American: Report Instructions

Hey guys! Here's the homework info I promised...

THE FIVE CATEGORIES; CHOOSE ONE.
1. The Fugitive Slave Act
2. Antebellum Slavery
3. Pro-Slavery Arguments
4. The Abolition Movement
5. The Woman's Sphere

THE FIRST-HAND DOCUMENTS YOU CAN STUDY.
Fugitive Slave Act (Part of the Compromise of 1850)

1. For an overview of the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." From here, scroll down to Part IV: Westward Expansion, Section A: People and Events. Select "The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act."
2. Also on PBS's Africans in America website, read "Eric Foner on the Fugitive Slave Act." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865" and then "Resource Bank." Scroll Down to Part IV: Westward Expansion, Section C: Modern Voices. Select "Eric Foner on the Fugitive Slave Act."
3. Advertisements for Runaway Slave (Tom)
4. Advertisements for Runaway Slave (Emily)
5. Caution!! Colored People of Boston

Antebellum Slavery

1. For a map of the emergence of slave and free states in the new republic of America, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Brotherly Love: 1791-1831," and then "Narrative." From here, scroll down to "Next Map: The Growing Nation." Click on this link, explore the map, and read the information that follows it.
2. For information on the southern economy's dependence on slavery, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Brotherly Love: 1791-1831," and then "Narrative." From here, scroll down the page to the list of links at the bottom. Click on "Growth and Entrenchment of Slavery."
3. For an overview of the conditions of slave life, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." From here, scroll down to Part I: Antebellum Slavery, Section A: People and Events. Select "Conditions of American Slavery, 1830-1860."
4. For historian James Horton's description of antebellum slavery, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." From here, scroll down to Part I: Antebellum Slavery, Section C: Modern Voices. Select "James Horton on Antebellum Slavery."
5. Slave Narrative: Excerpt from Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Go to PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." Scroll down to Part III (Fugitive Slaves and Northern Racism), Category B (Historical Documents). Select Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Pro-Slavery Arguments

1. For historian William Scarborough's explanation of slaveowners' views, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." From here, scroll down to Part I: Antebellum Slavery, Section C: Modern Voices. Select "William Scarborough on Antebellum Slavery."
2. George Fitzhugh's Universal Law of Slavery on PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." Scroll down to Part I: Antebellum Slavery, Section B: Historical Documents. Select "George Fitzhugh advocates slavery." After reading the summary of Fitzhugh's argument, click to read the full text.
3. James Henry Hammond's "Mudsill" Theory on PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." Scroll down to Part I: Antebellum Slavery, Section B: Historical Documents. Select "James Henry Hammond advocates slavery." After reading the summary of Hammond's argument, click to read the full text.

The Abolition Movement

1. For an overview of the Abolition Movement, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," then "Narrative," then "Abolitionism."
2. Images from Anti Slavery Almanacs published by the American Antislavery Society. Read the introduction and select 3-5 images from the gallery.
3. Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Convention, written by William Lloyd Garrison.
4. Excerpt from Frederick Douglass' The Meaning of the Fourth of July to the Negro
5. For the Northern majority's views of the Abolitionists, see PBS's Africans in America website. Click "Enter." Click on "Judgement Day: 1831-1865," and then "Resource Bank." From here, scroll down to Part II: Abolitionism, Section B: Historical Documents. Select "Abolitionist Samuel J. May confronts a northern merchant."

The Woman's Sphere

1. The Declaration of Sentiments of the first women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, 1848.
2. Letter from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, read before the 1850 Women's Rights Convention, Worcester
3. Selected Images from Godey's Lady's Book, a popular women's magazine of this era. Read the introduction and select 3-5 images.
4. Excerpts from Mrs. Lydia Sigourney Weaver's Letters to Mothers. Read the Preface and Letter I.

FURTHER DIRECTIONS:
1. This report will be given aloud, but have your paper (from which you read) typed and ready to be turned in.
2. Remember to include introductory information about the movement you chose, so we know that background to it.
3. Choose as many first-hand documents as you like and answer the following questions in your report:
Fill out a different questionnaire for each document that you read or view. Use a separate sheet of paper if you need more space.

1. Who created this document?
   
   
2. When was this document created, and on what occasion?
   
   
3. Who was the audience for this document? Who would have heard or seen it?
   
   
4. What is the main idea of this document? What does it want its audience to know, and what does it want its audience to do?
   
   
5. What does this document tell us about the time period in which it was produced?
   
   
6. What most surprised, offended, or inspired you about this document?
   
   
7. What questions do you have about this document?

Let me know if you have any questions; you can post a comment here or shoot me an email. Happy Thanksgiving break!!! :)

Ally