Grade 4 Historical Fiction Unit: Slavery

This survey of the history of slavery in America describes conditions of slaves transported from Africa, their role in the American South’s plantation economy, the restrictions imposed on their lives, the political struggle between slave-holders and abolitionists, several important slave rebellions, and the end of American slavery with the American Civil War.

Among the authors of this highly acclaimed series are Laura Ingalls Wilder Award winner Milton Meltzer, Coretta Scott King Award winner James Haskins and noted author Raymond Bial. The series itself focuses on major population shifts in America and the driving forces behind them. The authors' vivid accounts are given additional immediacy with the inclusion of excerpts from diaries, newspaper articles and letters.

FROM SLAVE SHIP TO FREEDOM ROAD presents a series of magnificent paintings created by artist Rod Brown, portraying the story of slavery from its beginnings on the infamous ships of the Middle Passage to the enslaved Africans' and their descendants' centuries of subjugation and their final hard-won freedom. This gifted artist has vividly expressed both the horror of the slaves' experience and the hope and spirit of resistance that sustained the survivors.Acclaimed author Julius Lester's impassioned meditations on the paintings challenge readers to imagine not only the pain and grief, but also the triumph of the slaves: a terrifying voyage in chains and darkness; the humiliating auctions that separated families; the belief in deliverance; the joy and uncertainties of freedom. Together, Mr. Brown and Mr. Lester invoke the memory of their ancestors and provide a stirring testimony to their strength and endurance.

The history of American slavery is told in a series of excerpts from journals, narratives, autobiographies, and other original documents.

It's 1838, and James has made a secret plan to escape Master Graham's farm-and slavery. James tells his dog Zeus he has to stay behind: he's simply too noisy to bring along on a dangerous nighttime journey. But when two white men capture James soon after he runs, he's grateful his faithful hunting dog didn't obey. Zeus has followed behind, and the scrappy hound rescues James from his captors. An author's note describes the real life inspiration behind the book: James Smith, a slave who escaped with the help of his dog and went on to become a farmer and Baptist minister. From the Hardcover edition.

Rosa and her mama go to school together-in the dark of night, silently, afraid that any noise they hear is a patroller on the lookout for escaped slaves. Their school is literally a hole in the ground, where they and other slaves of all ages gather to form letters out of sticks, scratch letters in the dirt, and pronounce their sounds in whispers. Young Rosa is eager to learn the letters and then the words, because after the words comes reading. But she must have patience, her mama reminds her, and keep her letters to herself when she's working on the plantation. If the Master catches them, it'll mean a whipping-one lash for each letter. No matter how slow and dangerous the process might be, Rosa is determined to learn, and pass on her learning to others.

A tribute to all who struggle for freedomWhen young James Starman and his slave family are set free, they travel north to Indiana where they build a house, a farm, and a new life for themselves. In those years before the Civil War, Papa keeps making dangerous trips back to Tennessee, bringing back aunts and cousins and friends. So many people arrive that soon, they form a village. But what to call such a fine town where former slaves have gathered to build their lives afresh? What else, but Freedom. Inspired by the true story of the founding of Lyles Station, Indiana, A Place Called Freedom celebrates the courage, compassion, and wisdom that create strong communities.

The images stitched into Hannah's patchwork quilt lead to secret signposts on the Underground Railroad as she and her father take flight from slavery on a perilous path to freedom. The wagon wheel. The bear's paw. The flying geese. These are some of the squares in the quilt Hannah's mama helped her to sew -- before Hannah's sister was sold to another plantation and before Mama died of a broken heart. Now that Hannah's papa has decided to make the run for freedom, this patchwork quilt is not just a precious memento of Mama -- it's a series of hidden clues that will guide them along the Underground Railroad to Canada, where they'll finally be free. A fictionalized account of a fascinating oral history, THE PATCHWORK PATH tells the story of a brave father and his young daughter, two of thousands who escaped a life of slavery and made the dangerous journey to freedom -- a story of courage, determination, and hope.