Lesson Plan

Sally Hemings: Raising a Family Amidst the Brutality of Slavery

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This Sally Hemings: Raising a Family Amidst the Brutality of Slavery lesson plan also includes:

Pupils may know about early American figures such as Phyllis Wheatley and Abigail Adams, but what about Sally Hemings? Sally Hemings was the mother of Thomas Jefferson's children, but she is often left in the shadows of history. Examining a series of secondary source readings, young scholars consider what it would have been like to have been an enslaved woman in the early days of America. The activities—divided into the life phases of Hemings—allow for group discussion around the issues at stake.

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CCSS: Designed
Instructional Ideas
  • Use a jigsaw method to discuss what life was like for enslaved women
Classroom Considerations
  • Lesson does not address the issue of sexual assault in American slavery, and the teacher must consider how to teach this topic
  • Class members need some background in early American history for context
  • Asking learners to consider themselves to be an enslaved person in the extension activity could be traumatic
Pros
  • Activities lift up the struggle of black families during the period of enslavement
Cons
  • The historical inaccuracies make this lesson difficult to use without having to modify the resource
Common Core