Escape From Slavery

Essential questions: Why is it important to learn about slavery? How do people fight oppression? What is Harriet Tubman’s legacy?

Watch the video. (15 minutes)

• Project or distribute the Video Discussion Questions for students to preview.
  
• Watch the video Beyond the Story: The Underground Railroad. 
• Discuss the first set of questions as a class. (You will discuss the second set of questions after reading the article.) 

Preview vocabulary. (8 minutes)

Project or distribute the Vocabulary Words and Definitions. Review the words as a class. Highlighted words: abolitionist, bondage, bounty, evade, fugitive, liberate, lucrative, plantation

• Have a volunteer read aloud the As You Read box on page 5. Then read the article as a class. 
• Have students work in groups to discuss the following close-reading questions. 

Close-Reading Questions

• What made trying to escape from slavery so dangerous? (key ideas and details) One reason attempting escape was dangerous was that it involved traveling many miles through all sorts of weather, crossing difficult and dangerous terrain, and possibly encountering wild animals. Perhaps the biggest risk, though, was being caught: Slave catchers, motivated by cash rewards, hunted runaway slaves. Once a runaway slave was returned to his or her “owner,” the slave would be punished harshly— whipped or even killed, as author Lauren Tarshis explains on page 6.
• Consider the quotation at the end of page 7 in which Tubman refers to her decision to run away. Put this quotation in your own words. (interpreting text) Tubman meant something like: “I had the right to freedom from slavery, and I would either get that freedom or die trying.” Perhaps she was also suggesting that death would be better than continuing to live in enslavement.
• According to the article, what kind of person was Harriet Tubman? Support your answer with text evidence. (character) Answers may include: brave (Tubman risked her life escaping enslavement and helping others do the same; she also served in the Civil War), smart (on page 8 it says that she “had a powerful memory and a gift for following the stars”), principled (she worked to help women get the right to vote), and tough (page 9 gives an example of her threatening a member of her group who wanted to turn back).
• Why might the Underground Railroad have been given that name? Explain. (inference) The network was like a railroad in that it moved people from one place to another. Underground can mean “in secret operation.”
• How can the map on page 8 help readers understand the article? (text feature) The map can help readers by showing what the United States was like, in terms of where slavery was legal and where it was not, around the time the escape described in the article took place. Readers can also use the map to picture just how far Tubman and others had to travel to get from slave states to free states. In addition, the map helps readers understand how the U.S. was divided in the years leading up to the Civil War, which is referenced in the article.

• Bring the class back together to discuss the second set of Video Discussion Questions, which draw on both the article and the video.
• Have students discuss the following critical-thinking questions in their groups. 
• Afterward, have each group share and discuss their responses with the rest of the class.

Critical-Thinking Questions 

• To dehumanize someone is to take away his or her human qualities—to make that person feel or appear less than human. In what ways was slavery dehumanizing? Answers will vary. As Tarshis explains on page 6, those who were enslaved had no control over their own lives. They could not choose where to live or what to do for work. Their children could be taken away from them. Slaves were considered property under the law. The very notion of a human being having an “owner” is dehumanizing. 
• Tarshis explains that those who helped on the Underground Railroad were taking a great risk. Why do you think people were willing to take such a risk? It is likely that people were willing to take the great risk of participating in the Underground Railroad because they were appalled by slavery. Sometimes people are willing to put their own safety aside for the sake of helping others or supporting a cause that they fiercely believe in.
• On page 9, Tarshis notes that in addition to being courageous, successful, and clever, Tubman could be harsh. Do you think leaders sometimes need to be harsh? Explain. Answers will vary. Students might say that while leaders sometimes need to make unpopular choices, they don’t need to be downright harsh—that in most cases, domineering or severe behavior will not build trust or loyalty among the people you are trying to lead. Other students may disagree and say that in some circumstances—for example, when someone’s life is at risk—leaders need to be harsh if that is the only way to accomplish what they feel they must accomplish.

Featured Skill: Supporting a Conclusion (15 minutes)

Break students into pairs to complete the activity sheet Harriet Tubman’s Legacy. This activity will prepare students to respond to the writing prompt on page 9. For alternate culminating tasks, see the boxes below.