Unit-Long Essential Question: Why did Harriet Beecher Stowe write Uncle Tom’s Cabin? In what ways does she succeed? In
what ways does she fail?
Teacher: Ruby Duell
Grade/Course: 11th Grade AP American History
Central Unit Objectives (Stated in terms of skills, content, and/or understandings): Critically read and analyze primary
documents; SWUT Antebellum America was characterized by sever tensions between the North and the South; SWUT
literature was a way for people to reach wide audiences and spread their ideas; Sentimental culture was largely influential
during the late 19th century.
Key Unit Assessments (Please indicate due dates):
1. Bundle of Letters Project *based on The Sea Captain’s Wife (ongoing, due at the end of the Unit, graded on point scale 100-0)
2. Do Now Notebooks (ongoing, due at the end of the Unit, graded on √, √+, √- scale)
3. Life-Size Character Project (due at the end of the unit, graded based on peer reviews); Character logs will be checked at the
end of each week for completion (0 or 100)
4. Group activities and individual work and attendance (√ or √- daily)
Unit Template
Lesson
1. Antebellum
America
Essential Question



How did Westward
Expansion affect slavery
and the Union?
What major events or
documents from the
1850s helped to stir the
slavery debate?
Why did Harriet Beecher
Stowe write Uncle Tom’s
Cabin?
Understandings- Students will
understand that…(SWUT)


Antebellum America
was characterized by
severe tensions
between the North and
South politically,
culturally, and
economically
When Stowe wrote
UTC, she was joining an
already vehement
debate about slavery
Skills- Students will be
able to…



Analyze proslavery and antislavery positions
Critically read
primary
documents
Use role-playing
activities and
writing to
understand the
feelings and ideas
Content
Activities





Louisiana
Purchase
Annexation of
Texas (1845)
MexicanAmerican
War (184648)
Missouri
Compromise
(1820)

Quickly discuss any
questions that have to
do with pre-unit
homework, reading of
The Sea Captain’s Wife,
Chapter 1. Discuss letter
bundle assignment.
Do Now: Watch
Schoolhouse Rock
Video, “Elbow Room”,
analyze and discuss

2.
Approa
ching
Uncle
Tom’s
Cabin
and the
“N”
word






Why is it important to
recognize the power of
the word “nigger”?
How can we use this word
responsibly only in this
classroom environment in
our study of this novel?
Why has this word gained
such infamy? What does it
say?
What is the importance of
words?
In general, who can or
can’t say the word? When,
if ever, can it be said?
How do you feel about the



The word “nigger” was
not always meant to be
derogatory; it has
developed into that
over the years.
The word “nigger” will
be presented in this
book, whether read out
loud or read to oneself
throughout the study
of our novel.
Although we will be
reading this word, we
will be deciding
whether or not it will
be said in class. It will

of historical
peoples and
opinions
The Fugitive Slave Acts
fired up abolitionists
and Northerners as
they now had to
become agents of
mobilizing and
continuing the
institution of slavery





Analyze the word
“nigger” and its
social meanings
and contexts in
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
and 19th century
America
List the reasons
why that word
should not be
used in a
derogatory or
hurtful way
Recognize the
difference
between
NA
parallel
36°30' north
Fugitive Slave
Act (1850)
Compromise
of 1850
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
Lecture
Free Write: Would you
participate in the
Fugitive Slave Act?
Begin homework: You
are a Northern
abolitionist in 1850. You
are concerned about the
growing state of slavery.
Write a letter to Harriet
Beecher Stowe urging
her to write an antislavery novel. Make at
least 3 points that she
should include in her
book.
Do Now: In your do now
journal, write about any
words that have hurt
you before. Who said
them to you? Why were
they hurtful?
Slam Poetry video,
Julian Curry, “Niggers,
Niggas, and Niggaz”
Discussion of the “N”
word and other hurtful
words
Make class agreement
about the usage of the
word, can we use it in
the classroom setting or

3.
Beginning
Uncle
Tom’s
CabinMeet
the
Characters



use of the word?
Does the use of the word
in a “classic” literary work
give it validity outside of
the classroom? If so, how?
How is Uncle Tom’s Cabin
a piece of sentimental
literature?
Why is it important to ask
questions throughout a
novel?
What can we learn from
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
characters?
be strictly prohibited
outside of class or in
any derogatory
manner.



