Overview

Overview
The heroes and villains whisper across the years, telling their tales in letters, laws, epitaphs, wills, inventories, runaway ads, manumission books…OurStory is a local history project in which middle school students investigate the impact of slavery on the lives of two citizens who lived in central New Jersey during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Students will use primary and secondary resources to develop an understanding of the lives of blacks and whites in New Jersey from 1754-1820s. Using researched information, students will “give birth” to Abraham Dean and Thomas Titus – telling us what shaped the men’s hearts and minds. Research and discussion will help students discover the underlying meaning of the documents that define the men and address difficult questions from the perspective of a black slave and a white landowner of substance. The culminating project will be a museum exhibit which places the men’s lives in the context of New Jersey and American history. The exhibit will tell how slavery wove through the fabric of the lives of Abraham Dean and Thomas Titus and shoots through the warp and weave of race relations in the 21st century.
New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards:
Visual and Performing Arts: 1.23 Language Arts: 3.4.18, 3.4.20, 3.4.23, 3.5.12, 3.5.13, 3.5.14 Social Studies: 6.1.8, 6.1.9, 6.2.7, 6.3.5, 6.3.6, 6.4.7, 6.4.8, 6.5.7, 6.5.9
Driving Questions:
What is history? Whose story is it? How are stories told? How do members of a society define the common good? How do societies balance the rights of individuals with the common good?
Content/Knowledge:
The American Revolution and the New Nation 1754-1820s African American slavery 1754-1820s New Jersey history 1754-1820s

[Overview][Objective][Lessons][Resources][Assessment]