Creating the Timeline of Slavery
Nightjohn and Sarny Unit

By: Rick Vanderwall

Overview

In this lesson, students will create a timeline from the history of slavery in America. Students will first research the making of timelines, then select a type of time that best expresses their perception of the chronology of the slave period. Then, students will survey that chronology on a web site and select what they believe are the key events that helped to maintain the institution of slavery.

Student Objectives

Students will:

• Define as many possible ways to create a timeline as they can.
• Discover, through reading and research, events at the beginning and end of slavery in America.
• Select the events that helped maintain the institution of slavery.
• Select and create a timeline incorporating the identified events.

Skills Attained

Students will be able to:

• Read historical documents closely.
• Depict historical chronology in a graphic format.
• Isolate key facts from a larger pool of information.

Materials Needed

Internet access to:

• http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/timeline.html
• Slavery in America Historical Overview Essay

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

1. Engage students in a discussion about the nature of time and how we measure it.
2. Discuss clocks and how they show the passage of time.
3. Demonstrate how the circular dial of a clock resembles a timeline when the circle is cut and flattened into a horizontal line.

Procedures

1. Send students to the timeline web site at: http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/timeline.html



2. Have them read the steps for making a timeline.



3. Have students, in 10-15 minutes, make a brief practice timeline using nine major events from their own history. Each student then shares the timeline with the group.



4. Ask the whole group to brainstorm other ways to make timelines.



5. Instruct each student to select a timeline design.



6. Have students go online to the site and read the Historical Overview. [link to http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm] Then, instruct them to select the key events that maintained the institution of slavery.



7. Have students construct a timeline in the design they have selected.



8. Have each student present his/her completed timeline to the class.

Assessment

To grade students’ work, you can use a rubric, such as the one below:

Grading Element	Points (out of 100 total)
Completion of the practice timeline	10
Individual timeline design	20
List of information from Historical Overview essay	25
Completed timeline	30
Presentation of timeline	15

Rick Vanderwall teaches Sixth Grade Language Arts and Social Studies at Price Laboratory School located at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa.

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