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| A Look at Slavery through Posters and
Broadsides |
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Procedure/Practice
Full Class Discussion:
1. Introduce the students to the antislavery poster
The Man is Not Bought (ca.1854). In this poster, Boston
citizens offer to buy a fugitive slave from a kidnapper.
Explain to the class that free blacks as well as escaped
slaves could be kidnapped off the streets and sold into
slavery. Discuss the author's point of view in this poster.
2. Introduce the students to the rest of the posters, reading them along with the students and pointing out important information.
3. Ask the students who they think the intended readers were for each poster and what course of action they were suggesting.
4. Inform them that they will be working in groups to analyze the posters.
Group Work:
1. Divide the students into groups.
2. Reinforce classroom procedures for group work.
3. Explain that each group will function as the staff
of a newspaper and that each group member will have a
job:
Editor-in-Chief:
Leads the group to make sure that all participate in the discussion.
News Editor:
Looks for facts: location and date.
Op-Ed Editor:
Looks for opinions: who the writer and audience were and what the message is.
Copy Editor:
Decides what information will be recorded on the Poster Inquiry Sheet.
4. Each member of the group will be given a copy of the same broadside or poster and a Poster Inquiry Sheet to fill out.
5. The students will be directed to look for specific pieces of information which will be recorded on the response sheet.
6. Groups will meet to analyze the poster and fill in the Poster Inquiry Sheet.
Report Back/Share:
1. Once the Poster Inquiry Sheets have been completed,
each group of students will report to the whole class
and describe what they learned from the group's poster.
2. Ask: What were some of the attitudes about slavery
expressed in these posters? Record student responses onto
chart paper.
Individual Assignment/Homework:
Each student will write a news story about his or her
poster based on the information recorded on the Poster
Inquiry Sheet. The teacher can model how to write the
story using one of the Poster Inquiry Sheets.
Extensions:
- The news stories can be published in a class newspaper.
- An 1850s map of the United States can be examined to find out where the advertised events took place. http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/gal/us_1850_slvstatus_053101_400.jpg
- Students can identify language and phrases that are no longer commonly used. They can write a modern translation of the broadside or poster.
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