Unit: Division and Reunion
Social Studies Lesson Plan
Mr. Harold Small
I.S. 364 Gateway Intermediate
August 18, 2011
Essential Question: How did the Underground Railroad influence and effect people living in
Antebellum America?
Learning Objective: Students will be able to identify the reasons for the Underground Railroad
and its geographic dimensions.
New York State Social Studies Standards: SS1 World History, SS2 United States History, SS3
Geography, SS4 Economics
Motivation: Students will complete the KW part of a KWL chart listing at least two to three
things they know about the Underground Railroad
Read Aloud: Slave Narrative in the life of Frederick Douglass pp. 71-72 & 74
Questions for Discussion
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Who was Mr. Covey?
Describe the experience of Frederick Douglass with Mr. Covey?
How Did Douglas feel?
What would you do in his situation?
Transition to Underground Railroad
Mini-lesson: Underground Railroad and Slave Narratives
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What is the Underground Railroad? Students respond from answers to motivation. A
network of people who arranged transportation and hiding places for fugitives or
escaped slaves. Definition on Underground Railroad will be on overhead.
Overhead transparencies showing Map of Underground Railroad displaying land routes
and sea routes of escape
Overhead transparencies also showing format of a Narrative. The Narratives of Frederick
Douglass and Harriet Jacobs will be used.
Group Activities: In cooperative groups students will read two to three selected slave
Narratives and answer three to four questions on a worksheet for each Narrative. Cooperative
Roles: Reader(s), recorder, checker, materials manager, timekeeper and presenter. Social Skill:
Listening
Share: Presenters in the cooperative groups will discuss the information they learned about in
one of the slave narratives that indicate why the Underground Railroad was needed.
Summary: What countries outside the United States did enslaved African-Americans in
escaping travel to and why?
Extension: 1. Select a Slave Narrative from the Social Studies Classroom Library, School Library
or Public Library to read and prepare a book report based upon the instruction sheet.
2. Imagine you are a fugitive slave on the Underground Railroad. In a one page typed essay,
describe the fears you face in escaping and your feeling about freedom and the new life that
awaits you.