Grade 6 Historical Fiction Research: Slavery

Presents a history of the slave trade that brought Africans to the New World as slaves. Describes how the slave trade developed, was eventually abolished, and its lasting impact.

As abolitionists fought to end slavery and influential southerners fought to keep it, the institution of slavery became a political issue. This valuable resource for student reports presents the impassioned debates made on the subject. Primary source document excerpts help further understanding.

Alex Haley's Roots awakened many Americans to the cruelty of slavery. The Middle Passage focuses attention on the torturous journey which brought slaves from Africa to the Americas, allowing readers to bear witness to the sufferings of an entire people.

The abolitionist movement, which was a campaign to end the practice of slavery and the slave trade, began to take shape in the wake of the American Revolution. In the years leading up to the Civil War, the movement continued to gain strength, largely due to the determination of such leaders as William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and John Brown. ""The Abolitionist Movement"" is a thorough exploration of this seminal movement in American history. By offering readers numerous photographs, insightful text, sidebars, a chronology and timeline, and a helpful glossary, this book makes the people and events associated with abolitionism come alive in a potent yet accessible manner.

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.