Stowe’s characters are
diverse and often times
seek to represent
certain ideas or even
stereotypes
There is a repetition of
names for certain
reasons
Stowe seeks to use her
characters in order to
get the reader to relate
to the sentiments and
argument she is
making
stereotypes and
cultural language
of 19th century
America




Practice close
reading and note
taking skills
Ask interpretive
questions
Identify important
character
attributes of
characters in a
novel
Identify
stereotype and
bias in literature



Sentimental
culture/litera
ture
Stereotypes
and Biases






no?
Homework: Read
Introduction of
Elizabeth White
Nelson’s, Sentimental
Marketplace for next
class. What is
sentimental culture and
literature? Also read ch.
1 of UTC. As you read,
keep a list of 3-5
interpretive questions
to be shared with the
class.
Discuss interpretive
questions and chapter 1
Begin to make class list
of possible questions for
letters and journal
entries
Discuss Life Size
Character Project, give
due date and sign up for
characters.
Go over requirements of
project and character
logs (to be checked at
the end of each week)
In class reading of
chapter 2
Homework: chapters 3
and 4, 3-5 interpretive
questions to be shared
for each chapter
4. *The
following
lessons will
take place
throughout
the rest of
the unit and
the novel
will be read
simultaneou
sly



The
Slave
Culture
of the
SouthExpansio
n
5. The
Slave
Culture
of the
SouthMinstrel
Theatre



What effect did the
internal migration of
slaves have on slave
society and the system of
slavery itself?
What effect did it have on
the slaves?
What is Ira Berlin’s main
argument?
What is minstrel theatre?
Did minstrel theatre
stereotype and demean
black people? Or was it
really about working class
Northerners?
Why was minstrelsy such
a success?




The period between
circa 1850 and 1865
were characterized by
gaining more Western
Territory
With that territory, the
question of slavery and
where it would exist
was often debated
The Minstrel show was
not necessarily racist;
often times it spoke to
white working class
Northern citizens
The minstrel show,
however, did help to
stereotype certain
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

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
Note-taking skills
Reading a text to
find the main
idea/argument/th
esis
Relating an
outside secondary
text to a primary
source document
or novel
Watch videos and
look at pictures
critically and
analytically
Relate minstrelsy
to UTC



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

Review of
lesson 1,
Manifest
Destiny
Annexation of
Texas
Missouri
Compromise
MexicanAmerican
War

Minstrel
Shows
Virginia
Minstrels
Tom
Acts/Tom
Shows





Read and discuss
sections of Ira Berlin’s,
“Migration Generations”
(it should have been
printed out and
skimmed for
homework)
Look at painting by
Richard Caton
Woodville, War News
From Mexico
Homework: Read and
take notes on Toll,
Blacking Up excerpt;
search minstrel shows
on YouTube, what do
you find? Do a little of
your own research
about the minstrel
show; continue to read
UTC
Do Now: Respond in
your free write journals
an answer to any of the
essential questions
listed.
Discussion of Toll’s
excerpt
Listen to “De Boatmen’s

Do you see minstrelsy at
all today?

types of black people
into categories
The minstrel show was
a highly successful
form of entertainment
for 19th century
Americans

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
6.
Women
and UTC



How is UTC a womancentered novel?
Why did Stowe attempt to
appeal to women of the
time?
Did Stowe ultimately
conform to the status quo
regarding gender, or did


Women were
becoming more active
in the social and moral
issues of the nation at
this time
Literature often
appealed to women
because they were the


Describe how use
of context and
language
structures
conveys an
author’s point of
view in a novel
Establish a

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

The women’s
rights
movement
Elizabeth
Cady Stanton
Sentimental
Culture
Seneca Falls



Dance” Boston 1843,
Dan Emmett
Look at George Caleb
Bingham’s painting,
Boatmen on the Missouri
Listen to Stephen
Foster’s “Old Uncle Ned”
and discuss the word
“Uncle” like “Uncle
Tom”
Listen to Stephen
Foster’s, “Lucy Neal”,
and Stephen Foster’s,
“Nelly was a Lady” and
discuss language and
stereotypes
Begin homework:
Continue to read UTC,
should be up to chapter
10 by next class; write a
letter from your
character for the life
size character project to
whomever concerning
the minstrel show.
Discuss chapter 9 and go
over guided reading
worksheet as a class
Review Fugitive Slave Act
of 1850 if necessary
Break into groups, each
group will receive one of
the following resources:


she challenge it with her
work?
Why does Stowe paint the
women characters in UTC
in a higher moral light
than the men characters?
What do we mean when
we say men and women
had separate “spheres”?


