when she turned her back, and shook her until she begged for mercy. When the master comes in, I wuz given a terrible beating with a whip but I din'nt care fer I give the mistress a good'un too.”

Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories. (Eliza Ison) [HW: Ky 11] Aunt Harriet Mason--Ex-Slave:We had no overseer or driver. We had no "Po white neighbors". There was about 300 acres of land around Lick Skillet, but we did not have many slaves. The slaves were waked up by General Gano who rang a big farm bell about four times in the morning. There was no jail on the place and I never say a slave whipped or punished in any way. I never saw a slave auctioned off.

Jefferson Co., Byers York (interviewer), Susan Dale Sanders: “The following is a story of Mrs. Susan Dale Sanders, #1 Dupree Alley, between Breckinridge and Lampton Sts., Louisville, an old Negro Slave mammy, and of her life, as she related it.“Some of the other old Masters, who had lots of slaves on fa'ms close by, was so mean to the slaves they owned. They wo'ked the women and men both in the fields and the children too, and when the ole Master thought they was'n't do'n' 'nuf wo'k, he would take his men and strip off their shirts, and lash them with cow-hide whips until you could see the blood run down them poor niggers backs. The Nigger traders would come through and buy up a lot of men, and women slaves, and get a big drove of them and take them further south to work in the fields, leavin their babies. I'se never can forget. I know'd some mean ole masters. Our ole master Dale that raised my Mammy and her family never was hard or mean like that. He would let us go to church, have parties and dances. One of the ole salves would come to our cabin with his fiddle and we'd dance.”

Jefferson Co., Joana Owens: “The following is the life and traditions of Joana Owens, 520 E. Breckinridge St., Louisville, Kentucky, an old negro mammy who was born during slavery.“I will never forget how mean old Master Nolan Barr was to us. I was about fourteen years old and my sister was a little younger. We lived in an old log cabin. The cracks was filled with mud. My Mother done the housework for Master Barr's house. My father and sister and me had to work in the fields. He had a big farm, and owned lots of slaves, and when the old master got mad at his slaves for not working hard enough he would tie them up by their thumbs and whip the male slaves till they begged for mercy. He sure was a mean old man. I will never forget him as long as I live. I don't know exactly how old I is, but I am close to ninety now.”

Tale of Mary Wooldridge: (Clarksville Pike--Age about 103.) "Mary and her twin sister were slaves born in Washington County, Kentucky, near Lexington, belonging to Bob Eaglin. When Mary was about fourteen years old she and her sister was brought to the Lexington slave market and sold and a Mr. Lewis Burns of the same County purchased her. Mary doesn't know what became of her sister.”

Accessed from: https://www.loc.gov/item/mesn070/

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Supporting Question 3Featured Source Source B: Collection of slave advertisements, John Winston Coleman Jr. collection on slavery in

Kentucky, Kentucky Digital Library, (1853-59).

Accessed from: http://eris.uky.edu/catalog/xt74xg9f541m_9_4/viewer?

Supporting Question 4Featured Source Source A: Image of Cheapside Park Slave Auction, Lexington, KY, (c. 1862).

This rare antebellum image shows a slave auction on Cheapside in Lexington. Courtesy of the New York Public Library.

Accessed from: http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/171

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Supporting Question 4Featured Source Source B: Will Wright, “Historical slavery marker in Lexington broken; group balks at including it in

discussion of Confederate statues,” Lexington Herald Leader, July 31, 2015.

Photo by Charles Bertram, Staff Herald-Leader

Photo by Ron Garrison, Staff Herald-Leader

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Police have no suspects in the breaking of a historical marker about slavery that was erected in downtown Lexington by the alumni chapter of the historically black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi.

The sign's fate is uncertain. The Urban-County Arts Review Board, a body of artists, historians and engineers, will determine what to do with the marker, along with the statues of John Hunt Morgan and John Breckinridge, who were Confederate generals.

Police responded July 25 to a call of criminal mischief near the Short Street entrance of the courthouse. They found the cast-iron sign, which was valued at more than $1,500 by a city Parks and Recreation official, broken and lying on the ground.

City spokeswoman Susan Straub said police aren't sure whether the sign was vandalized or whether the destruction was an attempted theft.

Arnold Coffey, president of Kappa Alpha Psi's alumni chapter in Lexington, said he thinks it was vandalism, because the perpetrators would not have left the heavy sign on the ground if it were theft.

