Ms. Nicholson/Ms. Sullivan/Ms. Lombardo

"Nightjohn"

by: Gary Paulsen

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion

Introduction:

Imagine that you are 12 years old and live on a large beautiful plantation. But you can't enjoy the plantation, because you are a slave. You have been a slave since you were four years old. A young girl who lived this existence is Sarny. Sarny is a character from the novel Nightjohn. She is a slave who lives on the Waller plantation. She is not allowed to learn to read or write. She spends her days working. But one day a slave is brought to the plantation, his name is Nightjohn. When Sarny first sees him he is brought in with a rope around his neck, and his body is covered with scars from many beatings. She is drawn to Nightjohn when she learns that he escaped North to freedom, only to voluntarily return to the South. Nightjohn has a self-imposed mission--to teach slaves how to read and write. He believes knowledge is the key to helping slaves break out of bondage. Sarny is willing to take the risk, even knowing that the penalty for reading is very dangerous. Before you begin reading the book Nightjohn, we wanted to help you understand about slavery. So we have developed a few activities for you below.

Task:

You will be assigned a partner to work with. Your task is for you and your partner to learn as much as you can about this "peculiar institution" called slavery. You have three areas to explore: slavery, the Underground Railroad, and music. Follow the directions carefully.

Slavery - Find out how long slavery went on, where the slaves came from, and their lifestyles.

1. Who were the slaves and how did they get here?

2. Why was there slavery in the United States?

3. What was life like for most slave families?

4. Why was cotton so important?

5. How long did slavery last?

6. What is the Emancipation Proclamation? Did it do what it was designed to do? Why?

7. What brought slavery to an end in the United States?

Resources: Follow these links to get help answering the questions above.

African Americans in Slavery

Emancipation Proclamation http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals_iv/sections/text_emancipation.html

The Underground Railroad - You have probably heard many stories of the Underground Railroad. Use the first link so that you and your partner can take a trip on it. After visiting the Underground Railroad use the other links to answer the questions below.

Give a brief description of your experience on the Underground Railroad. Try to help someone who has never heard of it to understand what it is.

1. What was the Underground Railroad?

2. Who was Harriet Tubman why is this former slave important?

3. About how many slaves did Harriet lead to freedom?

4. How many trips to slave country did Harriet Tubman make?

5. What was the amount of the reward for Harriet Tubman's capture?

6. What were Harriet Tubman's occupations during the Civil War?

Resources:

Underground Railroad Trip

Harriet Tubman http://www.nyhistory.com/harriettubman/life.htm

Underground Railroad Routes

Music - Slaves were forbidden to read and write, they had to communicate their feelings in ways that would not be obvious to their masters. One way was through song. Use the links below to read the lyrics to some of the slave spirituals and listen to some of the songs.

1. What theme did many of the songs have in common?

2. What purpose did some of the slave songs serve?

3. Read the lyrics to Follow the Drinking Gourd and Go Down Moses. What is the significance of the words in these songs?

Resources:

Follow the Drinking Gourd

Go Down Moses

Songs of the Underground Railroad

Process:

Each of you will be required to complete the above tasks using your own words. The links in the resource areas will take you to web sites that will provide you with information to complete your tasks. If you need additional help you may use resources that are available in the school library.

Evaluation:

You will be evaluated on the quality of your work. Take your time and answer your questions. Remember to write in your own words, do not copy your answers directly from the book, or web site. Work with your partner. If you need help ask the teacher or librarian. For every statement made you should provide a reference that supports that position such as the web page, or book that you got the information from. Click here to see details.

Conclusion:

You have followed in the footsteps of a slave. By now you should be able to detail the life, culture, and struggles of an African slave in America. Hopefully this information has given you a better understanding of a slave's ability to survive in a world in which he had no control over his very being. It should also give you a good foundation for understanding Nightjohn.

Nightjohn Project

After completing the Web Quest, complete one of the projects below.

1. A brochure advertising the Underground Railroad to possible runaway slaves.

Criteria: Produced on Microsoft Publisher. An oral presentation will accompany this project.

Information required for the brochure

1. Two pictures of your choice

2. State what the Underground Railroad is

3. State whom the Underground Railroad is for.

4. State where the Underground Railroad takes the slaves or where it goes

5. Include the date when the Underground Railroad started running.

6. State who to contact if slaves are interested in using the Underground Railroad.

7. Include a warning message to alert slaves to the risks of using the Underground Railroad.

2. A poem. Write a poem about the Underground Railroad or the days of slavery. This is an opportunity for you to be creative and share your ideas and feelings about what you learned from the Webquest. You may want to think about how it would feel to be a slave or how it would feel to be a runaway. What would you think about and what would you do? Who are your friends? Who are your enemies? Remember to include details so that I can see things you learned from your research. This should be mounted on poster board, with pictures. There will be an oral presentation with this project.

RUBRIC

You will be graded on the following things.

Accuracy of information: __/5__

Includes specific information from the Internet.

Completion of assignment __/5__

Fully answers all of the questions asked in the assignment

Creativity: __/5__

Includes his/her own ideas and opinions.

Does more than the basics, taking the final project to another level. (For example, in your project you include a map showing the escape route you took to Canada.)

Neatness: __/5__

Typed or neatly written in black ink

Pictures are neat and reflect topic

Final grade: __/20__