people who had the
time to read it
Stowe speaks to and
for women with her
novel, both through
her own voice and
through her characters
Stowe often paints the
women characters in
her novel in a higher
moral light than the
men

relationship
among literature,
history and
culture of the time
period
Relate historical
events to moral
issues presented
in the novel

Declaration
of Sentiments
US
Declaration
of
Independenc
e




Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s
letter to the Worcester
Women’s Rights
Convention, The Seneca
Falls Declaration of
Sentiments, Excerpt of
book review of UTC in The
Southern Literary
Messenger
Students will be given a
primary document
analysis worksheet to use
with their documents
Students should be able to
say what these documents
say about mid-nineteenth
century America’s
expectations of men and
women and should also be
able to summarize their
documents
We will go over each
group’s findings as a class,
and each document will be
placed on the overhead
and read aloud
Homework: From your
chosen character’s
perspective, write a letter
that is somehow about
women. It can be prowomen’s rights or even anti,
like the review article
(remember that I will be
reading these so keep it
appropriate). Keep your
character in mind. Would St.
Clare condemn or applaud
women in this time period?
Continue to read UTC.
*This lesson plan will serve to be
used in between other lesson
General
discussio plans on various occasions. It will
be generally stated and changed
n Day
to fit each chapter discussion or
reading.
 What is Stowe’s argument
in this section?
 How is she successful or
how does she fail?
7.
8.Other
Abolitio
nist
Literatur
e




Why is Frederick
Douglass’s Narrative
important to study?
How is his narrative
different from UTC?
How is it similar?
What arguments does
Nathaniel Beverly Tucker
make for secession?




Subject to change
based on current
section’s theme and
content
Frederick Douglass
was an escaped slave
and self-taught man
His narratives are and
were highly popular
Nathaniel Beverly
Tucker was brought up
by a father who
harbored anti-slavery
sentiments, yet he
grew up to favor
secession





Recognize and
identify literary
devices
Identify the
dramatic
structure of a
section of
literature: the
exposition, the
rising action, the
climax, the falling
action, and the
Denouement,
resolution, or
catastrophe.

Compare
abolitionist
literature
Analyze and
compare different
types of text from
the 19th century
and compare the
author’s point of
view and main
arguments
Write from

Subject to
change based
on current
section’s
theme and
content








Nathaniel
Beverly
Tucker
Secession
Frederick
Douglass
Abolition




Discussion of last
night’s reading
Sharing of interpretive
questions
Oral reading of next
chapter
Discussion if time
Begin homework, if
time: Continue to read
UTC; write a letter
based off any of the
interpretive questions
we have listed as a class
from your chosen
character’s perspective.
Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass will
have already been read
for homework
Discussion of Frederick
Douglass’ narrative and
comparison to UTC
Class reading of
Nathaniel Beverly
Tucker’s excerpt from
The Partisan Leader
Discussion and

9.

Religion
in UTC



What is Stowe’s argument
about slavery and
Christianity throughout
the novel?
How does Stowe use
religion to combat slavery
in UTC?
How did the last few
chapters in the novel
subvert or de-emphasize
Stowe’s anti-slavery
message?
What did it mean to be
Christian at this time?



someone else’s
perspective
Different types of
abolitionist literature
highlighted different
aspects of slavery
Stowe makes a
commentary on
religion and
Christianity in order to
use it in her arsenal
against slavery
Religion is used
throughout the novel
as a common theme
and discussion point
between characters
Christianity was
corrupted in order to
defend the system of



Work in
collaborative
groups
Identify common
themes
throughout the
novel as compared
to certain
chapters
Contemplate and
offer why an
author made
certain decisions



Terms:
martyr,
“Uncle Tom”
Christianity




comparison of the two
texts
Begin homework:
Continue to read UTC,
write a letter to
Frederick Douglass
asking him any question
your character might
have had of him. For
example, if Uncle Tom,
he might ask why did
Douglass run away
when it was his duty to
stay and serve his
master? *We should be
finishing up the novel
within the next few
class periods
Go over completed
discussion questions for
chapters 38 and 40
Discussion of why
Stowe chose religion
Assign groups
Get into groups and go
through the novel to
find sections on religion
and Christianity.
Analyze these sections
and these characters.
Explain why you think
Stowe included what
Which characters were
true “Christians”
according to Stowe?
slavery

*This lesson plan will serve to be
used in between other lesson
General
discussio plans on various occasions. It will
be generally stated and changed
n Day
to fit each chapter discussion or
reading.
 What is Stowe’s argument
in this section?
 How is she successful or
how does she fail?
10.

