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The Underground Railroad
Education World's Great Sites for Teaching About… page highlights Web sites to help educators work timely themes into their lessons. This week's sites are among the best on the Web for teaching about the Underground Railroad.
National Geographic's Underground Railroad
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad
A wonderful interactive journey guides visitors along the road to freedom. Students may examine the motivations, living conditions, and personal stories of people who traveled that route more than 150 years ago. The site, which includes a map, a timeline, classroom activities, and much more, is definitely worth your time.
Escape to Freedom
http://www.headbone.com/derby/escape/main.b.html
In this Headbone Derby game, two present-day teens go back in time and find themselves traveling the Underground Railroad with a family of slaves. Along the way, the teens learn about the realities of slavery in the South, codes used to help slaves escape, legislation that made escape more difficult, and much more. The game can be adapted for students in grades 4 through 8 and includes a teacher's guide and comprehension questions. Students need to register to use some features of the site, but registration is free.
Our Shared History
http://www.cr.nps.gov/aahistory
The National Park Service provides this excellent resource on the Underground Railroad and the stops along the road to freedom. Sections on slavery, the search for freedom, and African American heritage include timelines, maps, glossaries, and comprehensive discussions of such topics as African American music, literature, and scientific contributions. This "big picture" of African American history is a terrific site for students in middle school and above.
Black Resistance
http://www.afro.com/history/slavery/main.html
The Black History Museum provides a disturbing look at the conditions that created and propagated slavery -- with an emphasis on people who resisted.
A Slave's Story
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=AnoSlav.sgm&images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=2&division=div1
A Slave's Story, first published in Putnam's magazine in 1857, is "a simple, faithful narrative of a slave's experience and views," as told by his former owner following the slave's death. The essay is sure to inspire thought, discussion, and insight among students in upper middle school and above.
African-American Mosaic
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html
The Library of Congress provides these online facsimiles of historical documents relating to the abolitionist movement in the 19th century. The site displays more than a dozen images of such primary resources as an anti-slavery publication for children, an advertisement for an anti-slavery fair, and an abolitionist song.
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/fugitive.htm
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School provides an online version of the historic document, which said, in part, "When a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person to whom such service or labor may be due, or their agent or attorney, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, without process."
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/tubman.html
Created by a second-grade class at Pocantico Hills School in Sleepy Hollow, New York, this page offers an assortment of information and activities related to Harriet Tubman and her work on the Underground Railroad. The site includes a timeline, a quiz, character sketches, maps, puzzles, poems, photos, and more. This is an excellent resource for showing children what other children have done -- and what they can do!
On an Underground Railroad
http://www.ushistory.com/railr.htm
Did you know that a slave named Henry Brown boxed himself up and mailed himself to Philadelphia -- and freedom? Kinny Landrum's song about the Underground Railroad -- with embedded links to significant historical references -- provides the opportunity to learn many fascinating facts about the route from slavery to freedom. A Real Audio version of the tune is included.
Article by Walter McKenzie
Education World®
Copyright © 2006 Education World
Originally published 01/31/2000
Last updated 01/17/2006
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