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Slaves
for Sale
| Subject: | Race |
| Curriculum Area: | Language Arts, Social Sciences; 7th and 8th grades |
| Instructional Objectives: | To develop analytical and critical thinking skills. To develop writing skills. |
| Prerequisite Skills: | Students should be able to read and comprehend classified columns in newspapers. |
| Materials: | Teacher-a variety of advertisements from magazines. Students-construction paper, markers, and a world map. |
| Activity: | Writing |
Procedure:
Show students four advertisements from magazines:
1. Ask students to identify the items being sold, have them write down what they are.
2. Ask students to identify some of the words used to describe the item, have them write them down.
3. Ask students to describe the item in their own words, as if they were trying to sell it.
4. Ask students to write an advertisement in which they are selling themselves. Explain that unlike the Africans who were enslaved, they have the opportunity to present to their prospective "masters" any talent or skill that they may possess or have the ability to develop.
5. Have students write an advertisement for themselves as skilled free men or women. How would they describe their abilities, their character? Who would they use as references?
6. Discuss with the class how the system of slavery affected the self?esteem of African peoples, then and now.