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Agenda
EQ: What political, social, and economic factors caused the division between the
North and South?
 Warm-Up: What are two main characteristics of the North in the 1800’s and
what do you think are two characteristics of Southern society?
 MLQ: How can we learn about Antebellum Southern Society by determining
important facts and details from an expository reading passage?
Vocabulary
Socialite: a socially important person that can influence others
Diverse: having a variety or different elements or characteristics
Michelle Obama is a leading socialite in American society.
I.S.61 has a diverse group of students, which makes the school such a wonderful
place.
Work period: Students will:
1) In your group read tiered passage
2) Answer tiered questions
 Share: Share answers
 Closing: Summary of lesson
H.W. Read Growing Differences Worksheet and Answers Questions
Characteristics of the
Antebellum South
1. Primarily agrarian.
2. Economic power shifted from the
“upper South” to the “lower South.”
3. “Cotton Is King!”
* 1860 5 mil. bales a yr.
(57% of total US exports).
4. Very slow development of industrialization.
5. Undeveloped financial system.
6. Inadequate transportation system.
Southern Society and Culture
• Southern society was made up of many
different kinds of people, including white
plantation owners, yeoman farmers, poor
whites, slaves and free African Americans.
• Most of the economy was on based
farming and most farms were small,
however large plantation did exist and
dominated southern society.
The planter aristocracy - a small percent of
southern society - controlled the social, political,
and economic power of the south
• In 1860, 25% of all Southerners owned
slaves.
• Of that 25%
– 52% owned 1-5 slaves
– 35% owned 6-9 slaves
– 11% owned 20-99 slaves
– 1 % owned 100 or more slaves
• Those who owned 20 or more slaves was
3% of the entire white population controlled
the social, political, and economic power of
the South.
Southern Society (1850)
6,000,000
“Slavocracy”
[plantation owners]
The “Plain Folk”
[white yeoman farmers]
Black Freemen
250,000
Black Slaves
3,200,000
Total US Population  23,000,000
[9,250,000 in the South = 40%]
Southern A griculture
Plantation Life
• Few families had plantations with many slaves,
these owners were very powerful especially in
politics.
• Male planters were main job was to raise crops and
supervise the slaves working on the plantation.
• These powerful plantation owners showed off their
wealth by living in beautiful mansions and having
grand parties.
• The wives of plantation owners oversaw the raising
of their children, supervised the slaves working in
the household, and planned social events.
Tara – Plantation Reality or
Myth?
Hollywood’s Version?
T he Southern “Belle”
A Real Georgia Plantation
Slaves Picking Cotton
on a Mississippi Plantation
A Slave Family
Slaves posing
in front of
their cabin on
a Southern
plantation.
A Real Mammie & Her Charge
Yeoman Class and Poor White Families
• Most white southerners were yeoman,
owners of small farmers.
• Most Yeoman owned few slaves if they did
they worked along side them or none at all.
• Most farms were about 100 acres.
• All family members worked whether it was in
the field or in the home.
• The poorest white southerners lived on the
land that could not grow crops, so they
hunted, fished, raised small gardens.
Free African Americans
• Although, most African Americans in the
south during the early 1800’s were slaves,
approximately 250,000 free African
Americans lived in the region.
• Free African Americans lived in both rural
and urban settings, most work as paid
laborers on farms or plantations.
• Free African Americans faced much
discrimination, they could not vote,
travel freely, or hold most jobs.
Southern Population
Work Period
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Red Group
1) What were the largest and smallest groups of southern society?
2) Which group held the most power and why?
3) What was life like for slaves working on plantations and how did they try to
ease their hardships?
Green Group
1) What were some of the duties of domestic slaves?
2) What were some of the negative aspects of being a domestic slave?
3) What were some of the positive aspects of being a domestic slave?
Blue Group
1) How did enslaved Africans gain their freedom?
2) What jobs were available to free African Americans in the south?
3) What type of discrimination did free African Americans face living in the south
during the 1800’s?
Skills Task
Vocabulary- select two unknown vocabulary words and look them up in the
dictionary and write two sentences that describe the topic in your reading
passage
Main Idea- Summarize the three most important facts of your reading passage
Cause and Effect- List two causes and their effects from your reading passage
•
Agenda
EQ: What political, social, and economic factors caused the division between the
North and South?
 Warm-Up: Answer questions on quiz worksheet
 MLQ: How can we learn about the cruelties of slavery by analyzing poetry?
Vocabulary
Atrocity: behavior or an action that is wicked or ruthless
Season: to make or become mature or experienced
The Holocaust was an atrocity.
To become a seasoned athlete, you must practice.
Work period: Students will:
1) In groups analyze the poem “Strange Fruit”
2) Answer tiered questions
 Share: Share answers
 Closing: Summary of lesson and MLQ
H.W. Answer Questions on Slavery Worksheet
Capture and the Middle
Passage
• After capture, Africans
were packed tightly
into slave ships.
