Teacher Guide prepared by: Peggy Epstein, 25 years experience as a Language Arts Teacher; Shawnee Mission School District, Overland Park, Kansas; Ruskin High School, Kansas City, Missouri; MA Curriculum and Instruction, University of Missouri at Kansas City

Objectives:

NOTE: The opening article, "The Route to Freedom," (pages 2-7) provides students with basic information they will find useful in reading each of the other articles in this issue. Following is an activity using a graphic organizer designed to assist students in making their way through the information presented in that piece.

Before beginning, make sure students understand that the Underground Railroad really wasn't a railroad at all and explain why that particular terminology was used.

Provide students with large sheets of butcher paper or posterboard.

Ask students to prepare their graphic organizers as follows:

  1. In the center of the paper make a wheel about the size of an apple. In the center of the wheel, write "The Route to Freedom."
  2. Draw 6 spokes designed to look like narrow railroad tracks out from the circle to the edge of the paper.
  3. Label the tracks as follows and then add the number of even narrower branch lines (connecting track) as instructed:
    1. Mistaken ideas about the Underground Railroad (3 branches)
    2. Ways slaves were helped to escape in the 1700s (3 branches)
    3. Railroad terms which became code words (4 branches)
    4. Ways slaves helped themselves escape (4 branches)
    5. Places slaves went after escaping (4 branches)
    6. Additional problems facing slaves who escaped (3 branches)

NOTE: Depending on the level of your students, this activity will probably work best when you guide them step-by-step through the preparation of the graphic organizer, stopping to discuss various points as you touch on each. In addition, students may want to vary the number of branches depending on their interpretation of the material (which makes for an excellent higher-level thinking activity).

For "The Church as Abolitionist" (pages 4-6)

(Optional activity for more advanced students: You might want to begin with a discussion of the ways religious institutions exert political influence today.)

Provide students with the following study guide to help them through the article. Explain that sometimes, as in this case, looking for capital letters - that is, scanning for proper names - can help them more easily pinpoint information.

  1. Question about David George (page 10)
    1. Name of church he started
  2. Questions about Richard Allen (see pages 10, 11, & 12):
    1. Name of church he started
    2. Two ways the church helped slaves
    3. Name of the man who owned Allen's family
    4. What Allen learned from the business meetings
    5. What happened to Allen when he was eight years old
    6. Why the Methodist church was important to Allen
    7. Name of church Allen founded in 1794
    8. What happened in 1847 in Cincinnati, Ohio
    9. What the phrase "Black Church" means

For "Tracks Through Water" (pages 13-16) and "Escape to the South" (pages 22-23)

(Also: Refer to graphic organizer they constructed for the first article as well as the map on page 5.)

This is a map-work assignment designed for groups of students to work through together.

Materials needed:

  1. Ask students to a make a list of all the waterways and place names listed in the two articles "Through the Water" and "Escape to the South."
  2. On the posterboard, instruct students to make a rough copy in pencil of the parts of the world included in the list they've made. After they have a reasonable representation, they can use the black marker to outline their maps.
  3. Students will then select five water routes and five slave destinations. Water routes will be depicted on the map by using the blue yarn and labeling in blue. Slave destinations will be shown by the use of a red line and labeled in red.
  4. Students will present their maps to the class with each group member explaining at least one of the routes / destinations.

For "Signs and Symbols" (pages 27-29)

  1. Begin by using the example of how the word "mouse" is used today as a symbol. (Explanation starts in the last paragraph page 27.) On the board, use an equal sign to show the two meanings: "mouse" = a symbol of accessibility and a sign directing you to take action.
  2. Ask students to scan the article for objects which were used as symbols along the Underground Railroad.
  3. Instruct students to list these, equation style, on their papers. For items whose meaning is not given, encourage students to guess.
  4. Finally, since we don't really know all of the symbols which were used at that time, ask students to make up some of their own to add to their equation list.
  5. In class discussion, ask students to explain why they chose certain items as symbols.

For "A Slave Girl's Tale" (pages 24-26), "William Still: From Slave to Conductor (pages 32-35), & "Our Family's Story" (pages 40-42):

  1. Divide students into three groups; each group will be assigned one of the above articles.
  2. After reading the articles, each group will prepare the following for presentation to the class:
    1. an introduction in which one member of the group would give as if he or she were introducing their subject. Include the who, what, when, where, and why about each subject.
    2. a poster which graphically shows the highlights of what they read about their subject.
    3. an "interview" in which one group member asks questions to another group member portraying the subject.