Writing Prompts (student choice or teacher directed)
WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
Suppose you lived in Kentucky in the late 1840s and somehow you had the following choice to make: EITHER TO BE an indentured servant for a period of seven years to a farmer who was a sadistic tyrant, who overworked you, insulted, beat, and otherwise abused you for small mistakes you made, underfed you, and showed you no sympathy or affection, but who would, in the end, release you and give you two acres of farmland; OR TO BE a slave on a small family farm in the home of a kindly couple who treated you almost like one of the family, with a reasonable amount of work to do, who provided you with food similar to what they ate in quality and amount, comfortable clothing, and adequate quarters in which to sleep. They forgave your mistakes, encouraged you to read and to better yourself. They would never, however, entertain any conversation about ending your bondage as a slave. Which would you choose? Why?
ARE YOU A SLAVE?
Most students of school age are entirely, or nearly entirely, dependent on their parents for food, clothing, shelter and a general level of care. While most parents are caring most of the time, some parents mete out punishments to their children when they feel it's necessary or make rules for their children that seem harsh or unfair. Children under the age of eighteen or twenty-one are, in general, far from free people. So are children, in a sense, slaves to their parents? Explain. If you disagree, say why.
LUCY AS SABOTEUR.
In Part 1, Lucy is confronted with several instances in which she might pretend to take longer to do a task than it requires, or she might even take action to undermine the smooth running of the plantation by destroying property. In historical France, people sometimes wore wooden shoes called sabot. The intentional clatter made by sabot to distract or muddle people who were trying to work, talk or think, was called sabotage. Later, the definition extended to other contexts, such as what Lucy must sometimes consider. Why might a person in Lucy's position choose sabotage rather than some other way to protest her condition? You might think of times when you have either considered or actually used sabotage in your own life to try to imagine Lucy's thinking.
TAKING VS. STEALING.
Rationalizing is the process of making something seem reasonable or right when it really isn't. For example, you forget to do your homework and then play hooky from school. When you are asked why you didn't go to school, you explain that since you didn't have your work prepared, you didn't want to waste the teacher's time—that’s a rationalization. You might think of it as well-packaged baloney. A rationale, on the other hand,
is an expression of the thought process you use to define how you will act or what you believe, and it's not an attempt to get away with something. On large plantations, enslaved people sometimes quietly and secretly helped themselves to food or other property that belonged to
the owner; they reasoned that they themselves were property and property couldn't logically steal property, so that was taking, and thus morally acceptable. Stealing was when one enslaved person took something from another, and that was wrong. Is this explanation of the difference
between taking and stealing a rationalization or a rationale? Explain.
LUCY’S JOURNAL.
Through Lucy’s eyes, think about your circumstances from the beginning to the end of this part of “Flight to Freedom.” Think about the people with whom you interacted, and what you learned from them. Think about the choices you made and the consequences of those choices. Now write a journal entry from Lucy’s point-of-view summarizing what happened to you in Part 1. You may choose to illustrate one aspect of your entry.
Primary Sources to examine after Part I. The following documents are a part of Lucy's Story. Depending on the choices that you made you may or may not have seen these documents. Review all four documents and write about how each of these had an impact on Lucy's life.
Kentucky Slave Codes (1794 - 1850) PDF
The United States School Primer (1844) PDF
Fancy Dresses from Godey's Lady Book (1848) PDF
After Part I
Part 1 Review Questions PDF - Followed by class discussion. Each student may have a different part to add to the story depending on the choices they made (cause and effect).