Subject to change
based on current
section’s theme and
content


Recognize and
identify literary
devices
Identify the
dramatic
structure of a
section of
literature: the
exposition, the
rising action, the
climax, the falling
action, and the
Denouement,
resolution, or
catastrophe.

Subject to
change based
on current
section’s
theme and
content





she did and what her
point was. Present
findings to the class,
compare and contrast
chosen pieces.
Homework: Finish UTC,
write a letter dealing
with Christianity and
slavery. This will be
easy for characters like
Uncle Tom and St. Clare
and Eva, but be creative
when dealing with
harder characters.
Discussion of last
night’s reading
Sharing of interpretive
questions
Oral reading of next
chapter
Discussion if time
Begin homework, if
time: Continue to read
UTC; write a letter
based off any of the
interpretive questions
we have listed as a class
from your chosen
character’s perspective.
11.After
the WarFears
and
visions
of
Emancip
ation





To what extent could
Stowe actually imagine
emancipation?
What is Stowe’s vision for
a post-slavery America?
Why was emancipation
frightening for some
white Americans in the
mid 19th century?
According to Stowe, what
should or might happen if
slaves are freed?
Are there alternatives to
these characters' stories
that Stowe doesn't
consider (such as full
American citizenship for
African Americans)?



Chapters 28 “Reunion”,
43 “Results”, 44 “The
Liberator”, and 45
“Closing Remarks” all
deal with emancipation
and the question of
slavery after slavery
Stowe’s use of a return
to Africa ending was
not an uncommon idea
No one knew at this
time that slavery was
going to be abolished
or that war was even
approaching




Describe the
political, social,
and cultural
aspects of the 19th
century
Analyze and
interpret different
ideas on solving
the problem of
slavery and slaves
after slavery
Critically read
pictures
Describe the
political, social,
and economic
issues that divided
the nation




Emancipation
Civil War
Emancipation
Proclamation
Abraham
Lincoln






Why was emancipation
frightening to white
Americans in the
1850s?
Students will examine a
conversation between
two of Stowe's white
characters as well as
two excerpts from
reviews of Uncle Tom's
Cabin that express fears
about black freedom.
Each student will
receive a lesson
worksheet and either an
excerpt from The
Western Journal and
Civilian Review or The
North American Review
In small groups,
students will fill out the
lesson worksheet based
on chapter 28 and
whichever review their
group has.
Discuss findings as a
class:
What fears about
emancipating are
expressed? What fears
about NOT
emancipating are
expressed? Discuss the


fact that this excerpt
from the novel includes
a discussion between a
Northerner and a
Southerner. The two
reviews also include the
viewpoint of a
Southerner (from the
slave state of Missouri)
and that of a Northerner
(from the free state of
Massachusetts). How do
students explain the fact
that both Northerners
and Southerners were
fearful about
emancipation? Were
there differences of
opinion? Between
whom?
Homework: Read PBS’
Africans in America
Website, “American
Colonization Society”
Write a letter from your
character discussing the
positives and negatives
of a colony overseas in
Africa for freed slaves.
12.
Visions
of
Emancip
ation
continue
d






To what extent could
Stowe actually imagine
emancipation?
What is Stowe’s vision for
a post-slavery America?
Why was emancipation
frightening for some
white Americans in the
mid 19th century?
According to Stowe, what
should or might happen if
slaves are freed?
Are there alternatives to
these characters' stories
that Stowe doesn't
consider (such as full
American citizenship for
African Americans)?

Chapters 28 “Reunion”,
43 “Results”, 44 “The
Liberator”, and 45
“Closing Remarks” all
deal with emancipation
and the question of
slavery after slavery
Stowe’s use of a return
to Africa ending was
not an uncommon idea
No one knew at this
time that slavery was
going to be abolished
or that war was even
approaching




Describe the
political, social,
and cultural
aspects of the 19th
century
Analyze and
interpret different
ideas on solving
the problem of
slavery and slaves
after slavery
Critically read
pictures
Describe the
political, social,
and economic
issues that divided
the nation




Emancipation
Civil War
Emancipation
Proclamation
Abraham
Lincoln






Do Now: Write a journal
entry answering one of
the essential questions
as best as you can.
Review findings from
reading homework on
the American
Colonization Society
Discuss Liberia and
Stowe’s end to the novel
for George Harris and
Topsy
View and discuss the
final illustration in the
1853 version of UTC
Discuss chapters 43-45
Homework: Write a
letter from your
character’s perspective
about emancipation and
possible solutions.