What Slaves are taught to think of the North

Objectives: Students will evaluate literary merit based on an understanding of the genre, and the literary period and tradition. Students will make connections to world, and self.

Aim: What are slaves taught to think of the North, and why are they depicted as inferior?
Do Now: Write about a time when you were either deceived/lead to think about something that was not true. I recall a time when… I was decieved by my older sister. She told me that when my mom was pregnant with me everyone thought I was going to be a boy including the doctor. When I went to ask my mom about it she stopped me from doing so with an excuse. My sister said that if I were to ask my mom she would get upset, and by me being only seven years old I believed her for a long time.

Comprehension Check:
What do slaveholders pride themselves on?
Slaveholders pride themselves on being honorable men.
How does Jacobs’ literacy prove valuable to herself and community?
Jacobs' literacy proves valuable to herself and to the community because she is able to tell the other slaves the truth when the slaveholders tell them lies and important things that go on.

Interpretive/Explain:
Why does Jacobs say that liberty “is more valuable than life”?
Jacobs says that liberty is more valuable than life because trying to reclaim your freedom is worth the risk than staying captive.
Why has northerners proved to be “apt scholars?”
Northerners have proved to be apt scholars because they learn that life can be easy if they buy slaves for themselves and become the hardest master in comparison to the Southerners.
Why does Linda Brent say that she admits that the “black man is inferior?”
Linda admits that the black men are inferior because they "will sneak out of the way to give their masters free access to their wives and daughters." (pg.46)

Connect/Recall:Recall any moment in history where the “non-anglo” male is considered or treated as inferior: World War II Internment of the Japanese or 29 Mar 1968, Memphis, Tennessee, USA --- US National Guard troops block off Beale Street as Civil Rights marchers pass by on March 29, 1968. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS See mshyde.net for images.

Critical Thinking:
Do you think non-anglo males and females are treated unfairly or as inferior in today’s society?
I think non-anglo males and females are treated unfairly in today's society because people make ignorant assumptions about someone without even knowing them and then decide that they don't like them.

Cooperative Learning:
Cite from the text at least five instances where the characters suffers further dehumanization and degradation in chapters "The Lover" and “What slaves are taught to think of the North”
"I supposed you thought more of yourself; that you felt above the insults of such puppies." (pg.40)

"He sprang upon me like a tiger, and gave me a stunning blow. It was the first time he had ever struck me." (pg.40)

"Some poor creatures have been so brutalized by the lash that they will sneak out of the way to give their masters free access to their wives and daughters." (pg.46)

"But while the Free States sustain a law which hurls fugitives back into slavery." (pg.46)

"They seem to satisfy their consciences with the doctrine that God created the Africans to be slaves." (pg.47)

Share out!

Connect to World by writing in your notebooks: Where in today’s society are we witnesses to “liberty more valuable than life”? Do you agree with this quote? Why or why not?
In today's society we are witnesses to "liberty more valuable than life" when people want to cross the border into America from other countries risking everything they have and possibly their life to get a taste of freedom. Their situation in their home country might be bad, so they rather try to succeed than to suffer.