What We Learned About Clotilda’s Survivors

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

5

Overview

In this activity, students will work in small groups to view a photograph of a mural in Clotilda: The Exhibition which is on display at the Africatown Heritage House in Mobile. They will use the photograph to locate the name of their assigned person. The class will discover and discuss that the people they were assigned in a previous related learning activity were survivors of the slave trade and were on board the ship Clotilda. They will use what they have learned to complete the L portion of the KWL Chart they began in a preceding related learning activity, which will require them to identify Mobile as a site of the slave trade. 

Phase

After/Explain/Elaborate
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.6

Describe colonial economic life and labor systems in the Americas.

UP:SS10.5.6

Vocabulary

  • economic
  • labor system
  • establishment
  • Triangular Trade Route
  • Hemisphere
  • Americas
  • Latin America
  • North America
  • South America
  • island

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Each colony's economic life and labor system was unique and based on the geographic location of the colony.
  • Most slaves came from a variety of countries in Africa and were brought to the Americas by slave traders using the Triangular Trade Route.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Locate each colony on a physical and political map.
  • Describe and explain the types of labor used in each colony (indentured servitude, slaves, free blacks, merchants, farmers, shipping, fishing/whaling, among others).
  • Trace, examine and evaluate the Triangular Trade Route and its impact on colonial economy and labor systems.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Different labor systems were used to build and grow each of the 13 colonies.
  • Slave labor was brought to the Americas by the Northern colonial shipping industry and purchased and used in the Caribbean islands and Southern colonies.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.6.1

Recognizing centers of slave trade in the Western Hemisphere and the establishment of the Triangular Trade Route

Learning Objectives

The students will:

record information that identifies Mobile as a site of the slave trade.

Activity Details

The teacher will

  1. Instruct students to get into their assigned groups and access their KWL Charts from the previous associated learning activity.
  2. Allow them a couple of minutes to review their assigned person and what they wanted to learn about this person.
  3. At this point, most students likely will have realized that each of these people were captives who were brought to Mobile on the ship Clotilda and were enslaved until they were emancipated in 1865.  Guide the discussion of this to ensure that the class makes the connection.  
  4. Direct the students to look at the photograph of the mural of survivor names and search for their assigned person’s name. Note that several of the people were known by multiple names or variations of names.  
  5. Ask the class to think about what they have learned about each person. Give them a few minutes to record what they have learned on the L portion of the KWL Chart.  Inform them they have 3 required statements to include, so display these questions to make sure they include the required information.
    1. How did the person get from Africa to the U.S.?  Be specific. Write the mode of transportation used and the proper name. Sample Answer:  Redoshi came to the United States on the ship Clotilda.   
    2. In what Alabama city did the slave ship arrive?  Sample Answer:  Mobile was the arrival site of the ship Clotilda.
    3. Under what circumstances did this trip from Africa to Alabama take place for your person?  Sample Answer:  Gumpa was part of the royalty in Benin. His job was to manage the sale of fellow Africans into slavery, but he got in trouble with his family.  He was punished by being sold into slavery and ended up as a captive on Clotilda. 

The choice facts can be other facts they have learned about their person in the course of their study. Note that much of the information is about the group of people, not individuals. Students may have to write statements about the group as a whole.  Some sample answers may include:  

  • The enslaved Africans from Clotilda were emancipated in 1865 but were not able to return to Africa.  
  • Many of the emancipated enslaved from Clotilda started the Africatown community.
  • The freed Africans started a school and church in Africatown.
  • They had to save money to purchase land from their captor, Captain Meaher, to start their community.  
  1.  When everyone is finished, allow each group time to share out statements they included, and collect the KWL Charts.   

Assessment Strategies

Check the KWL Charts to make sure each student identified Mobile as a site of the slave trade and for any additional requirements you may have set.

Acceleration

Students may be allowed to do an internet search to find out additional facts about their assigned person and to add additional relevant events to the class collaborative timeline.

Intervention

Students can work in a partner group, individually, or with the teacher rather than in a collaborative small group.

 

Background / Preparation

The students will need to have access to the Know Their Names KWL Chart they started in a previous associated learning activity. They will need to be familiar with the Atlantic slave trade. They will need to be familiar with class small group protocols and group roles. The teacher will need to teach this sensitive topic of slavery with respect and follow the school district’s policies regarding teaching about enslaved persons. The teacher will need to decide how to divide the class into groups, likely using the same groups and group roles established in the Know Their Names:  The Clotilda’s Survivors learning activity. The teacher will need to determine if each group will need one computer to complete one KWL chart as a group or if each student will need a computer and will complete an individual chart. The teacher will need to be prepared to share the link to the picture with students or to project it to the class and how students will submit their work, either digitally or by turning in a printed copy of the KWL Chart.

Learning Activity (Before)

Memorializing the Discovery of Clotilda’s Wreckage

Total Duration

16 to 30 Minutes

Learning Activity (During)

Clotilda and Africatown Today

Learning Activity (After)

What We Learned About Clotilda’s Survivors

Materials and Resources

Teacher Materials

  • Classroom computer and projection system

Student Materials

Photograph of Survivors Mural at Africatown Heritage House by Micah Green
https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/gulfcoast/original/20230713-093650-Africatow…

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

sjordan
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