AHTC Focus Workshop
April 19, 2008
Middle Passage:  The Human Experience on the Triangular Trade Route

Website:

Description:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html

PBS – African Slave Trade

This website is designed to go along with the video that we saw a clip of this morning.  Each part of the video series and the website includes a historical narrative, a resource bank with many images, and a teachersÕ guide.

http://www.understandingslavery.com/themes/?id=427

http://www.understandingslavery.com/themes/?id=427&showBackgroundInfo=true

Understanding Slavery

This site contains quite a bit of background information and an overview of the Middle Passage.  You can go straight to the background information with your students, or head to the activities near the bottom of the page.  These activities contain quotes, lesson plans, primary documents, and even video of students performing a radio play about the Middle Passage.

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/index.php

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas:  A Visual Record

This project of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Digital Media Lab at the University of Virginia contains approximately 1,235 images that have been pulled from a range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery.  Click ÒExplore the CollectionÓ to select a category such as, ÒMaps:  Africa, New World, Slave TradeÓ, ÒPre-Colonial Africa:  Society, Polity, CultureÓ, ÒCapture of Slaves in AfricaÓ and many more.

http://www.mariner.org/captivepassage/

The MarinerÕs Museum

A good site for your older students, this site begins with an introduction to slavery in general, then proceeds to the slavesÕ ÒdepartureÓ from Africa, and moves into the Middle Passage.  Your students can read about sailing and storms, stowage, illness and death on the route, etc.

http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database

This database has information on over 35,000 voyages.  If you click on ÒEducational Materials,Ó youÕll find lesson plans, maps to teach the geography of the slave trade, and a glossary.  The ÒResourcesÓ link contains numerous images.  (However, I couldnÕt get one of the ÒimagesÓ links to work – youÕll need to try the little font at the top of the screen!)

http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_trade.htm

Slavery in America

This site contains many resources for your students studying the transatlantic slave trade.  This particular link opens up to a fairly detailed map, and you can also find lessons, essays, and other teacher resources.

http://www.upf.tv/upf06/Films/PrinceAmongSlaves/tabid/77/Default.aspx

Prince Among Slaves

The companion website to the video we watched today.  This true heir to a West African nation, enslaved for 40 years, eventually became the most famous African in America.

http://www.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/main/04/index.shtml

Breaking the Silence:  Learning about the Transatlantic Slave Trade

While this site also has a downloadable briefing and a teaching guide, you will find other links along the left hand side for more information on slave ships, the Middle Passage, and slave revolts.

http://www.pbs.org/wonders/fr_e3.htm

PBS: Wonders of the African World

 

In this section of the PBS site, "Slave Kingdoms: Confronting the Legacy of the Slave Trade," you'll find information on West Africa, the trans-atlantic slave trade, and historical roots of racial discrimination in the United States. Click on "Retelling" to find video clips with Henry Louis Gates and those he interviews about the slave trade.

http://ancienthistory.pppst.com/africa.html

Ancient Africa

Free presentations in PowerPoint format for K-12 students. Topics include Kingdoms of Africa, Major Trade Routes, African and the Slave Trade, and many others.

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7a/activity3.php

Exploring Africa

 

A classroom activity for students, introducing them to three of the great kingdoms of West Africa. This section includes a short text on each kingdom as well as follow-up questions for a class discussion.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/amistad/AMISTD.HTM

Famous Trials

While later than the Middle Passage era weÕre addressing today, this compelling court case has interest to students and adults alike. 

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/amistad/

National Archives and Records Administration

One of our partners, the National Archives and Records Administration, has a lesson plan for students that addresses the Amistad case.  YouÕll find teaching activities, a document analysis worksheet, and documents such as the Supreme Court decision.

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=308

Edsitement Lesson Plan – the Amistad Revolt

This lesson plan from Edsitement focuses on Cinque, the leader of the 1839 Amistad revolt.