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WebQuest Activity Handout: Slavery and the American Revolution Unit

Introduction

On the eve of the American Revolution, American colonists filled their meeting places and their newspapers with passionate calls for liberty. As their words became more impatient and even shrill, other voices, voices that had been largely ignored, joined their chorus. These voices, the voices of millions of African men, women and children, found great meaning in the words of the colonists. They also sought freedom, liberty, and equality. As war broke out, many slaves faced a difficult decision. Which side would they support--the Patriots of the Loyalists? For most slaves, the answer to that question was understandably based on their desire for freedom more than out of loyalty to a government. Thousands of slaves would join the fight on the side they believed offered them heir best chance for freedom. Thus, thousands of slaves fought for the Patriots in support of a government that held them as slaves. This is one of the great paradoxes of American history.

You have been selected by the Smithsonian Institution to create a "Living History Museum" exhibit on slaves and the Revolutionary War. Many who know very little about this important paradox in American history will visit your exhibit. So get ready, get your thinking cap on and your creative juices flowing as you become a curator at a national museum.

Task

For all museum curators, the first step in creating any historical exhibit is to conduct research on the time-period. Curators rely on teams of experts to investigate information that will become a part of the whole exhibit. Each of you, individually, will review slavery in America to better understand the people who will be a part of your exhibit. Each of you, individually, will then investigate the period leading up to America's declaration of independence from England so you better understand the events of the time and the role of slaves in those events.

A fine exhibit at a museum requires the work of many people working in teams to complete tasks. After your initial individual research, you will work in teams to further investigate some of the most important people in this great paradox of fighting for freedom with or against the nation that enslaves. Each team will develop a "living history" exhibit to tell the story through storytelling and display. The Curator Team will develop a PowerPoint® introduction to the "Living History Museum" that will tell the "big story."

Exhibit teams will choose to investigate and create an exhibit for one of the following important people during the Revolutionary period. (Note that most of these people are slaves, but non-slaves and non-colonists also are included because of the important role they played in the period and in the question of slavery, slave soldiers, and freedom):


  • Crispus Attucks
  • James Armistead (Lafayette)
  • Colonel Tye
  • Boston King
  • Agrippa Hull
  • Phillis Wheatley
  • Prince Whipple
  • Jack Sisson
  • An anonymous soldier in Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment
  • James Roberts or Saul Matthews
  • Lord Dunmore
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • George Washington
  • Abigail Adams
  • David George, a slave who relocated to Nova Scotia
  • An anonymous "Maroon"
  • Felix

Process

Step One: Individual Research


  1. Background Information: Visit "Africans in America" Part One: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/title.html


    2. Directions: At this site, you will review the development of slavery in the colonies. Read the Introduction and click on "Narrative." Then, click on each link of the narrative screen to learn more.

  2. Background Information: Visit "Africans in America" Part Two: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/title.html


    3. Directions: At this site, you will learn more about the period of this WebQuest, as well as the views of both blacks and whites on independence for a nation and independence for an enslaved people. Read the Introduction and click on "Narrative." Then, click on each link of the narrative screen to learn more.

Step Two: Curator and Exhibit Team Research

Curator Team:


  1. Select a partner(s) to work with and visit the sites above to get a "big picture" understanding of the people, events, and ideas of the Revolutionary War period.


  2. Click here for the Curator Team Research Guide, which you can use to assist you in your research at all the following sites.


  3. Curator Team Sites: Visit all the following sites to examine how colonists' beliefs about liberty and slavery served as the historical background to the Revolutionary War period. You will use this information to summarize this paradox in American History after you have visited:

    • http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/prm/blforgottenpatriots1.htm to read an article that summarizes the role of slaves/free blacks in the Revolutionary War.


    • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/title.html to learn more about:

      • George Washington's views on slavery and how those views were similar or different from other powerful white colonists. Click on links to learn more.

      • Famous slave poet Phillis Wheatley's views on slavery. Click on links to learn more.


      • Felix and his petition for freedom. Click on links to learn more.


      • Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, and her views on independence and slavery. Click on links to learn more.


      • James Otis and his published documents describing his views on the "Natural Rights of Colonists" and slavery. Click on the original text link.


      • The ways religion influenced the views of those who opposed slavery during the Revolutionary War period. Click on the original text link.


      • A proclamation that encouraged slaves to fight for England and forced them to make a decision about which side to align themselves with. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and read all of the documents listed under "Related Entries."


      • Thomas Jefferson and the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and about how slavery influenced the final version, as well as historians' views of slavery and the Declaration of Independence. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page and read all of the documents listed under "Related Entries."

    • http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/prm/blforgottenpatriots5.htm to read an article about the decision many slaves made to fight for England and the consequences of that decision.


    • http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/classroom/slavery2.html to understand slavery during the Revolutionary War period and George Washington's feelings/decisions about slavery. Scroll down; read the essay "George Washington and the Problem of Slavery". Click on the links to learn more.

Exhibit Teams:


  1. Select a partner(s) to work with and choose one of the historical persons listed above in the Task Section to research and create an exhibit about in the "Living History Museum."


  2. Use the research tool provided by your teacher to assist you as you visit all sites provided.


  3. Click here for the Exhibit Team Research Guide. Use the guide to assist you in your research.


  4. Revisit the two sites above in Step One to locate information for your exhibit, as needed.


  5. Visit the Internet sites below to gather additional information about the following persons:

Evaluation

Click here to view the Exhibit Teams and Curator Team Rubrics.

Click here to view the Alternate Exhibit Team Poster/Backboard Rubric, if your teacher instructs you to do so.

Conclusion

Emanuel Leutze (1851) "Washington Crossing the Delaware"
"In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of oppression and pants for Deliverance."
--Phillis Wheatley
"Once an ideal is turned loose and the genie is out of the bottle, ideals tend to be very, very corrosive to the existing structure…"
--Colin Powell, Secretary of State, United States of America, 2000-present

In this WebQuest, you have explored one of the great paradoxes of American history, the contribution of slaves to American Independence. Consider the two quotations above. What do they mean to you? What is the ideal that Powell speaks of, and what does he mean by it being a genie out of the bottle that is corrosive to the existing structure? What do you think Phillis Whitley and Colin Powell would say to each other if they had a chance?

If you enjoyed learning about this paradox, you may also enjoy investigating other similar paradoxes, including some modern day events. For example, you might want to learn more about how slaves/free blacks served in the Confederate/Union armies during the Civil War. In modern times, you may want to learn more about the citizens of communist countries such as Cuba and North Korea or the citizens of Iraq who fight for their government despite government policies that severely restrict their liberties.

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