Coffey said he was disappointed by the vandalism, and by the city's lumping the sign about slavery in with the Confederate statues.

"We just found out yesterday that our sign was actually included in those conversations," Coffey said. "We feel that the sign tells the truth and that it's an ... educational marker for the city."

Straub said the art board's review will be accompanied by public hearings, which will allow all people to express their opinions of the historical marker. The board will work with Kappa Alpha Psi before making any final decision.

"The board wants to hear from citizens," Straub said.

The sign's damage occurred during a discussion throughout the South over the treatment of black citizens, and the promotion of Confederate statues and flags. The nationwide conversation began after Dylann Roof allegedly shot nine people at a black church in South Carolina.

Lexington's memorials have previously been targeted. Someone vandalized the Morgan statue on the lawn of the Main Street courthouse with spray paint in June by writing "black lives matter" across Morgan's name.

The sign on slavery was snapped off its pole, and it appeared that someone hung onto it to break it, according to a police report.

The sign gives a brief history of slavery in Fayette County.

"On the N.E. corner of the Fayette County Courthouse lawn stood the whipping post established in 1847 to punish slaves for such offenses as being on the streets after 7 p.m.," the sign read. "Fayette Co. was one of the largest slave-holding counties in Kentucky. By 1860, one in four residents of the city of Lexington were slaves."

The sign was erected in 2003 as part of the fraternity's Guide Right program, an educational program for high school and college students.

Although the subject matter is unpleasant, people need to know Lexington's history of slavery and oppression, Coffey said.

"The truth hurts sometimes, but that's what went on in that area," Coffey said. "Several brothers at the time (of the sign's construction) felt it was a need to inform and educate the community and the local area about what went down at the Cheapside area."

The Arts Board might, instead of relocating or removing the statues and the sign, decide to put up more signs that would give information about the generals, rather than just having a statue.

"If we leave John Hunt Morgan where he is, for example, but we put a sign up that says more about him and who he was," Straub said. "It will be a community decision."

The public forum to decide the fate of the statues and the signs will be 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 21 in the council chamber at 200 East Main Street.

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The Arts Board will then, after the forum, make the final decision.

"We plan on attending ... and voicing our opinion," Coffey said.

Mayor Jim Gray will attend a board meeting at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 12 to answer questions from board members. In another meeting, the board will interview "a variety of experts" at 3 p.m. Sept. 16. Both meetings are open to the public and will be related to the statues and the historical marker.

Accessed from: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article44613147.html

**As of 2017, the marker has not been restored as the old courthouse undergoes renovations.

Supporting Question 4Featured Source Source C: Article excerpts from the Lexington Herald-Leader, (2015-16).

Community Talks Controversial Monuments, Mayor Announces New ReviewBy Josh James, July 8, 2015 

Just how should Lexington memorialize its complex and splintered Civil War past? […]"That is a sacred space sanctified by the suffering of many thousands of people," [Art Shechet] told the packed house at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. "And we don't tell that story."Speakers called on the city to shine a light on those darker chapters of Lexington’s past by removing the Confederate statues altogether, adding new memorials to honor the contributions of African-Americans, or by situating the text and markers within a broader historical context.Disagreements among participants centered on the proper place for Cheapside's sculptures depicting Confederate generals John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge. [Both Morgan and Breckinridge were slave-owners.]Community activist Corey Dunn argued memorials glorifying historical figures who forged their legacy through the oppression of blacks cannot stand, adding, "They are a constant reminder of what Lexington was built on... that's my back, her back, your back, his back. When does it stop?"Responding to calls for complete removal, historian Tom Templin cautioned against uprooting unpleasant reminders of a bygone era."When we get into the business of sort of cleansing our public spaces of statues that represent wrong, a course of action that is no longer in favor, we're opening up a door that I think is really best not opened," he said.

Accessed from: http://wuky.org/post/community-talks-controversial-monuments-mayor-announces-new-review#stream/0.

Lexington board hears pros, cons about keeping Confederate statues downtownBy Karla Ward, September 21, 2015

The Urban County Arts Review Board heard a variety of opinions on Monday about how the city should display two downtown statues honoring Confederate heroes of the Civil War.

