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Migration:
The Middle Passage III
| Subject: | Migration |
| Curriculum Area: | Social Studies |
| Instructional Objective: | To plot a travel route from one continent to another using Africa and the Americas. Also, to identify the countries on the continent of Africa from which the Africans were taken and some of the ethnic groups in those countries, e.g., Ghana - Ashanti; Nigeria - Yoruba. |
Activities:
1. The students will learn about the continents of Africa and America before slavery through maps and historic events.
2. Students will become familiar with the Yoruba and Ashanti ethnic groups and their way of life before the slave trade took them from Africa.
3. Students will become familiar with the map of Africa.
4. Students will be able to trace the trade route from the continent of Africa to America using maps that show migratory routes and ocean currents trade.
Procedure:
1. The teacher will display a copy of Joseph Harris's migration maps showing the present?day countries of Ghana and Nigeria and the routes the slave ships followed across the Atlantic to various destinations in the Caribbean, North, Central & South America.
2. The teacher will display pictures of African communities in West Africa and in America for students to compare and contrast.
3. The teacher will show families in an African village and on the plantation.
4. Review with the class some information about the African empires of Ghana and Benin; show some of the art related to those empires. The class will then research additional, relevant material at the library to share in class, giving them a chance to view Africa before the slave ships interrupted the way of life there.
5. Divide the class into two groups to research the Yoruba or the Ashanti and their family life. The groups will share the information with each other to compare and contrast their findings.
6. Discuss with the class how long the trip from Africa to America might have taken and how far apart the continents of Africa and North America are from each other.
7. Ask the class to draw individual or group maps of the two continents. Compare and contrast the size and shape of the continents.
8. Final celebration project: Provide African fabric from Nigeria or Ghana, lay them out on a table; also include cloth from the American South. Representative foods will be brought in for tasting. Students will arrange the table. Maps will be hung in the immediate area, with pictures on the bulletin board of the Yoruba and Ashanti culture, artifacts, and recipes that the class has brought in. Ask students to share the food and drinks.
Myrna Brathwaite