• The death rate of the
“passengers” was
50%.
Destination, Auction, and
Seasoning
• Slaves were auctioned off to the highest bidder.
• Slaves were put through a process “seasoning” to
get them ready for work.
• They learned an European language, were named
an European name, and were shown labor
requirements.
The Beginnings of Slavery in the
United States
• The Portuguese and
Spanish had already
brought Africans to South
and Latin America.
• In 1619, the first Africans
were brought to the colony
Jamestown, Virginia by
the Dutch.
Slave Auction Notice, 1823
Slave Auction: Charleston, SC-1856
T he Ledger of John W hite
 Matilda Selby, 9, $400.00 sold to Mr.
Covington, St. Louis, $425.00
 Brooks Selby, 19, $750.00 Left at Home –
Crazy
 Fred McAfee, 22, $800.00 Sold to Pepidal,
Donaldsonville, $1200.00
 Howard Barnett, 25, $750.00 Ranaway. Sold
out of jail, $540.00
 Harriett Barnett, 17, $550.00 Sold to
Davenport and Jones, Lafourche, $900.00
Slave Accoutrements
Slave Master
Brands
Slave muzzle
Slave Accoutrements
Slave leg irons
Slave shoes
Slave tag, SC
Anti-Slave Pamphlet
Reasons for Using Enslaved
African Labor
• Proximity-It only took 2-6 weeks to get to the
colonies from the Caribbean at first.
• Experience-They had previous experience and
knowledge working in sugar and rice production.
• Immunity from diseases-Less likely to get sick
due to prolonged contact over centuries.
• Low escape possibilities-They did not know the
land, had no allies, and were highly visible
because of skin color.
Slaves and Work
• Most enslaved Africans Americans lived and worked on
plantations in the fields, planting, plowing, and picking crops,
such as cotton and tobacco.
• Most plantation owners used the gang-labor system, meaning
that all slaves worked on the same task at the same time.
• Usually, slaves work long hard hours, from sunrise to sunset
and usually didn’t get any breaks and lived in poor conditions.
• Slaves were often punished if they could not keep up with the
work or disobey their owners in anyway.
• Some slaves worked in the planter’s homes and these slaves
had better food, clothing, and shelter.
• Some slaves worked skilled jobs such as blacksmithing or
carpentry. Sometimes slaves were allowed to keep some of
the money they earned, this allowed save up money to buy
their freedom.
Punishment
• Slaves were often
brutally punished for
misbehaving.
• Punishments included:
whipping, branding,
being sold, gagged
(silence), and other
torturous methods
were used.
Slave Culture
• Many African Americans found comfort in their
community and culture.
• Family was the most important aspect of the
slave community.
• African parents keep their heritage alive by
telling folktales (stories with a moral) to the
children, which helped them cope with the harsh
conditions of slavery.
• Religion also played an important part of the
slave culture. Most slaves were Christian by the
1800’s. They sang religious song called
spirituals.
The Slave Auction
The Slave Auction
By Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1825–1911
The sale began—young girls were there,
Defenseless in their wretchedness,
Whose stifled sobs of deep despair
Revealed their anguish and distress.
And mothers stood, with streaming eyes,
And saw their dearest children sold;
Unheeded rose their bitter cries,
While tyrants bartered them for gold.
And woman, with her love and truth—
For these in sable forms may dwell—
Gazed on the husband of her youth,
With anguish none may paint or tell.
And men, whose sole crime was their hue,
The impress of their Maker’s hand,
And frail and shrinking children too,
Were gathered in that mournful band.
Ye who have laid your loved to rest,
And wept above their lifeless clay,
Know not the anguish of that breast,
Whose loved are rudely torn away.
Ye may not know how desolate
Are bosoms rudely forced to part,
And how a dull and heavy weight
Will press the life-drops from the heart.
Southern trees bear a
strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and
blood at the root,
Black body swinging in
the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging
from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the
gallant South,
The bulging eyes and
the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia
sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell
of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the
crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather,
for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a
tree to drop,
Here is a strange and
bitter crop.
Work Period Tasks
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•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Red Group
1) What is this poem describing?
2) What are three examples of imagery in the poem?
Green Group
1) What is the strange fruit Southern trees bear? What verse(s), in what
stanza gave you a clue?
2) How does this poem illustrate the cruelties that African Slaves faced?
Blue
1) What is the recurrent word in the poem?
2) What happens to the fruit in the third stanza?
3) The fruit is a metaphor… but what does it stand for?
Task Questions
Vocabulary: In the verse “Pastoral scene of the gallant South”
Define pastoral and gallant
Main Idea: What was the topic of the poem “Strange Fruit”?
Usenevidence from the poem to support your answer
Cause and Effect: using the poem, what were some of the causes of
slavery and their effects?