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The board, which was established in 2004, is looking at the placement and text associated with the statues of John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge, as well as a historical marker that provides information about the site's history as a slave market.A number of people at Monday's forum, including Civil War buffs from as far as Paducah, pleaded for the historic statues to remain in their places of honor on the lawn of the old courthouse.The statues "have stood as a defining part of Lexington's landscape for over 100 years," said Alan Cornett. "What is next? Should Gratz Park be renamed? Should Ashland be closed? Those places have troubling histories too."Others said that the statues were put up to intimidate blacks and that they continue to influence how outsiders view the community and how current generations of black children see themselves.Michael Winkler told the group that his wife, who is from the Bahamas, was frightened when she first saw the statues when they moved to Lexington."She felt that we would not be at home there ... that the people of Lexington were probably racist," he said.

Accessed from: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article42620964.html.

Confederate statues to remain in Lexington, Ky., courthouse squareBy Beth Musgrave, February 17, 2016

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray has decided to keep controversial statues of Confederate figures John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge outside the former Fayette County Courthourse, but wants to add historical context to the statues and more diverse public art to the courthouse square. […]Chris Corcoran, a senior adviser to Gray, told the Urban County Arts Review Board during its meeting Wednesday that Gray has decided the statues should remain but that more historical context should be added to the statues. Corcoran said Gray also agreed the area around the old courthouse should be reimagined and include more diverse representations of Lexington’s history. Corcoran said that redesign would have to wait until a proposed $30 million renovation of the former courthouse is further along.“The mayor’s intent is to keep those statutes where they are and provide more context,” Corcoran said. “We are not pursuing moving the statutes.”

Accessed from: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article60902437.html.

Op-Ed -- Confederate statues: city’s shameful graffitiBy David Adkins, February 28, 2016

The old courthouse, where statues of Confederate heroes now reside, was the site of so much pain — the brutal manifestation of our nation’s original sin.Families were sold on the auction block, separated from each other, never to see one another again. Mothers and their infants were sold to separate bidders. Much of Lexington’s growth and wealth was built on slave labor. […]John C. Breckinridge, the subject of one of the statues, is the only person to be convicted of treason by the U.S. Senate. Yet his likeness is literally put on a pedestal in the heart of our town, just blocks from where I live. …If Mayor Jim Gray truly wants to provide historical context to accompany the statue, he will have the word “traitor” boldly emblazoned on the statue’s pedestal and a noose and whip added to the sculpted hands.

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Likewise, John Hunt Morgan, celebrated as the Confederate general on horseback, was a slavery-defending despot whose careless disregard as a military commander ended up getting hundreds of his troops unnecessarily killed. He is no one to hold up as a role model.It is senseless to honor these men because to do so, regardless of any context provided, is to tacitly endorse their misdeeds and brutality in the cause of preserving slavery. […]If Gray wants to provide meaningful historical context, let him commission a census to determine the names of all of the citizens of Lexington sold at Cheapside. Erect a monument in remembrance of those who suffered such unspeakable horrors, the unjust denial of their liberty and forced servitude.

Accessed from: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article62718482.html.

Op-Ed -- Free Lexington’s heart of monuments to traitorous slaveholders; it’s really not that complicatedBy Russell Allen, March 27, 2017

Lexington, we have a problem. […]

Now, there is nothing we can change about the past. Extracted from the end of a whip over hundreds of years, our country, commonwealth and city devastated millions of lives and laid waste to families for the purposes of profit. Reckon with it we must, and reckon with it we will. But when and on whose terms?

Today, at Cheapside two larger-than-life monuments to confederates stand. Slaveholders, traitors to the Union, armed defenders of the institution of slavery, it is often said of both John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge that “they were products of a different time.”

We will grant you that, if you grant us this: We are products of this time.

So tell us, what does it say about our city that those slave owners’ statues stand higher than the farmers at our Farmers’ Market, higher than our musicians at Thursday Night Live, higher than our festivals, our citizens, our March Madness Marching Band, our mounted police officers, higher than our parades and our city’s new, electric buses?

Can we, as products of this time, honestly say about the enduring presence of those statues in that space that our town’s current relationship to slavery and the Confederacy is complicated?

There is nothing neutral about those statues — there never was. They must, therefore, be moved away from the historical site of Lexington’s slave market. Contact the mayor and your city council member, and tell them: What we locals call Cheapside is not a place where any whitewashing or lifting up of slavery or its defenders will be tolerated.

Russell Allen represents the citizen coalition Take Back Cheapside, www.TakeBackCheapside.com.

Accessed from: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article141068618.html#storylink=cpy

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References

Adkins, D. (2016, February 28). “Confederate statues: city’s shameful graffiti.” Lexington Herald Leader. Retrieved from: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article62718482.html.

Allen, R. (2017, March 27). “Free Lexington’s heart of monuments to traitorous slaveholders; it’s really not that complicated.” Lexington Herald Leader. Retrieved from: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article141068618.html.

Bourne, J. (2008). “Slavery in the United States,” EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. Retrieved from: https://eh.net/encyclopedia/slavery-in-the-united-states/ .

Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (1941). Slave Narratives: Volume VII: Kentucky Narratives. Retrieved from: https://www.loc.gov/item/mesn070/

Hergesheimer, E. (1861) “Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the southern states of the United States,” Compiled from the census of 1860, Library of Congress. Retrieved from: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3861e.cw0013200/.

James, J. (2015, July 8). “Community Talks Controversial Monuments, Mayor Announces New Review.” WUKY. Retrieved from: http://wuky.org/post/community-talks-controversial-monuments-mayor-announces-new-review#stream/0.

Kentucky Digital Library (1853-59). Collection of slave advertisements, John Winston Coleman Jr. collection on slavery in Kentucky. Retrieved from: http://eris.uky.edu/catalog/xt74xg9f541m_9_4/viewer?

KET Education (n.d.). “Kentucky’s Underground Railroad: Passage to Freedom.” Retrieved from: https://www.ket.org/education/resources/kentuckys-underground-railroad-passage-freedom/#kentucky-and-the-question-of-slavery

Klotter, J. C. and Klotter, F.C. (2008) A Concise History of Kentucky. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press.

Mullen, L. (n.d.). "The Spread of U.S. Slavery, 1790–1860," interactive map. Retrieved from: http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/slavery/.

Musgrave, B. (2016, February 17). “Confederate statues to remain in Lexington, Ky., courthouse square.” Lexington Herald Leader. Retrieved from: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article60902437.html.

Slavery Collection (n.d.). National Museum of African American History and Culture, Database. Retrieved from: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection

Takaki, R. (2012). A Different Mirror for Young People. New York: Seven Stories Press.

Talbott, T. “Cheapside Slave Auction Block,” ExploreKYHistory. Retrieved from: http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/171.

Ward, K. (2015, September 21). “Lexington board hears pros, cons about keeping Confederate statues downtown.” Lexington Herald Leader. Retrieved from: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article42620964.html.

Wright, W. (2015, July 31). “Historical slavery marker in Lexington broken; group balks at including it in discussion of Confederate statues.” Lexington Herald Leader. Retrieved from: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article44613147.html.

Zagarri, R., (n.d.). “Slavery in Colonial British North America,” National History Education Clearinghouse, teachinghistory.org. Retrieved from: http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25577

Zinn, H. (2009). A Young People’s History of the United States. New York: Seven Stories Press.

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What states have the most slaves?

Where are the most slaves in those

states?

What geographic features are they

near?(Mountains, rivers,

the ocean coast, etc.)

Where did slavery grow from the previous year?

Where did slavery decrease from the

previous year?

1790

1810

1830

1850

1860

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Appendix AGraphic Organizer Where did slave populations grow?

The Spread of U.S. Slavery, 1790-1860, Enslaved Population (Total Numbers), http://lincolnmullen.com/projects/slavery/

Clicking (or hovering your mouse) over the counties of your state:

1. What counties have the most slaves?

2. Where are there the least?

On the bottom right of the screen, choose to show “Enslaved population (%)”. This shows you what percent of the total population were slaves.

3. Where are slaves the majority of the population?

4. Historians often refer to the “Cotton Belt,” which was an area of the United States where cotton was grown. This area had a high number of slaves to tend to these plantations. Based on these maps, where do you think this was?

5. Why do you think slave populations grew in the United States?

6. Why did they grow more in some areas than in others?

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Appendix BGraphic Organizer How did the slavery system differ from place to place?

States / Geographic Areas Differences Similarities

Large Plantations

Small Plantations

Urban Slavery

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1. How was slavery a part of the settlement of your state?2. How were slaves treated?3. Where were most of the slaves in your state? 4. What kind of work did they do?5. How was slavery different from place-to-place in your state?6. How was slavery different in your state than in other states?

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Appendix CGraphic Organizer How is the legacy of slavery visible in your community?

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Claim

Reasoning

Evidence Evidence Evidence